Forgotten gardens!

Several of the garden bloggers I follow often post about other gardens they've visited. Amazingly often. Gardens of friends, favorite nurseries, garden tours, public gardens in other parts of their states or the country, even just interesting gardens they see when walking around the neighborhood.

I have to admit that when reading these posts I feel a bit jealous. Sure, I do post about other gardens once in a while, but it seems I'm just not doing it enough maybe. It seems like I don't really get around much. Then I remembered: on a business trip last month I took some photos of Boston-area gardens!

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I was actually in Cambridge, not Boston, and my daily walk from the hotel to the office took me through residential areas -- many of which had great little gardens in their front yards!

Japanese maple and blue atlas cedar make a nice
combination, even if I did have to duck under them

I only had my phone camera with me and it was often raining slightly on this trip, so these are about the worst quality photos you'll ever see on this blog. But there are some great ideas here.

Like this garden gate:

A spider web!  The first day of this trip there was a sign posted that said "if the gate is open, you're welcome to come in and explore the garden!" I took a couple of steps through the open gate (still felt like I was intruding!) and saw a wonderfully plant-packed space, and made a note to come back and take photos.

The gate wasn't open again on that trip. Darn! At least I got to peek through the gate every morning.

Many of the houses along this route are rentals -- lots of students, seeing that this is between MIT and Harvard -- so the gardens are not well-maintained. There are a few plants that caught my eye though:

I have no idea what that white-flowered plant is, but it was really eye-catching, and this mint...

...well, it's one of the main inspirations for my walkway garden. When I saw this rouge patch of mint I thought "I want people walking by my house to be able to pick mint too". Of course I didn't plant mint in the ground, but I've got a pot of it growing next to the sidewalk -- I'll update you on the walkway plantings soon.

Lilac in bloom:

Not sure that I'm a big fan of the fragrance of lilac -- it's a bit strong for me, and too "flowery". Give me a sweet-smelling Buddleia instead!

There were some weird sights too, like this pruning job:

That's as wind-sculpted as anything I've ever seen on any coast, but this is miles from the shore. Not really sure what it is -- any ideas?

Near the end of my walk each morning there was this little city garden, tucked between buildings. It was a nice little space, contained bamboo and even had something to keep the kids entertained: a metal "dome" to climb upon:

click for much larger version!

So see, I do get to visit other gardens... at least once in a while!


To see even more gardens and cool nurseries, visit:
Danger Garden
Bamboo, Succulents, and More
Rhone Street Gardens

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