Serenity in the Garden

“Light is a thing that cannot be reproduced, but must be represented by something else - by color.”   -  Paul Cezanne

Have you heard about Cucamelons?   Also called mouse melons?   This tiny watermelon look-alike from south of the border is grape-sized and tastes of cucumber with a hint of lime. They are going to be very popular soon, kind of like the 'ipad mini' of the vegie world... Why? because they are  pest free, drought tolerant, easy to grow,  and a vigorous climber/trailer that produces masses of fruit throughout the summer!  from Suttons Seeds in the UK Its botanical name is  Melothria scabra  and it comes from  Mexico/Central America  where it is called  sandita de Raton  (little mouse melon).  They have been grown there since Pre-Columbian times and need a sheltered sunny spot to grow.  from Suttons Seeds packet Their taste is unusual in that - first it tastes like cucumber but the aftertaste is something tart.. Karen Bertelsen of the blog  'The Art of Doing Stuff'  describes it this way: "When you bite into the mouse melon the fi

I once had a landscape client named Dr. Maury Leibovitz. He was an older gentleman and asked me to create a perennial garden for him in his large property in Greenwich, Ct.  We had a lot of fun doing it. He enjoyed it greatly. During that time he gave me a tour of his estate's grounds and shared stories of  the magnificent sculptures that dotted the landscape.  I learned that he started out as an accountant for  Occidental Petroleum Corporation and became an associate of the the corporation's late chairman, Dr. Armand Hammer . Leibovitz  and Hammer shared a love of fine art and together purchased Knoedler Galleries and Publishing in 1971. Jo Davidson and Gertrude Stein in Paris - photo by Man Ray  Maury shared stories of how he found certain artists. And one sculpture in particular he loved - Gertrude Stein by Jo Davidson .  He and I stood there  and admired it, set in a pastoral setting, and I listened to his stories. I told him that his gift was to share