A Gardner's Trophy

My only excuse for not visiting more often is that there are not enough hours in each day. Maybe this garden story will make you more soft on me! Maybe it will remind you of your garden.

One hot summer's day after long hours of weeding and other garden work was accomplished, I sat back and thought how great it was to be done. But somehow I felt there was something missing. It was not because there was a lack of beauty in the garden as the work was a complete success. It was more in the realm that I had worked a long day and did not get paid my wages for my labor.

I searched deep within my soul to understand the feelings that went against the normally acceptable gardener's response of; I do it because I like to have my hands in the dirt. Keep in mind, I had just spent five hours sweating in the hot sun pulling up weeds because it was fun and I love to work while my friends sit under a shade tree having a cold drink. Yeah right! So what did this mean? Was I not a true gardener? Believe me when I say, I had to search real deep for the answer.

I came to the conclusion that it is not the task of weeding that is a fun gardening activity. It is the vision inside the gardener of the work's outcome that is the joy of gardening. Earlier, I mentioned I had the work with no pay syndrome. Did I labor much harder than the outcome of my work? No, however I guess that would depend on what one perceives as being a reward.

For example, if ten of my favorite friends and relatives had stopped by as I had completed my hard work and said, Jerry your garden is the one of the most beautiful I have seen and I just don't know where you get the energy to maintain such a precious gem; I guess that would have adjusted my attitude. But something from deeper in my soul prevailed.

I decided to give myself a trophy. This was going to be the best group of flowers placed in a single spot and captured on film. I would be the creative director this time--trying to out do Mother Nature--as I would cut the flowers of my choice and not rely on their planted homes. Yes I knew this would work as I felt the joyous energy as I eyed the many flowers to choose from. This was a lot more enjoyable than weeding!

I got out my tall crystal vase, filled it with cool water and started to paint a living picture. I picked some delphiniums for their intense blue. Next, an eye catching pink manarda was placed in the vase. My excitement was that of a teenager on a first date as I looked to add the next color of flower. There in the distance, reflecting in a beam of sunlight were two yellow oriental lilies I had fought to protect in my Japanese Beetle Bug War, earlier that week. Also, they had only a day left to be in bloom so I included them to be captured on film. Now they too forever bloom. And then, to remember the long hours of work in the garden, I stuffed weeds I had earlier pulled from the flowerbeds in the vase with the flowers.

When it was completed and I was taking photographs of my garden masterpiece it hit me. This was to be the trophy I earned for all my hard work as the picture and its cyber painting would live forever.

"Gardener's Trophy" is dedicated to all the gardeners whose unpaid labor of love makes our planet a more beautiful place.
You can view Gardners Trophy at: http://www.cybermonet.com

Happy Gardening,
Jerry Gryniewicz

Wow, I did not know I could do this. Here is a picture of Gardener's Trophy.

Jerry G

Bravo!!!! Bravo!!!!! Congratulations on your beautiful trophy! It is true recognition of a job superbly done!

Nice trophy! I always find weeding to be super therapy.

Congrats Jerry on your trophy & I loved your web site. Very well done.

Love the colors. Beautiful web site

I always love to see what you show up with Jerry,your photos are a treasure.

Lovely trophy, great colors

Magnificent trophy. Brillant colors.

Just a quick note to say thanks for your comments. I enjoy sharing the flowers with you. It makes it all worthwhile.

Thanks,
Jerry

Whenever any of my gardening friends visit me or I visit them, we do a walk-about around the yard to visit the gardens. This is done out of respect for each other's efforts, and it is done because we just love to see all that beauty! It is some of the best therapy in the world.

When I weed or trim plants, I talk to them. If I accidently pull up a little volunteer, I apologize for it. I even talk to the slugs (just before I squish them!). "Well just look at you. Aren't you just a beauty!"

I seldom cut my flowers because I feel a bit guilty cutting the blooms from my friends, but after seeing your lovely photo, Jerry, I realize that perhaps the blooms we cut are the gifts that our plants give back to us. Thanks for sharing it.

I have always thought that the gift of all the hard work is the beautiful flowers and plants that we get to enjoy in our quiet times in the garden. I love to have seating areas that a person can contemplate the world and the universe in peaceful surroundings. Thank you for the trophy picture it is beautiful. Lani

Jerry................your garden is one of the lovliest I'VE ever seen!! Marvelous, and thank you sooo much for sharing it with us!!

