Guerrilla Gardening

“We’ve got to fight, for the right, to party!” – The Beastie Boys on their album Licensed to Ill

Overlapping festivals that generate kitsch-laden garden displays and fill the streets with activity to the point of insanity, leave many with a desire to find a bit of peace amid the maelstrom. Never fear, a respite is at hand. In fact, many such places exist.

Seek out the cemetery. Yup. Commune with the dead or not, but these “public” spaces are worth the search just to enjoy some of the most “private” spaces available. The older burial grounds, in particular, are a fantastic place to re-center oneself.

Surrounded by the dates of comings and goings (quite literally) has been known to help one find a sense of being part of a continuum and therefore reduce one’s anxiety by providing perspective. But, more to the gardener’s delight, is the capacity to wander a less than perfect lawn beneath the majesty of knurled, old trees attired in their full, fall glory. Some hidden gems – Norway Street in Ephraim, Memorial Drive in West Jacksonport, Orchard Road in Fish Creek, and County EE in Baileys Harbor.

Fall is all about trees – reds, yellows, oranges, golds, browns, and softening greens. Unlike flower blooms, the full fall effect is cumulative rather than individual. Pick up a single leaf and more often than not you’ll find the fall color marred. Take a picture of the most beautiful branch and the LCD screen will show every blemish. So, instead, get out and walk around. Simply be in the outdoors and allow your peripheral vision to soak up the show.

In the meantime, pick the landscape apart. Why are cemeteries such great little garden gems? Perhaps, because “less is more.” There are no crunched up foundation plantings. No orderly rows of green-yew-balls. No undersized ornamental trees in the face of massive building facades. Instead, the plantings are correctly scaled. Huge trees are allowed to reach their full majesty. Simple plantings of old favorites are let go – peonies, vinca, and lilacs. The old fences have more class than any of their modern counterparts. Hardscaping is of a quality worthy of antiquity. Patina is everywhere. Take a break and take some ideas home with you, too.