Like Maid Marion, I'm a gardener. My property is 1.8 acres and it's all cultivated. An acre of it is an arboretum, i.e. a collection of indigenous trees with a focus on diversity. There are dozens of varieties.
I've a small orchard, with black raspberries, purple raspberries, gold raspberries, pears, sweet and sour cherry trees, high bush blueberries, and high bush cherries. There are also raised beds for veggies.
I have Japanese-themed gardens that surround my house and they hold more than 90 Japanese maples, as well as hundreds of other plants and tree-to-tree moss in some areas, as well as fields of ferns.
I'm just finishing some rock gardens in front of my house and because rocks are central to a Japanese garden, I have boulders from pig-sized to as big as small cars throughout my property.
I own the 2.3 acre adjacent lot and am starting to thin it, to allow sunlight to reach the forest floor. When that happens, the magic begins.
I also feed birds and squirrels and everyday begins with critter watching. I have flocks of goldfinches and purple finches. I have woodpeckers and red and gray squirrels. Although many birders don't like them, I love my blue jays and crows too. I also adore my hummingbirds.
Oh, I also have a sugar bush, a grouping of 17 sugar maples I planted. I'll likely never live long enough to plant them, but I smile hoping that someone will someday.
I also like to hike and bike and paddle.
My prior garden was an English-themed garden and here's what I've learned from creating two gardens: Successful gardening comes from seeing your mistakes. Even a tiny lot is a murky mix of microclimates. So, you plant and wait and watch to see if you guessed correctly, siting a plant where it will thrive. You often don't, so then you replant and wait and watch. You also spend a lot of time simply watching where and when sunlight falls and take the time to learn when a plant prefers sunlight and for how long. Then you try to match the site with the plant, but remain ready to move it.