"eyes"

If we all lived in the same town I would be throwing a garden party about now--well if it was warmer weather lol. Your comments only reinforse my thoughts that gardeners have a special power to make the world around them smile.

Pondits, you wrote "I love to have seating areas that a person can contemplate the world and the universe in peaceful surroundings."

I am not sure how I included a picture the other night to my post but I will try to again. Here is a picture that is like what you wrote about.

I named it "Hampton's Bench" after one of my friends who tells me that is where he sits to view my garden in cyber space. He visits that picture at times when he is having an intense day at his nursing job at a State hospital.

Jerry G

gorgeous, wish I was sitting there now (in 80 degree weather:)

And when my friend Wally Hampton sits on that bench, this is a picture of what he would see.

That is why I named this picture "Wally's View"

It is amazing how flowers have the power to soothe the soul.
Jerry

Those are such beautiful photos, Jerry. I wish I could grow some of those colorful zinnias up my way. Guess I'll just have to settle for thinking of Wally enjoying them!

Weezingreens,

You are in zone 3b right? There should be no reason why you can't grow the same zinnia's pictured if you start them indoors. I am in zone 4 here in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. I have a gardener friend who lives in Richford, Vermont, zone 3, which is on the border with Canada, 45 miles north of my home and she grows the same flowers. However,we started our plants indoors and also both have growlights.

Jerry

Yes, Jerry, we start our plants under grow lights, too. The problem with zinnias is that our summers never get very hot, and they are usually pretty rainy. Those zinnias do love their heat!

Weezingreens, I assumed and was wrong about your zone. See that is why I don't have my own gardening show on HGTV...lol!

It is too bad about the zinnias though as they are so versatile. They have so many colors and flower forms to work with.

Well Weez, If you can't grow them, I can at least post this picture for you then.

Jerry

Thanks, Jerry. That picture makes me want to step right into it! When I was a little girl in Indiana, my dad always grew zinnias. They came in every color you can imagine, including some that were striped like candy canes. As I recall, the leaves were like sandpaper. They weren't a dainty flower, but they sure put on a show of color, and they were an excellent cut flower.

Jerry, The photos are so lovely, it is a gift what colors you and Mother Nature can put together.

Haven't had time to come and look at the trophy rooms for a few days but here I am and I am looking at some of the most wonderful areas to sit on a bench. What dreams may come of areas like this. Contemplation and dreaming of life and love and peace in the world around you. Thank you for the spirit boost as I surely needed it today! (You don't want to know.) Lani

MarciaGeiger, I won't take too much credit for now as my boss Mother Nature is not quit snoozing for the winter yet! But when she is asleep I am the little frog trying to make her lips kiss me so that I can turn into the gardening prince. But no matter how hard I try, her kisses only work in early spring. This next season when she wakes she is in for a world of work because I have her booked to put on her show every day of the next comming season. Maybe someday she will just kiss the frog and then there might not be the need to make her work so hard...lol!

Lani,I am honored to have sent a smile your way. I hope it lasted throught out your day. Yes I would like to know what made your day a bit rough.

Weez, I too remember the candy stripe ones

Jerry

Woke up this morning and our diesel truck wouldn't start. $90 later with new glow plugs installed my DH hooked it up to the electric heater to heat it to hopefully start it and noticed that the reset button was tripped. He turned it on and he thinks that the glow plugs may not have needed replaced! Then while I was heating my coffee this A.M. the microwave oven made a huge sound and died. It has arc welded itself internally so our microwave is now gone. Waaaaaaa. Then I went outside and while I was out there the pellet stove (our only source of heat aside from portable electric heaters) stopped working. DH cleaned it again and pronounced the auger isn't working anymore to put the pellets into the stove to keep the fire running. So tomorrow I will try to find a repair person to work on that. Also today I went to the Doctor and got the results of my MRI taken 10 days ago and I have three bulging disks, arthritis of the spine and bone spurs, among other problems there. My insurance will not pay for the pills that were helping me with my pain so I am going to be taking mega doses of ibuprofen several times a day. That was a part of my day. See why I was stressed when I came to the Garden here?

