The Fading Ghost Gardens

 

Some friends had an old home on their property which had fallen into disrepair and needed to go.  I hate to see old homesteads disappear, but this one was getting dangerous and would have cost a fortune to restore.  Sad to see it go, but as a fitting ending to this home, the local fire department used it for a controlled-burn training session, so that was a good thing.  I wanted to watch the burn, but it took place on a Saturday and that is a busy day at the Garden Center.  It did get me thinking about the disappearing homesteads which usually leave behind Ghost Gardens. 

 You have probably seen a Ghost Garden and not even realized it.  Maybe it’s a very straight row of daffodils where a straight line seems so out of place, or a pair of trees positioned just so, to provide shade for something not there.  Maybe, a cluster of breathtakingly beautiful bearded irises mixed in a tangle of weeds.  These are the remnants of a garden which once encircled a home, planted, so many years ago by someone long gone.  Who planted these bulbs and old rambling roses?  Did some of these beauties fill a vase in the center of the kitchen table?  Was fig jam once made from the over grown tree?  Did apple pies cool on a window ledge made from apples gathered, from what is now a rotted stump?   

Ghost Gardens are getting harder to find, but if you know what you are looking for you may find one set back from a busy street or down a little used road.  Most of these gardens have been cleared away by bulldozers, as they make way for new developments, or completely choked out by weeds and neglect. If you are lucky enough to find one of these fading memories, grab a spade and dig up a bulb or snip a branch to root.  They will soon be gone forever but you can keep a part of its history alive in your own garden.