From Elizabeth Lord’s Garden Journal:

August 20, 1936

“Returned from Seal Rock on 15th; garden looked pretty good. Harlan did watering, outskirts not well done – on the whole not so bad.

Big hole back of white lilac. Delphinium not grown. Place Iris there.

Main walk not bad. Purple Petunias. Flesh Zinnia pumila & [Zinnia elegans] ‘Polar Bear’. Gladiolus. Another year try – blue Ageratum, Pink Zinnias or Yellow and White Petunia. Believe stock could be planted in Reserve garden for picking.”

Pink Zinnias, Blue Ageratum, and Purple Petunias in the Gaiety Hollow garden today. It’s fun to try to picture the garden as it would have appeared in 1936.
The Delpinium rebloom is a late summer treat.

One really can’t blame Elizabeth and Edith for escaping Salem’s summer heat for the cool ocean breezes.

The late summer flower walk this year with a nod to the journal entries of the 1930’s. The second bloom on the Delphiniums together with colorful heat-loving Cosmos and Zinnias have provided a steady show. Visitors are drawn to the Annabelle Hydrangea with her oversized pom-poms as well as the large Dahlias.

Ruth Roberts recently shared a gardening gem passed along by Fran Duniway, who advised “Look for the softest of yellows as they go with almost any color in the garden.” You can see how the Shasta Daisy’s soft yellow works better than the harsh yellow of the Zahara Zinnia.

I love mining knowledge and advice from older, more seasoned gardeners. Early in my career I worked beside Jack Poff, Mrs. Berry’s longtime gardener. Jack often rambled on about Mrs. Berry’s persnickty gardening ways. I learned it to my advantage to let Jack ramble on as I always picked up a nugget of advice. That ability to extract little nuggets of knowledge has served me well throughout my career. Like the Greek philosopher Diogenes said, “We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.”

Pale yellow Marigold ‘Kilimanjaro White’ fills the late summer border, complementing the Zinnias. Many visitors have asked about this flower at both Gaiety Hollow and Deepwood.

As the busy work in the garden starts to wind down, we look forward to cooler autumn temperatures as we begin the fall cleanup process. In the meantime, we enjoy the many blossoms and fruits of our spring and early summer labor.

Mark