Then I get into Dave's and see a new posting had happened since I last got time to look at your thread and I come in and find that beautiful scene with a nice comfy bench to sit on and the world is a whole lot better for me tonight. Thank you for your garden and bench. My smile has lasted all night since I found your thread, Thank you. Lani

Beautiful pictures Jerry. Thanks. Lani, I sure hope the storm of broken stuff (including you) is over. I should come down and sit in a peaceful garden with you for awhile.

MaryE, come on down and we can sip tea and sit in Jerry's garden and talk about the beauty around us. I do have a teapot that still works! LOL

Lanie, sounds like everything hit you at once. I hope that day does not get repeated---other than the garden and the smiles thing! Hope you are ok now.

I shall come sit with you and MarryE in the garden too then. I just got my car back after blowing a timing belt on the way home from work the other night. At least I did not need a new motor but the $435.00 was a big outch! I think my 1990 Honda Civic Si--which I bought new is only worth $700.00 lol. Oh well I get to escape from it all with my flowers--hey better bring the whole pot of tea.

Jerry

Lani, here is a poem I wrote last year. I guess it asks at what point do we all get our own gardener's trophy or maybe we have had one all along.

For you to conquer those physcial and monitary pains you spoke of, most definatly qualify you for the grand prize..........ok I am not Ed McMann and I will keep my day job. But if my sillyness sends you a smile, then I too qualify to get the trophy prize.

Mountain so high,
each day is a climb.
Mountain so high,
I often ask why.

Mountain so high,
is your summit the prize?
Or is it the daily climb,
oh Mountain so wise?

Jerry Gryniewicz

Hey Jerry,
You better bring four pots of tea and a bottle of brandy or rum or something. I like your poem. Thanks for adding it into the garden. I would like to add a watergarden to your pictures. Smile.
I got out and moved some compost today and then washed some laundry. The dryer decided that this was a good day to die. I don't think I will bury it in the garden but maybe will take a sledge hammer to it. That would make me feel better too! I must have been a very bad girl for all this to happen right now. LOL very bad indeed. LOLOL Lani

Lani,you are welcome. I am looking to buy a house which means starting a new garden. I will incorporate water into my next garden. I will also build it so that I have minimal weeding to do.

Brandy will do like a good VSOP Cognac however I may start with a Guinness or two first lol.

Jerry

I don't drink beer, thank you. Of course I don't think I have drank any hard stuff for at least 10 years but there is always time for good friends and a beautiful garden!
You will leave this beautiful garden behind? So sad for you isn't it? I know all about weeding but I am trying to figure how you will have a garden with minimal weeding to do? giggle Those two ideas don't mix in my brain. Sometimes I like weeding as a cathartic but most of the time it is the least fun part of gardening. Especially when they get ahead of you because you are too busy for a couple of weeks. So explain how you will do minimal weeding, please.
When you get your watergarden you can have some plants from me. I have lots of them here for watergardens. Your garden is more beautiful today as is mine since my son came and figured if he read the manual he could repair my small truck that is my main source of transportation to care for my mother. He got the job done and saved us over $200! So now I am ready to just sit in a garden and love it again with some peace of mind. So pretty to see all your beautiful flowers. Someday I will have a sunny garden also and then in the shade I have my hostas and other shade plants. Fun

Lani, first Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family and DG. I am on my way to celebrate this day with my family. I will answer your wonderful questions in my next posting as I am pressed for time at the moment. Just wanted to let you know that I just read your post. I will be more than happy to share my plans for minimal weeding.

Jerry

I do do the compost on the beds of course. I put about three to four inches all over the beds this fall and all my flower beds are started with lasagana gardening techniques. I love how the newspaper keeps the weeds down in the new dirt but that is a LOT of newspaper I have used out there. And it is windy here so it was hard to hold the newspaper down while we got the compost onto it to hold it. I chased down the lane after a LOT of newspaper. LOL

Lani, I too use the newspaper as a weed barrier. Check out there pictures from my Impressionist Garden; http://www.jerrygryniewicz.com/TipsOnMulching.html

Chasing the newspaper down the road is not fun though lol!

