Margaret Moseley's A Garden to Remember

By Martha Tate

Margaret Moseley's garden is more than a collection of plants, but rather a circle of friends. Each has a story, and she knows them all. Creating her personal, three-quarter-acre paradise from scratch, Margaret takes great delight in every day spent tending to her "friends" - whether digging, weeding, dead-heading or simply enjoying the conversation. Throughout the decades, as her garden's popularity grew, it was clear that Margaret's passion would be a source of inspiration for an entire generation and beyond. Margaret started her garden at age 52, a fact that has been reassuring for people who had careers or who were raising children and had no time to work outdoors until mid-life. She began by gathering rocks from the roadside to make beds around pine trees in her back yard. As friends began to share plants, Margaret expanded the areas and would divide her own plants with visitors to the garden. Even four decades later, she knew exactly who had given her a certain flower and if the plant had been brought in a plastic bag or on a garbage can lid. Likewise, if she bought a perennial, she remembered the nursery and most likely the name of the person who sold it to her. Margaret was always a hands-on gardener and believed that to get to know plants, you had to work with them yourself. For sure, there was plenty of trial and error - a daphne would suddenly up and die, or a rabbit would mow down a stand of Phlox divaricata . Margaret was always sharing a method she'd learned the hard way. After breaking off the thin, sometimes brittle strands of clematis, she started planting the vines in tall narrow pots plunged partway into the ground. That way, she wouldn't inadvertently snap off the plant at the base while weeding. Also, Margaret was fearless when it came to moving a plant. Most of her shrubs have lived in several places in her garden, some having been moved five or six times. Someone dropped by her house one day and noted that a shrub was in too much shade to bloom. When the friend left, Margaret, at age 91, dug up the 10-foot- tall plant and dragged it to an area with sun, where it has grown and bloomed profusely since. In four decades of building and refining her garden, Margaret generously shared her creation with others, welcoming plant societies, tour groups and interested individuals. Seldom did anyone go away empty-handed or without a story attached to the plant. You'll find many ideas in this book - for flowers that go well together, for collections that make a garden more fun and interesting and for knowing what to plant to have something in bloom every day of the year. Above all, you'll witness how one person found health and happiness and pure joy in a garden. For Margaret Moseley, every day is an adventure, and the thought of what might have come into bloom overnight still has her out there full of excitement and anticipation in her 98th year.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 149239131X
• ISBN13: 9781492391319
• Release Date: September 2013
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 142 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 0.3" x 8.5"