This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning in Saluda. Blooming Azaleas, wild phlox & Lunaria. What sharp contrast from the rugged west where earthy brown tones dominate the landscape and little splotches of green appear along with teeny tiny wildflower accents. But in the mountains here it is alive with color and it's just another form of inspiration for me.
My relationship with gardening runs deep from my earliest memory as a child when my grandfather gave me a pack of radish seeds. I even remember where I planted them in my back yard and watching each day to see what happened over night and pulling them out of the ground and eating them one by one. Ever since that early childhood moment, gardening and being at one with the earth has stayed with me. There have been times when it was absent from where I was at the time, but it was always buried somewhere deep inside of me. Now it pulls me closer and closer to being free to be me.
As I planted new trees and prepared the soil I zoned into a place of serenity. Nothing else mattered at the time. Pulling weeds, laying mulch and raking all served it's purpose to bring me back to my space in North Carolina. The place never really matters much as long as I am doing what I love. It started in Dyer, Indiana as a child and took me to California, Arizona, back to Munster,Indiana and then to Saluda, North Carolina where in turn my roots are planted in the deep rich southern soil.