Weekly Photo Challenge … Masterpiece

Almost twenty four years ago to the day we moved into this house and the garden was a blank canvas. It, like the house it had been subjected to a thorough makeover.  The tiny walled garden was a path, a lawn and a skinny border; planted with a few spindly half-hardy perennials.

From that day to this I have filled the garden with every perceivable plant; removing the lawn bit by bit.  I don’t pretend to be a gardener; but try as I might I cannot think of an alternative ‘title’  Artist fits best as I try to bring colour, depth, shape, light and shade, mood, perspective and temperature to little more than a postage stamp with plants, shrubs and trees. To add to the effect I have added other structures like raised beds and mirrors.  For the most part I have been successful and on the way developed some gardening skills; so I am more able to bring order to some of the artist’s  rather outrageous implementations.  

However,  one plant has become a bit of a conundrum and caused some tension between the artist, gardener and now, would be environmentalist who has begun to play a part in the master piece.  

In a bid to bring some wildlife into the garden, I planted some random seeds like foxgloves and teasels.  Not the best choice as they are disproportionately tall for my small garden.  So the environmentalist won the day and promptly forgot about them.  While the foxgloves never appeared, the teasels have grown with a vengeance; growing taller than a nearby tree. Not aesthetically pleasing at all.  Gertrude Jekyll and Monet I am sure are groaning in their graves.

However these strange prickly monsters that look so at home on the edge of the motorway do have some pleasing attributes. They have very prickly stems and where the mighty paddle like leaves ‘sprout’ a little well forms to hold water. As the flowers grow rather like thistles; tiny and a delicate green, so pale mauve petals appear and drop like like snow,  into the little pools of water and spider’s webs.

Although the teasels have not yet attracted the finches as I hoped; they do attract other flying creatures.  

As the ‘chucker’ of the seeds it gives me great joy but I don’t make any claims towards its creation and it aesthetic-ness

Masterpiece -ness like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.