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Five Vermont Gardens:
Jill Helmer's Garden
Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 & 12 June 2019
Back in September 2018 when Jill and I were discussing the possibility of my giving a presentation to the Woodstock, Vermont Garden Club in June 2019 she assured me that I everything would go smoothly. And I would be taken to visit gardens. She would be my hostess. And it was all as she had said.
There was even a charming little arrangement of chive blossoms in the bathroom.
I woke up early the next morning, as I am wont to do when traveling.
Pulled open the draperies on a very foggy morning. Photogenic too.
Barefoot, I stepped out of my bedroom onto the wet grass into quiet.
Most of the property is managed woodland. Near the house it has
been opened to reveal the landscape and distant viewscape. This
venerable tree was too impressive to take down. Both the forester
and the Helmers agreed it should stay. Especially impressive in fog.
There's something unique about this landscape. See how the lawn and
meadow seamlessly come together? Typically you might expect a fence
to delineate a boundary. Jill cleverly took a page from Capability Brown.
No, there's not a ha-ha to keep the sheep off the lawn. Aren't any sheep.
Think of luxurious infinity pools, where the water appears to merge with the sky.
The visual effect is of water without a boundary. Here, it was done with grass.
There is a gentle slope between lawn and meadow. It may be safely
mowed on a riding mower. Safe to walk, even carrying a smallish dog.
When the Helmers built the house a decade or so ago there was much
blasting necessary. It's Vermont. There's stone. Wonderful walls were built.
And here, a moss-clad elf keeps an eye on things from his perch on a turtle.
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