are you where you should be?

To get to the garden is not easy nor is it difficult, but it is an
experience.  The big problem is a psychological one of wondering if you're
really where you should be.  Once this feeling is overcome you begin to
relax and enjoy the serenity of the drive.

Isn't that absolutely beautiful? How true it is--let me repeat it--the biggest problem is a psychological one of wondering if you're really where you should be.

The article continues: .....The journey is short, but if it is your first time it may seem long.
The road is narrow.....

When you get there the garden is informal, easy to look at, and belies the fact that a hybridizer is at work.
 

These comments came from a visit that  Bill Munson made to  Solano Grove--the garden of Vera McFarland near St Augustine.  It is from *The Hemerocallis Journal*, December
1973, pages 33-36, and was written by Bill Munson. I read it on the Daylily Robin which is open to all members of the American Hemerocallis Society. Both Bill and Vera were well-known and respected hybridizers. I put more of the article at the end of the post. The writing is gorgeous. And yes, I am glad to be a member of AHS.

I think about these words of the visit as I contemplate the winter that is now passing. It was a long hard winter here. The snow came and lasted. Mud season went on and on. Many mornings I had to hike down the hill to my van and then hike home in the afternoon. It was cold.  More cold. Then more snow.

For my quilts it has also been a season of self-doubt and exploration. New works. Endless trying and learning. Some worked well--I love the pillows and purses. The eyeglass cases. You can see some HERE. Others are ideas not there yet--still waiting. A slow process of creating quilts that are true. Agonizing and squinting. The journey seems long. The road narrow.

Last week I visited my in-laws by the ocean. As you may remember it was a cloudy misty time--memories ebbing and flowing with the tides. The clouds hung so low and thick there was no direction to the day. I wrote about it HERE.

When I returned I had to settle--to make a quilt. A quilt of this time of mist and mystery. Soft colors-- hints and undercurrents. Slight slow movement. The calm and mystery. The ocean was gentle. The visit was gentle. The colors came together simple and sure. Complex colors that combine for a story. A mood of longing and remembering. Soft and gentle. Informal. Belying the struggles and thought in its creation. Almost done. Then I will sew it together.

Gorgeous colors aren't they? Simple and haunting. I love it when a piece works.  This is what I do.  This is my journey and path. It looks simple but it is not always easy.  The forsythia will bloom today. There are daffodils and crocuses. Little fans of daylilies are nudging out of their slumber. The deep reds of Highland Lord--hybridized by of course Bill Munson.  I can't wait.The layers of purple and mauve with the green/yellow eye of Pharoah's Treasure--you can see it HERE. Aren't the names divine? I go to Flickr and find pages of images of his daylilies--just like his writing, simple and complex. I want them all. Do check them out HERE.  I don't have any daylilies by Vera McFarland--maybe I need "Frivolous Frills" or "Super Double Delight". But does that even matter. Spring is coming. The quilts are coming together. I am where I should be. Is there any more to ask from life?

 And you--are you where you should be? How do you know? How do you decide? What do you think of the quilt? And is it spring finally where you live?



For those who want to read more of the article--here it is from the Daylily Robin. If you like flowers I strongly recommend joining AHS--couldn't ask for a nicer group of people.

"Solano Grove is west of St. Augustine on the east bank of the St. John's
River.  The only major landmark to guide your turn from the State Road 13 is
an over-sized mail box.  Once the mailbox is found you stop and open a gate
and start your journey to the Grove....."


The peacefulness of the following description of Vera McFarland's Solano
Grove appealed to me today.  It is from *The Hemerocallis Journal*, December
1973, pages 33-36, and was written by Bill Munson.  But I have put only a
few excerpts from the first two pages.  All that follows is quoted:




.....To convey the picturesque beauty of this unique garden spot would take
the touch of a poet.  For this garden is unique.  It blends the natural
beauty of the hammock land with the gardening philosophy of its owner,
planner and keeper, Vera McFarland.


.....The majestic oaks, the silent river, the cascading Spanish moss, the
forest birds all exemplifying the quietude that was once so much a part of
our lives and now gone, but experienced again at Solano Grove.  Only the
unwelcome intrusion of a motor boat on the river or a jet high above the
canopy of the trees betrays the 20th Century harangue.


To get to the garden is not easy nor is it difficult, but it is an
experience.  The big problem is a psychological one of wondering if you're
really where you should be.  Once this feeling is overcome you begin to
relax and enjoy the serenity of the drive.


.....The journey is short, but if it is your first time it may seem long.
The road is narrow.....  Wild turkey and quail can often be seen as you
drive along.  Cross a small rustic-type bridge and enter a small cleared
area and you know at once you are at Solano Grove.


The river is on your right only a few yards away.  The hammock is on your
left even closer, and straight ahead is a grove of oaks whose canopy of
limbs, leaves, and Spanish moss shelter the garden below.  The garden is
informal, easy to look at, and belies the fact that a hybridizer is at work.


Large drifts and mass plantings of daylilies abound.  The soil is sandy, but
rich and the water level generally high.  Several times during the year low
portions of the garden may be under water.  Because of this Vera is forced
many times to plant on raised beds or rows.  But whatever the conditions the
flowers love it here.


Small chameleon and garden spiders watch as you enter their world.  Time
seems to have stood still and the silence engulfs you.


Soon Vera joins you and is effervescent over a new seedling that has
bloomed.....