Grow Write Guild Prompt #24: Write about the most inspiring garden you have visited.
Further Notes and Questions:
- Was it a public or private garden?
- What about it appealed to you?
- How did you feel there?
- Describe the parts that you liked best.
- Did you discover a new plant there? Did you learn something else new?
- Did the garden compel you to try out a new technique, color scheme, plant pairing, etc in your own garden?
The Grow Write Guild is a creative writing club for people who love to garden. Everyone is welcome to participate! Click over to the Grow Write Guild FAQ to learn more about it.
It was the beginning of President Clinton’s first term, when I became interested in volunteering at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. I chose to become a docent, a tour guide. I liked house plants and that was basically what I saw growing there at the conservatory. I told myself, “I could do this.” But, the docent course was offered during the afternoons for a thirteen week period, when the growers’ and staff’s work was finished. I worked and couldn’t take that much time off.
I complained, and asked if the course couldn’t be offered at night or on weekends. I was initially ignored until two other individuals asked the same question. So, with the expense of an evening course justified and I had a class. I was in luck. How exciting. The course began that autumn on Tuesday nights.
I had always visited Phipps. I lived across the park from the conservatory and visited many times, with my Mother and Grandmother and later by myself. I thought I knew everything there was to know about the place. But, each Tuesday night armed with a flashlight and a binder full of plant histories; drawings; charts and notes, my classmates and I, led by one of the growers or staff horticulturalists, worked our way through each of the rooms of permanent plantings and/or exhibit rooms. Where, I found just how little I knew. At the end of my training I had learned a great deal, or at least, learned where to go to retrieve the answers. And, I haven’t stopped learning.
I never found the right words to describe my experience for those weeks. At night the conservatory was magical and dreamlike. The dark sky made the glass disappear, so it gave the impression of being outdoors at night in the tropics, but without the insects and night sounds. It was beautiful. I felt giddy, yes, giddy and so pleased with myself. It made me very happy. I fell in love with the place.
As a result, I gave more than twenty years to Phipps as a docent volunteer. From my first tour of one, very understanding woman, where I stuttered and forgot almost every plant’s botanical name, to hosting a tour for the Chinese Embassy Delegation of forty-two delegates at the G-20 summit held at Phipps by President Obama.
It’s priceless to see everyone’s first reaction as they walk through the doors into the Palm Court at Phipps. I’d be there still, but my feet and legs gave out. I can’t stand and walk around for the two hour long tours, the docents give.
For me, Phipps is the most beautiful garden I know.
Sam Webb, Men’s Garden Club of Pittsburgh
(Please indulge me, by remembering Rachel “Bunny” Mellon. She passed away on March 17, at 103 years of age. I’m old enough to remember the installation of the Rose Garden and later, the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden at the White House, both designed by Bunny Mellon. She will be missed in the world of horticulture.)
So lovely! Thank you for all your hard work! And I never knew of Bunny Mellon, but what an amazing woman!
Thanks for sharing your story, Sam! What a wonderful experience. And I’ve heard of Bunny, but had not realized her age or that she had passed away.
My favorite garden is a private one, blogged about here:
http://sosheri.com/grow-write-guild-24-favorite-garden-ever/