Though this is a large garden, many of our favorite things are planted near to hand.  Lilacs and roses cluster beneath one bedroom window, and our oldest Stewartia grows beneath the other.  Our one precious Ilex opaca crowds against the foundation of the living room below one window, sheltered both by the winter shade thrown by the house and the warmth of the basement wall.  The bright yellow culms of Phyllostachys aureosulcata ‘Spectabilis’ enjoy a similar protection and brush against each other, creating what the Japanese call the sound of silence.  The beautiful soft pink hybrid magnolia called ‘Leonard Messel’ overhangs the kitchen door.  And across the face of the house are three deciduous hollies, Ilex verticillata, which are as old as it is and have grown into muscular shapes like small trees.

Because our house is small, that leaves only one aspect, out the upstairs bathroom window, and it is dominated by one of our most treasured small trees, important enough to share a place in our affections even with the Stewartia or the magnolia.  The tree is Sorbus alnifolia, the Alder-leaved or Korean Mountain Ash, and we see it every hour of the day, every day of the year.  Best of all, we look into its crown, close to its leaves and flowers and fruit and somber winter bark, not as if the tree stood out in the garden but is almost part of the room we are in. Read More | Comments