A Writer’s Garden–Queen Mary’s Gardens by Linda Shenton Matchett

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A Writer's Garden, British Garden tour, English Gardens, History of Queen Anne's Garden, Linda Shenton Matchett, Queen Mary's Garden, Regent's Park, Through the Garden Gates

Welcome to A Writer’s Garden where writers who are gardeners or just love gardens will be sharing their garden and flower stories, as well as a bit about their writing. Today’s writer/gardener guest is author is Linda Shenton Matchett. Linda will be taking us across the pond to England to visit one of her favorite English Gardens. Welcome, Linda!

Six years ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to visit England. We scrimped and saved for this journey of a lifetime and spent ten glorious days split between London and Hastings. We went during the month of March and took plenty of foul-weather gear that we never used. The temperatures were unseasonably warm, and the sun shone every day we were there.

The reason for the trip (other than the fact I’m a huge anglophile) was research for my books, so we had quite a few sites to visit, two of which were Hyde Park and The Regent’s Park, part of the Royal Parks system. As much as I enjoyed Hyde Park, Queen Mary’s Garden in The Regent’s Park was my favorite.

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Named for King George V’s wife, the garden opened to the public in 1932. However, the land’s history stretches back almost 850 years! From 1086 (20 years after the Norman conquest) until 1538, the site was home to a medieval manor. It became a royal deer park in 1538, but by 1649 had been converted to a source of timber for warships. The next one hundred and fifty years saw the area used as farms to produce dairy products and hay. In 1811, it became the intended site of a royal palace, but the plans didn’t materialize, and in 1824 was turned into a horticultural nursery. Fifteen years later, The Royal Botanic Society, a membership only society, took over until 1932.

During World War II, the park was the site of numerous bombings, and rubble from buildings destroyed in the blitz was dumped onto the lawns. Fortunately, the damage was repaired, and gardens brought back to their original beauty.

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The rounded park, surrounded by terraces, a lake, a canal, and villas, was designed by John Nash, one of the foremost architects of the Regency and Georgian eras. His original plan included fifty-six villas and a second home for the Prince that were never constructed. In 1835, under the reign of King William IV, the public was allowed into sections of the park two days per week.

Local societies leased the space left by the unbuilt villas, and one of the first to move in was the Zoological Society. The Royal Botanic Society laid out the Inner Circle with lawns and a lake, and the Royal Toxophilite Society introduced archery. Between them, these societies created the mix of gardens and buildings that remain today.

With over 12,000 roses in eighty-five single variety beds, the rose garden is breathtaking. In addition, the Begonia Garden holds 9,000 begonias, and is planted twice a year with seasonal bedding. The Mediterranean Borders are a gorgeous highlight, and the Delphinium Border has been granted National Collection status. Shrubberies are strategically placed to add privacy to the gardens, creating a tranquil setting, and shutting out the noise and chaos of surrounding London.

A treasure to behold.

About the Writer/Gardener:

Linda Shenton Matchett writes about ordinary people who have done extraordinary things in days gone by. Despite being the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of farmers, her gardening skills are limited, instead she finds joy in the beauty created by others. Linda is the author of more than two dozen Christian historical novels. To learn more, visit her website. . Receive a free short story when you sign up for her newsletter. Follow her on Facebook or check out her YouTube channel Moments in History for intriguing tidbits and little known facts from our past at her YouTube Channel

Gold Rush Bride Hannah

(Christian Historical Romance)

By Linda Shenton Matchett

A brand-new widow, she doesn’t need another man in her life. He’s not looking for a wife. But

when danger thrusts them together, will they change their minds…and hearts?

Hannah Lauman’s husband has been murdered, but rather than grief, she feels…relief. She decides to remain in Georgia to work their gold claim, but a series of incidents makes it clear someone wants her gone…dead or alive. Is a chance at being a woman of means and independence worth risking her life?

Jess Vogel never breaks a promise, so when he receives a letter from a former platoon mate about being in danger, he drops everything to help his old friend. Unfortunately, he arrives just in time for the funeral. Can he convince the man’s widow he’s there for her protection not for her money?

Gold Rush Bride: Hannah is the first book in the exciting new series Gold Rush Brides. Steeped in romance, intrigue, and history, the story will keep you turning pages long into the night.

