By Katie Scarvey
kscarvey@salisburypost.com
I love to see a lovely garden and know that it’s truly a labor of love — as cliché as that sounds — and not simply something that money can buy. Seeing two of the incredible gardens on this year’s home tour, I found myself appreciating those who do it themselves…
The ones who carefully ponder where each plant will bloom or leaf contentedly….
The ones who plunge the shovel into the soil and get their hands dirty as they fan out the tender roots of a young tree or tuck a tulip bulb into the space prepared for it…
The ones who faithfully pluck the dying blooms from their roses to make way for fresh growth….
The ones who baby their tropical plants during the winter so they’ll be around the next season…
The ones who notice that the jessamine arbor has gone rogue and, with tough love, replace it with something that will behave more civilly…
Don and Sandy Graham and Jack Page and Robert Myers — who are sharing their magnificent gardens for the Symphony of Gardens Tour, which continues today — are just such hands-on gardeners.
Here’s to them, and to all the gardeners who value the perfect rose over a perfect set of fingernails.
For information about the tour, go to www.salisburysymphony.org.