I believe you can learn a lot by seeing what others are doing, especially with gardening. The Shepherdstown Community Club, a non-profit that manages buildings and parks in town (Shepherdstown, WV), hosts an annual fundraiser: a garden walk with a tea party. I picked up tickets and took the walk – and got sunny weather for it. We started as early as we could to beat the heat.
Now then, gardening in town is often flower-based, not vegetable-based. And that is ok, as Shepherdstown takes pride in being a “bee city”.
What I found is how many of the historical homes in town have hidden courtyards, where you can sit in the shade and feel like you are a mile away from town.
This home, the owner took pride in her permaculture-based herb designs, and also quirky builds. I liked it. My kind of gardener.
While not what I am into, I can respect great builds! This courtyard was dreamy to walk in.
The town has many alleyways dating back to pre-Revolutionary War times, when horses were stored there. So many have alleyway garages – or she sheds now.
I saw many flowers I had never seen before. A peony that is far fancier than the ones we have.
As we walked the alleyways, there was, as always, lots of history to spy upon.
We had a map to follow, and on it were a couple of “Bonus Gardens” that you could visit. I liked these the most because they felt more down-to-earth to me. And these were also open to walk-ins and checkouts.
I liked the painting of this shed.
I had walked by this massive yard – the house itself is huge, and yes, historic. I found out that when the current owner bought it, it was just a lawn. She has built multiple sitting areas throughout, with both sunny and shaded areas. It was neat to walk across and see it all.
Feeling finally sapped by the sun, we stopped in for the tea party and cooled off with plenty of lemonade and iced tea.
~Sarah