Purchase Link

Through A Writer’s Garden with Susan F. Craft—A Book-inspired Garden

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A Book Inspired Garden, A Writer's Garden, book brick sculptures, Susan F. Craft, Through the Garden Gates, Xanthakos Family Trilogy

A Book-inspired Garden

by Susan F. Craft

I’m creating an “Author’s Garden” in my yard in honor of my Xanthakos Family Trilogy comprised of The Chamomile, Laurel, and Cassia. These inspirational historical romantic suspense novels span from 1780 to 1836 and from the Blue Ridge Mountains, to Charleston, SC, and to the NC Outer Banks.

So far, I’ve planted six chamomiles (none of which lived), three laurel bushes (two of which lived), and four cassia trees (none of which lived). The cassia trees didn’t survive because I live in the wrong area. If I lived in Florida, they would be okay. I’ve put on my thinking cap to find a way to represent cassias in the garden. The other plants died because I am not a great gardener.

When they bloom, chamomile flowers look like daisies, except the yellow centers are cone-shaped instead of flat. When you walk through them, they give off an aroma of apples. I’m planting a new set of chamomiles next week and am hoping for a better outcome. The mountain laurels will have pink blossoms and glossy dark green leaves.

Cassias have brilliant yellow, cascading blooms and reach about ten feet tall. Cassia, the “poor man’s cinnamon,” is mentioned in the Bible several times as one of the ingredients of anointing oil. According to Psalm 45:8, when the Messiah returns, his robes will smell of cassia. (All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad. NIV). I’m going to start searching for a garden sculpture that might represent cassia.

I searched for a long time before I found just the right garden sculpture. It’s a little girl reading, and the pages say “Happy Garden.” Recently, my grand-daughter made these lovely book brick sculptures to add to my garden. I love to sit on the bench in the evenings and listen to the birds and feel the gentle breeze on my face. Usually, our dog, Steeler, curls up on the grass in between my feet. It is the perfect place to daydream about my next novel.

About the Author:

Susan F. Craft writes inspirational historical romantic suspense. Her Xanthakos Family Trilogy includes her Revolutionary War novel, The Chamomile, which won the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Okra Pick (re-released April 2015) and which is nominated for a 2016 Christy Award; its sequel, Laurel (released in January 2015); and the third in the trilogy, Cassia, (released in September 2015), which is also nominated for a 2016 Christy Award. Her publisher is Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas (LPC), and her literary agent is Linda Glaz of Hartline Literary Agency. To assist authors to “get it right about horses in their works,” Susan worked with the International Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation to compile A Writer’s Guide to Horses.

She recently retired after a 45-year career as a communications director, editor, and proofreader. Forty-six years ago, she married her high school sweetheart, and they have two adult children, one granddaughter, and a granddog. An admitted history nerd, she enjoys researching for her novels, painting, singing, listening to music, and sitting on her porch watching the rabbits and geese eat her daylilies. You can connect with Susan at her blog.

 

 

Through the Garden Gate – The Garden of Weedin’

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blog about moderation, Garden photos, Through the Garden Gates, weeding

I don’t know what your garden looks like this year, but because of multiple writing deadlines that hit in the spring, a cold, early winter that put snow on the ground most of the season, a wet spring, and several trips across the county during weeding time, this is what a tiny section of mine looks like. Multiple this by 60×120 feet (because every section of yard except for the house and a 10 foot square section of lawn is flower beds) and you have a gardener’s nightmare.

 

I had to take a shot of the gully area in order to actually show you what’s out of place, because if I had taken a picture of the hillside garden you would just see green—lots of green—with no mulch showing.

 

This gully is supposed to be completely weed-free and the left edge of the photo should look something like this:

 

The right side should be weed-free, too. Instead, it looks like this:

 

And yes, those are three-plus foot tall weeds, Canadian thistles and mare’s tail. Did you know they grow in colonies, so you don’t just get one, you get one-plus-one-plus-one-plus and so on.

Fortunately, for me (and my dear hubby who works alongside me, even though gardening is as much fun to him as changing dirty diapers) the ground is still fairly soft because we’ve had a lot of rain. It’s mid-July already and we are still pulling weeds. Even so, my fingernails ache every time we come in from a weeding session. Which, by the way, tend to be marathons because I’m always saying, “Just a few more feet.” “Just one more bag full, then we’ll quit.” “I just need a little break and we can keep going, right?”

 

So, you ask, what’s the point to a rambling story about Godzilla-height weeds?

