Connections

Except for the peonies my father nurtured in our backyard, I grew up knowing nothing about flower gardens.

The plants and flowers that inhabited my world were wild ones, native to the hills and woods of New York and New Jersey, and what I remember as almost miraculous summer vegetables. I never thought I would become a gardener, and I didn't.

But something unexpected is going on this summer. Living year-round in the Village of East Hampton for the first time, I have inherited what remains of old plantings near the house and barn, and flower beds filled with perennials.

At first, it was just a matter of trying to find out what they were, but now the gardening bug is beginning to bite.

At 10 the other night, after a long day's work, I went home and found myself devouring a recently published book that had come to The Star called "The Well-Tended Perennial Garden." It was only when my husband called from New York City to say good night that I realized I had been at it without sitting down for almost a half hour.

The book's arrival was serendipitous. Here were the answers to questions I had been asking about which plants need to be deadheaded or cut back and which would be best left alone.

Yes, I guess I knew that flower gardens tend to be at their low points in midsummer. What I hadn't considered was what could be done about it, or that I would want to do it.

Of course, the latter remains to be seen. There are lots of things I plan to do and continue to plan to do as the years go by.

Perhaps gardening will be different. The campanula, crocosmia, echinacea, and astilbe, among those flowers I have learned to call by name, have been a surprise and a delight. They make every morning feel like a new beginning.

Helen S. Rattray