Yes it will be hard to leave my garden behind but it is something I have known for years would someday materialize. After all I am living on rented property. I must admit that my landlord did keep her promises to offer me first choice to purchase. The price was way too high and I passed. The new owner has been nice to me and has vowed to not increase my rent beyond $1000.00 per month and since this is a duplex the rent next door is $1200.00 and yet this is too much for me to pay. The Burlington, Vermont area is very expensive to live. I plan to buy property 30 miles north and will end up with the same land and space I have now for a mortgage of around $635.00 and that is why I must leave this garden behind.

Yes as much as I love my Impressionist Garden, I have learned from its mistakes, as it was my first. My next garden will be better. Yes minimal weeding is in the plans.

I plan to have around 10 perennial beds as I do now. However, each will be a raised bed of one foot high. The ground level will be prepared as follows: The outer edge of the bed will be dug 15 inches deep and lined with a barrier of thick plastic. This will keep any grass roots from migrating into the bed. On top of that outer rim I will build a mini stonewall, farmers stone and cement, encircling the bed and built 15 inches high. I will then remove all soil to 8 inches deep. Then I will replace with compost and sterile topsoil.

The paths around the 10 beds will no longer be grass as they are now. Instead they will be crushed stone. It will be the kind that is so fine that it resembles a well-walked path. This will be dug to a depth of 12 inches to remove all sod and weed roots. A mix of crushed stone and sterile topsoil will be placed to a level of 10 inches. A 5-year weed mat will be installed and the remaining two inches filled in with crushed stone.

The way I see it the only weeds will be from seeds in bird droppings. Ok I know that can be lots of work in itself. I had a wild raspberry bush that tried to take over a portion of my garden. Still my new plan will be less work than what I have now.

I have 12 perennial beds with no edging and surrounded by grass walkways. I spend all summer weeding to have 3 weeks of perfect garden so I can do my photo shoot. The rest of the time I spend mowing the darn grass in the walkways. I plan to document the making of my next garden now that I know what the hell I am doing lol!! It will help other gardeners to learn from my mistakes.

Well it is getting late and I have to get up early for work. I am glad that I am making somewhat of an improvement in my visit to DG.

One request if you visit my Cyber Monet web site. I was invited to participate in the “Diamond Web Awards”, which is for sites that have won the “Golden Web Award” and present a quality web site that is safe for the whole family. If you all feel my site qualifies please vote at: http://www.cybermonet.net/DiamondWebAward

I have spent much time promoting “Please Give The Gift Of Gardening To A Child” so your vote would mean the world to me and reinforce my effort.

I thank you all in advance for your support. My grand pere from France gave me the gift of gardening when I graduated from kindergarten. I think it must have been a good thing as I have never been a criminal or a burden on society.

Gardening takes up so much time that when the day is done there is no time left to get in trouble. Am I saying that world peace is in the hands of gardeners? Well I do think we can help our kids stay out of trouble. It is less likely a child can get in trouble while their two hands are deep in the flowerbed.

Oh by the way Billy, those new $125.00 Nike high tops are yours but you will have to weed my garden all summer to pay for them. Darn now I wish I had kids. Lol!!

Lani, thanks for your questions that provided me with motivation to write a piece that made me stop and look within. I also thank you for the offer for plants when I get to the water garden stage.

Happy gardening my friend
Jerry Gryniewicz

I had a few e-mails that asked if I have a wider picture of my garden. Well guys this is all I can find at the moment.
Jerry

GORGEOUS!

I hope I am not going off topic--well I guess any picture from any of our gardens is a Gardener's Trophy. I wanted to share with you the smallest covered bridge in New England.

It is the doorway for my cat to be able to go outside when he wants. Look to the upper left of this picture.

Jerry

My cats would be so honored to have such a lovely garden to walk through in the performance of their duties. You are not topic at all as far as I can see. This is an addition to your garden trophy and it is lovely. Thank you for sharing!

Jerry,
My Goodness.......we ran across this site while looking for ways to avoid or minimize weeding. We not only got the help that we were looking for, but we also now have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting you ! Terrific garden photos and web site. Your "soul" shows through. Much joy in your new home and be sure to bring the smallest covered bridge in New England with you !
Ron and Gloria

Here is a little piece of our new found "Paradise". It is an old spring house that is the first project we have refurbished on our farm. Nothing like living in the country...