the secret garden

I'm currently on an adventure in Southern Africa, and right now we're visiting my sister-in-law outside of Johannesburg. She lives in a cluster home (similar to a gated condominium community in the states) with one of the loveliest gardens you'll ever see. As we're both avid gardeners, we usually keep one another up to speed on our latest projects. There's a certain magic in watching a garden evolve over time as plants grow larger and bulbs multiply, some things die off while others take over. And since she lives in a different climate than mine, I can't help but drool over the exotics-to-me she has growing like echeverias & succulents or clivias and strelitzias. It's a whole new world of gardening at my fingertips!

 But its not just the lemon tree and palm tree that gets me excited, it's also the extraordinary treasures in her garden that thoroughly has me charmed. Each morning as I plot out my Good Morning shot, I debate over which nook and cranny to showcase that day. Peering into each little retreat gives me a mysterious thrill of discovery. Because its not just the wide array of fascinating vegetation that makes this garden for me, its also the treasures within it that hold the most allure. Cacti spill out of hand-made planters from a previous pottery class while a fishpond holds a water feature made of ceramic masks that once hung on her mother's wall. There's a sensuous statue holding court over water lilies and tall grasses, in fact, everywhere you look there's a new story waiting to be told! And as exciting as these discoveries can be, its the long conversations shared on the covered patio over coffee in the mornings or glasses of wine at night that make this secret garden so special. I think lhlove3 gets this too, don't you agree? She's captured the extraordinary appeal of a garden detail in her picture below.

 Holly ~ Soupatraveler

With a Twist by lhlove3