My English Garden(er)

I grew up in the suburbs and, after college, considered myself lucky to live in a number of cities—New York, Rome and Milan, among them. To now find myself happily embracing country life is, putting it mildly, a surprise. And while I do occasionally miss the water (see Blog Post #2) or the high energy of a city, I have come to realize that the wide-open spaces I currently inhabit are a balm to my soul.

Flora and fauna were never of particular interest to me for obvious reasons—they weren’t in abundance in the places I had lived! That all changed when I met my husband who is (in no particular order): very English, an avid gardener, a lover of small woodland animals, obsessed with hummingbirds and self aware enough to know gardening keeps him happy and sane.

Through him I have learned to be in awe of the natural world. Which is why, when Salt & Apple Designs started taking shape, I was drawn to bird and floral engravings. These prints, unlike the fish, shell and marine prints in our collection, required no pops of color--they already had so many of their own. One just has to read the names--indigo bunting, yellow warbler, red-tailed hummingbird, blue iris, green heron, ruby-throated hummingbird, yellow iris—to understand this.

From May to September, when my husband disappears into the all-consuming world of flowers, fragrance, weeds, birds and, of course, unwanted pests, I joke with friends that I become a “Garden Widow”. Which is okay, particularly now that I have found another way to celebrate the beauty of nature without getting dirt under my fingernails. I’ve always liked the idea that ‘opposites attract’—in all relationships, not just romantic ones—because there is no better way to be introduced to those things we otherwise would have missed were it not for the ‘opposites’ in our lives.