Turkey Tracks: July 16, 2013
Sunday July 14 was the annual Georges Valley Land Trust Garden Tour: “Gardens in the Watershed.” It was such a treat to see this year’s seven gardens–each one special and wonderful. So, come along with me for some of the highlights of the day. I am listing each garden separately as there would be too, too many pictures otherwise.
Gardens of Tina Marriner and Robert Pearse
A few years ago, I noticed that someone up the hill was creating a whole lot of new gardens.
Over the years I slowed the car, complimented the tall, slender, dark-haired woman on her project, and waved.
Sunday I met her close up and enjoyed that meeting so much. She has been watching a crow family over the last weeks as they raise their one chick. We could hear him crying in the background for food from his parents all the while we talked.
Tina Marriner is growing sunflowers for the market. She will plant 15,000 sunflowers this year, of 39 different kinds.
They are spectacular, of course. Here’s a bed of one kind–the house belongs to Tina’s neighbor across Howe Hill Road.
Here’s Tina herself in the volunteer tent:
Here’s some sense of the scale of her sunflower gardens. There are also beds behind me, including a huge round one filled with sunflowers just about to bloom.
There are lots of deer on Howe Hill. Tina is using mothballs in small red cans mounted on sticks to discourage them:
Here’s a close-up of the arrangement:
To the left of these beds is a small pond. Big fat frogs were sunning themselves on the surface. The house is on the other side of the trees to the right.
Here’s the house–note the solar panels. We’re seeing more and more of them up here in Maine.
Here’s the gorgeous view from the house:
Look at how Tina is growing Sweet Peas–which are probably my all-time favorite flowers: Plastic ribbed sheets hung with wire for the peas to climb.
What a treat to see this property. Tina’s Facebook page is “Tina’s Cut Flowers” if you want to see what she’s up to.
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