Practicing the Art of Being Fully Present

In July my husband and I stayed overnight in a luxurious bed and breakfast in Durham, NC. It is too bad we were there for only one night. It really is a place to go to spend a few relaxing days. After breakfast we walked around the gardens before heading on our way. I was reminded of our honeymoon. We drove up to Nova Scotia and stayed in bed and breakfasts and country inns. I found that to be a delightful experience. Since that time, which was 27 years ago, Bob and I often discussed owning a b&b in the country some day. Back home from the trip and tending to our gardens, I began thinking about how I could make that dream a reality today. No, it isn't practical to turn our tiny house into a b&b, but what could I do to invite people to enjoy the peace and beauty that I experience while spending time in my gardens?

I was also reading a book called An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor at this time. I found it extremely inspirational and life changing. Chapter Two, entitled The Practice of Paying Attention is what helped me to formulate the retreat. (The seeds of which had already been planted last year while reading The Artist's Rule by Christine Valters Paintner, which is along a similar vein.) I realized that I didn't need a fancy house and immaculate gardens in order to help others see and hear what I do when I am outside. If I love it, won't others as well? I took the chance and offered this one day retreat.

Yesterday, six wonderful women enjoyed their time here. They got to relax, reflect and spend some needed alone time. We did end the day with sharing. It was moving to hear what these women were able to experience from the assignments they were given and the time they spent alone in nature.

 I plan to hold this retreat on a monthly basis from May through September. The women encouraged me to add other themed retreats as they would like to participate again. Follow this link to view some of their comments here.

Monthly Garden Photos - May

 The house has windows with fixed screens so we take them out in autumn to allow more sunlight to stream in during the winter months. The first few months of these monthly shots were taken from an upstairs window before the screen was put in for the spring/summer. This month I have had to shift positions a bit but you should still be able to see the comparisons.

Hortus Conclusus and the Family Pond 

View from Kitchen Window - no screen

outside Hortus Conclusus facing South

Tulips, lettuces, cilantro and broccoli growing to

Outside Wisteria Studios, My Papermaking Workshop

 Some progress. Moved the bench outside. All of the herbs and Creeping Jenny survived. Not sure if you can see them all growing yet. The Wisteria is beginning to leaf out.

Morning Glory seeds were sown in the pots and will cover the wall as the season progresses. Geraniums, petunias and other colorful annuals will be purchased and planted this week.

Birdbath in the Perennial Border

The Privet hedge has leafed out. The perennials are getting larger.

View of Perennial Border with Wisteria Studios and my husband's workshop in the background

The Hortus Conclusus and Me

Hortus conclusus - Latin for enclosed, or walled, garden.

Gardens were surrounded by enclosures as far back as ancient times. These walls were designed to keep out enemies, whether humans or animals. During the Medieval period, enclosed gardens took on symbolic meanings and were referred to as the hortus conclusus. Seen as examples of paradise on earth in both Christian and Islamic traditions, enclosed gardens were safe havens where only beneficial plants were cultivated.

Artists used the symbolism of an enclosed garden to portray love and religious ideals.  In both Persian and Christian cultures during this time, the enclosed garden represented domesticity, refinement and femininity. The maiden is placed within the garden. Her suitor is outside the walls in the rugged, wild, masculine landscape. The Virgin Mary and the Christ Child were often placed by artists of the Catholic tradition within the hortus conclusus.

I learned about the hortus conclusus in an art history course, The History of Landscape Architecture and Garden Design, at Southern Connecticut State University. The history of the hortus conclusus resonated with me for several reasons.

First, I have an enclosed garden designed to keep out enemies - deer and woodchucks. This garden contains raised beds, placed in orderly rows, as was often designed in Medieval monastery gardens. Our larger garden, the whole of our property, is surrounded by an imaginary enclosure - boundary lines. This acre of land is our personal piece of earthly paradise.

Secondly, the relationship between the garden and the spiritual lessons it provides speaks volumes to me. I am most connected to God when I am in my garden.

Thirdly, the feminine, domesticated symbolism of the hortus conclusus is appealing. A child of the 1960s, a teen in the 1970s and a young woman in the 1980s, growing up in metropolitan New York, it was drilled into my head by the prevailing culture that a woman must prove she is equal to a man. This culture stripped away femininity from women. I was ashamed to be a "girly-girl" who didn't know how to throw a ball or dig a hole to plant a tree when studying horticulture at SUNY Farmingdale. I was embarrassed to admit that I liked the old fashioned look of embroidered and lace tablecloths and dresser scarves that I grew up with. I made my way through those early years often feeling alone as an old-fashioned, feminine woman. Then in the late 1980s I discovered Victoria Magazine. Through the pages of romantic photos I saw that I was not alone in my love for flowers, lace, tea in pretty china, embroidery and other dainty, feminine things. I read about English cottage gardens, French potagers, poets, authors and artists of centuries past who found delight in the natural world as well as modern women who incorporated these styles and sensibilities in their lives. The decade of the 1990s was one of affirming my feminity and embracing the simple, joyful, fulfilling life of raising a family, creating a home and garden just as my mother and grandmother did before me. As my children grew, life seemed to get more complicated with all the options available in every manner for life today. My garden, my hortus conclusus, has been and continues to be my refuge.

So here you have a little information about me and the reasoning for naming this blog what I did.