 

Everything in moderation. Whether it’s weeding, writing, or wrangling the house chores, I need to learn moderation.

 

Oh, and did I mention I’ve decided to take up all the reseeding flowers and plant more maintenance free items? Like day lilies and iris bulbs, that don’t blow all over the yard or need constant deadheading or spraying and babying, and a veggie garden and Knockout roses.

 

Wonder where I’ll find the time to do that?

 

What about you? Do you need to learn moderation? If you have any suggestions, I’d like to hear them. And do any of you have any suggestions for maintenance-free plants that would do well in southern Ohio?

Through the Garden Gates-Heritage Trail Quilt Gardens #3

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Heritage Quilt gardens, Quilts patterns in flowers, Through the Garden Gates

The ground outside is snow covered—again, and I can hear the sound of the neighbors scrapping their snow shovels on the drives and sidewalk. We’ve had over 12 inches more snow than our area of the country normally has and we are expecting another 3 inches tonight. We also have had some of the coldest weather southern Ohio has seen in 20 years. It’s not South Dakota or Wisconsin weather where the temps are below 0 a lot, not to mention sub-zero wind chills, but it’s colder than we are used to. Thermal silk underwear and my office electric fireplace have been my friends this winter.

However, I just received my first gardening catalogue of the year.  So, you know what time of the year it is for me? Gardening time. Time to open those garden gates and start dreaming of spring and planting.  Every year when the gardening catalogues arrive, I start to get spring fever.

As I perused this year’s first catalogue I remembered I still had some pictures from my Heritage Trail Quilt Gardens that I hadn’t posted, so I decided to bring a bit of summer to the cold Midwest winter we’ve been having.

The Heritage Trail Quilt Gardens are in northern Indiana and last year I talked the hubby into driving up into Amish Country and spending a couple of days driving the quilt routes. If you’d like to see other pictures from the gardens follow these links to my Through the Garden Gates series on the Quilt Gardens.

Now to bring some summer to January’s wintery mix, here are a couple of the quilt garden photos from the 2013 Heritage Quilt Gardens.

Original Pattern “American Smalltown Pride”
photo by DRH

This is an original design entitled “American Smalltown Pride.” The entire pattern looks like this.

The entire pattern looks like this.
Photo by DRH

“Community Roots” Photo by DRH

This pattern is called ”Community Roots” and is based on the logo of the Menno-Hof Anabaptists. The different pieces of the blocks put together imply the importance of community and working together.

Posting these quilt gardens has already boosted my spirit. Now I’ve got to get going on the next book so I’ll be ready to work in my own garden this spring.

 

I’m also on the third day of my Goddess Fish Virtual Book Tour. If you get a chance stop by at It’s Raining Books to learn Five Things You’d Never Guess About Me.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the flowers and the quilts—two of my favorite things that you now know I love.

Through the Garden Gates … at Inniswood Metro Garden, Columbus ,Ohio

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Catherine Castle author, Columbus Ohio, Garden blog, Garden photos, Herb gardens, Inniswood Metro Gardens, Public Gardens, Through the Garden Gates

Through the open door

A drowsy smell of flowers – gray heliotrope

And white sweet clover, and shy mignonette

Comes faintly in, and silent chorus leads

To the pervading symphony of peace —

John Greenleaf Whittier, 19th century

 

 

Today is the last of the herb gardens for this series, but not the last garden blog. This herb garden is at Inniswood Metro Garden. Although the plants in herb gardens are often similar, there is always a surprise around every corner. Lets go …

Through the Garden Gates at Inniswood Metro Gardens … The Herb Garden

Through the Garden Gates … at Park of Roses, Columbus, Ohio

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Catherine Castle author, Columbus Ohio, Garden blog, Herb gardens, Park of Roses, photos of gardens, Public Gardens, Through the Garden Gates

…Here’s flowers for you:

Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram,

The marigold, that goes to bed wi’ the sun,

And with him rises weeping.

–William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale

 

 

We went to Park of Roses see the rose garden, but when we got there they were being watered, so all we could do was smell them. So, we wandered around in the park and discovered a herb garden. Hey, it worked for me! Here are some pictures  …

Through the Garden Gate at the Park of Roses … a Herb Garden.

