Goodbye To All That....(shade)

 It's such a
great phrase, and
I'm about to
read the Graves
book, but I hate
that I have to
apply it to
my beloved
afternoon-shade
flowerbed.  The
shade is all gone.

It's going to be sun all day this year, and forever on.  I lost all
taste for tending this patch last fall as I contemplated the grinding
toil in sun that would be involved, but some pictures in my mind
of the Dutch Wave perennial style that I've been gobbling up
for years via the British press, [mostly via Piet Oudolf] inserted
themselves in my mind's eye.   

here's how the yard
was organized for
donkey's years...

...but last summer,
we were forced to
cut down this
huge tree because
it was pushing
over our garage...
goodbye to a
partial shade
garden I could
work in without
sweating and
contracting
melanoma...
sigh...

 can a tiny
version of this gigantic
vision fit into
my tiny yard?

scratching chin,
I pulled out
this pamphlet
I bought at the
Garden
Museum...

 ..this is English,
of course, so
much translation
will be needed...
plus all the
theory in the
world doesn't
substitute for
all the @#*@%%_+
digging in the
cruel sun...

...hearts pounded
round the world
as the word came
from the master
himself...

 the key will be if
the plants I want
are available
around here... 
Next is my study of
Oudolf's High Line, here in NYC.   Between that and the Seasonal Border in the
New York Botanical
Garden, I will have a
great guide to what
will grow in this style in these parts.  No plant list or diagram forthcoming from NYBG, but the High Line site is very generous with its information.  I am saved!

I pored over,
with magnifier,
the mysterious
Serpentine plans,
copied out the
symbols, and
checked my
old sketch, just
to help cram in
such information...

3 summers in
London yielded
lots of great
clippings...

 so here I am, playing
grad student...

... wish
me luck...
I am having
such fun
pretending to
plan this new
garden, but
I know full well
that talking the
talk isn't walking
the walk!  Those
who can, do...
those who can't ---
collect clippings!