In person monthly program meetings are postponed until further notice.
MV Garden Club Members’ Gardens
September: Minor Knight, West Tisbury
September: Minor Knight, West Tisbury
My family started spending summers here in the early 70s. In 1979 my parents bought land and built a house behind Nip n’ Tuck Farm in West Tisbury. I had lived in Paris in a studio apt for many years. Fifteen years ago, when my mother died, I returned to the USA to live year round in this house in the woods. My mother, having chosen to leave nature and the woodlands untouched, there was little in the way of a garden - a few, now huge rhododendrons, Japanese boxwood, and a day lily bed. Here I was in the midst of one big tableau!
My prior gardening experience amounted to growing bulbs in old fashioned hyacinth jars, and buying endless bouquets in the sumptuous Parisian markets.That first spring here, a gardener friend helped me plant my first perennial bed. I was hooked and the rest is history, There are new additions and ideas all the time, and I have a project going in all seasons. As the only member of my family who enjoys gardening, I do almost everything on my own. It takes a bit longer, but I enjoy every minute.
My first endeavor was digging up and multiplying the lily bed, Which I have since done many times. The front of the house is one vast spray of double orange day lilies dispersed with peonies in the spring and climbing roses in the summer. Next came a shade garden with an array of different hostas, Solomon’s seal, Ladies mantle, and astilbe. Off the back deck , are two long and high stands of high ornamental Zebra grasses, which create a sort of border to the woodlands. Dahlia beds are also in back with the full sun, along with lavender, a Japanese willow, and a happy Polly Hill magnolia tree ( pink). I have uncovered one of the many stone walls on the property , along which I have planted gorgeous Lesbedeza stunning fuchsia purple color in the fall. Inside the stonewall is a sizable area with a fire pitt. Bordering this area is a yucca garden created amongst a large pile of boulders, with climbing hydrangeas that fan out in white lace white over the stones.
Garden season 2020 began with great promise, with crazy quantities of all my different irises, some that had never bloomed before, Clematis also went wild - one night I counted over 100 blooms. The climbing roses producing full bouquets for weeks. Solomon’s seal spreading and thriving. Hostas particularly huge and gorgeous. Hundreds of double native day lilies, lavender, catmint, oriental lilies. Then, one afternoon in July I was mowing the lawn and ran the mower down the path to our Rainwater pond. I stopped at our canoe on the path by the water and saw an animal lying inside it. As I got closer, I realized it was a baby fawn in the boat. The call for neighborly help went out and we rescued the beautiful spotted fawn. I am sure it was a coincidence, but THAT very night deer came and ravaged 80% of my glorious hostas..... proving the beginning of the end of this year’s garden. Desperate garden sums it up, everything started so lush and bountiful. Things bloomed that have either never bloomed, or not bloomed in years..... then deer devastation and rabbits like never before followed by no rain, no words! Crushing! My greatest passion is making bouquets, and one might say is that our entire property serves and one big cutting garden in all seasons, as there is nothing more thrilling.
Here are some pictures :
My prior gardening experience amounted to growing bulbs in old fashioned hyacinth jars, and buying endless bouquets in the sumptuous Parisian markets.That first spring here, a gardener friend helped me plant my first perennial bed. I was hooked and the rest is history, There are new additions and ideas all the time, and I have a project going in all seasons. As the only member of my family who enjoys gardening, I do almost everything on my own. It takes a bit longer, but I enjoy every minute.
My first endeavor was digging up and multiplying the lily bed, Which I have since done many times. The front of the house is one vast spray of double orange day lilies dispersed with peonies in the spring and climbing roses in the summer. Next came a shade garden with an array of different hostas, Solomon’s seal, Ladies mantle, and astilbe. Off the back deck , are two long and high stands of high ornamental Zebra grasses, which create a sort of border to the woodlands. Dahlia beds are also in back with the full sun, along with lavender, a Japanese willow, and a happy Polly Hill magnolia tree ( pink). I have uncovered one of the many stone walls on the property , along which I have planted gorgeous Lesbedeza stunning fuchsia purple color in the fall. Inside the stonewall is a sizable area with a fire pitt. Bordering this area is a yucca garden created amongst a large pile of boulders, with climbing hydrangeas that fan out in white lace white over the stones.
Garden season 2020 began with great promise, with crazy quantities of all my different irises, some that had never bloomed before, Clematis also went wild - one night I counted over 100 blooms. The climbing roses producing full bouquets for weeks. Solomon’s seal spreading and thriving. Hostas particularly huge and gorgeous. Hundreds of double native day lilies, lavender, catmint, oriental lilies. Then, one afternoon in July I was mowing the lawn and ran the mower down the path to our Rainwater pond. I stopped at our canoe on the path by the water and saw an animal lying inside it. As I got closer, I realized it was a baby fawn in the boat. The call for neighborly help went out and we rescued the beautiful spotted fawn. I am sure it was a coincidence, but THAT very night deer came and ravaged 80% of my glorious hostas..... proving the beginning of the end of this year’s garden. Desperate garden sums it up, everything started so lush and bountiful. Things bloomed that have either never bloomed, or not bloomed in years..... then deer devastation and rabbits like never before followed by no rain, no words! Crushing! My greatest passion is making bouquets, and one might say is that our entire property serves and one big cutting garden in all seasons, as there is nothing more thrilling.
Here are some pictures :
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Welcome to new members
Ty Johnston of West Tisbury and Linda Purvis of Edgartown! |
September
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If members have any news or announcements that you think should be shared on the website, please email the Garden Club at: gardenclubmv@gmail.com
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The Martha's Vineyard Garden Club, established in 1924, is an island-wide community organization of almost two hundred members (including many seasonal residents), who share a passion for gardening, conservation, and maintaining our unique environment. Our monthly meetings are both educational and social; our programs are varied and designed to meet personal and community needs. We value Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and everyone is welcome to be a member or guest of our club.
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