Through the Garden Gates … at Gantz Park

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Gantz Park, Garden photos, Gardening blog, Grove City Ohio, Herb gardens, Public Gardens, Through the Garden Gates

The herb garden at Gantz Park, in Grove City, Ohio, is quite different from last week’s offering. Gantz Park has subdivided their herb gardens into the gardens of yesterday, today and tomorrow.  They all were, in my opinion, interesting. So let’s go …

Through The Garden Gates into …

Gantz Park Herb Gardens.

Photos © C.Castle and D. Hershberger

Marshmallow flower

In the Garden of Today

Horsemint

The Garden of Today

The Garden of Tomorrow

Through the Garden Gates … Herb Gardens at Kingwood Center

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Catherine Castle author, Garden blog, Garden photos, Garden series, Herb gardens, Kingwood Center Gardens, Public Gardens, Through the Garden Gates

Herb Gardens at Kingwood Center

photos © by C.Castle

 Herb gardens are one of my favorite types of gardens. The array of textures, fragrances, and pure sensory pleasures cannot be matched in any other garden, save a rose garden, in my opinion. In my own garden, herbs are tucked into the borders and scattered through the vegetable garden. But if I had the room, and a flat area,  I’d lay the herb garden out in a wonderful pattern. I love the structured order of a well-thought out herb garden like the one in today’s garden blog. Kingwood Center herb gardens is the first of  three featured gardens  for my Through the Garden Gate series. I hope you stop back because  each garden is uniquely different and beautiful. So let’s go …

Through the Rose Garden Hedge into the Herb Gardens at Kingwood Center

Through the Garden Gates … at Kingwood Center Garden in Mansfield, Ohio.

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Catherine Castle author, estate gardens, Garden blog, Garden photos, Kingwood Center Gardens, Mansfield Ohio, Public Gardens, Through the Garden Gates

As I sit here today under yet another 90+ degree temperature watching my garden dry up, except for the weeds which seem to be the only thing thriving with my efforts to keep things well watered, I’m longing for the lush landscapes of the gardens we visited in May. So, on that note, here are a few of the many photos we took of Kingwood Center. Kingwood Center is a 47-acre former estate garden open to the public since 1953. There are a variety of gardens within the estate, some which will be featured in a later blog. There are just too many pictures for one blog! I hope you enjoy strolling through the garden as much as I did. If you visit the gardens, wear sturdy walking shoes and don’t forget your camera!

Through the Garden Gates at Kingwood Center Garden in Mansfield, Ohio.

All photos © by D. Hershberger & Catherine Castle

Through the Garden Gates … at the Krohn Conservatory Butterfly Display

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Butterfly show, Catherine Castle, Cincinnati Ohio gardens, Gardening blog, Krohn Conservatory, On the Wings of Harmony, pictures of butterflies, Through the Garden Gates

On Wings of Harmony

Butterflies of the World

All photos © by D. Hershberger

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Cincinnati Parks Butterfly display at Krohn Conservatory. The display, open through July 15, is worth the trip. Outside we could see our area butterflies flitting through the butterfly gardens near the entrance.

black and orange butterfly on Brown-eyed Susans

Butterfly topiary at Krohn Conservatory

Inside in the showroom hundreds of butterflies from six continents flew free, much to the delight of the visitors.  If you look closely at the picture above you can see a blue butterfly flying past. As we entered volunteers gave us bright orange papers imprinted with a flower design to hold out and see if we could get butterflies to land. I wasn’t successful in that endeavor, although my husband, who was standing very still trying to get pictures, had quite a few butterflies land on him.

The showroom was a riot of color, filled with blooms that attract butterflies. As the butterflies soared above me, I twirled in place to take in the sight. I love watching the butterflies in my garden, but this was even better. At home I mostly have small white or yellow butterflies, the occasional black one with a swoop of blue on the tail and the familiar orange and black monarchs. Here turquoise blue, pumpkin orange, black and white striped, red and black striped and polka-dotted wings filled the air and hovered over the flowers. I was in butterfly heaven!

If you’ve never been to a butterfly show, I highly recommend it. There is something magical about these rainbow-colored, fragile creatures fluttering around, lighting on flowers and sometimes people, as we try to catch a glimpse of their beauty.

If you go, it’s hot in the showroom, so wear cool clothes. If they’re brightly colored and you stand still you might just find that you have become a butterfly magnet. According to my mother’s folklore , wherever a butterfly lands on you means you’ll get something new to wear. So all you single girls, who want that engagement ring, might want to hold out the left ring finger … just in case Mom was right.