I have a clump of Milk and Wine Lily (Crinum sp.) that has followed me since I left home.  It was a start from a massive clump in my grandparent’s garden and relegated to a black plastic pot through college and rentals. It’s planted now at the sunny edge of White Oak that sits just outside the kitchen window.  I see it in the mornings as I pour coffee and it reminds me of home.  It is more than a specimen or a part of garden combination.  It is one of the pictures I have both inside and out of the family, home, and life from which I’ve grown.

On the porch outside my studio, free standing Heart of Pine columns struggle to hang on to the layers of mint green paint applied before I was born.  A ceramic insulator sticks off one, a remnant of a time when electric power was intended solely for a porch light.  They are cracked and worn from 100 years of weather and the daily use of a farmhouse.   We salvaged these prior to the affects of being empty completed the toll of returning the house to dust.  I often sit and look at them.  They tell a story that I don’t know the beginning or end to, but one still worth hearing.

Heirlooms, antiques, and artifacts have a place in outdoor spaces.  They create a mental layer of interaction that is as stimulating as that obtained through the eyes.  Architectural pieces, repurposed antiques, and heirloom or passalong plants all work.  The point is to add them, listen to the stories, and feel the deeper interactions taking place.

We continually look for plants and structural pieces to add to our spaces.  Take a look at our Antiques and Artifacts section at www.InBloomGardens.com or some of the photo folders at Facebook.com/PeachFestivalGardens to see some of the finds. 

This small town does not get into a hurry most days, and the slow pace sets a tone that causes many to linger for a quiet conversation.  The subject varies from farm life told between the creaks of a rocking chair at Price’s Country Store, to the results of Little League Baseball heard among the shuffling of clay filled cleats at Joey’s Sandwich Shop.  On days that are warm and bright, the same type of quiet conversation will happen here as plants are loaded in trunks and truck beds.  One of my favorites occurred last fall.         

I liked the Clarks, as soon as I met them.  They drove a fire engine red, Ford LTD and I loaded the trunk with Sarracenias and Hypertufa.  We had walked the nursery talking plants, Aiken, and the Apple Butter she makes in her great grandfather’s copper pot. As they prepared to leave, they mentioned a potter friend they thought I should meet, and later Facebook interactions created the opportunity.

Gary Dexter has deep roots in Edgefield and Aiken Counties.  He is a student of the area’s history and culture.  Pottery in general has been a passion, but the historically uncompromised creation of ash glazed, wood fired pottery has been his focus for 15 years.

Garydigs clays from the area he has lived most of his life, the same area famous potters, including Dave Drake (Dave the Slave), utilized.  Gary’s hands touch and turn each vessel, stacks them in a traditional Groundhog Kiln for the several days long firing, and applies a glaze in a manner perfected 200 years ago.  The failure rate is high, but the final piece is exact and true to the coveted pieces placed in private and museum collections.     

The dedication and quality of Gary Dexter’s work is being recognized beyond that of a simple potter.  He is involved in a partnership setting up a kiln and museum on top of the ruins of the 19th century Baynham Pottery site in Trenton, SC. Hopefully, the site will be ready for visitors by summer. It will be the only authentic operating pottery adhering to the old Edgefield stoneware traditions, and the site will be used for training students in archaeology field work and for providing a venue for courses focusing on 19th century pottery making.

While in transition to the Baynham Pottery site, and hopefully for years to come, Gary has entrusted us with some representative pieces of both his Edgefield style and contemporary pottery work.  They are on display in the studio at Peach Festival Gardens, and are represented on both the Facebook and Web pages we maintain.  Gary also has a well made and maintained site at www.dexterpottery.com. Take a look.  The work is beautiful and timeless. 

The bleached white headers of college ruled notebook paper and the slick gloss margins of slightly used textbooks were filled with the blue stain of a cheap Bic pen while I was in college.  I did well, but often mentally left the confines of a windowless lecture hall for more open spaces surrounding beautiful Clemson.  The doodles reflected my inspiration: dark hills of Hemlock and Rhododendron hiding treasures of Trillium and Asarum in perpetual dusk lighting with rock, moss, and cold water foils.

Untouched, unspoiled natural areas inspire me and the Carolinas are dense with areas thick in botanical, geological, and topographic diversity.  They affect how I design and the plants I choose.  Huechera and Tiarella are just right in the crevices of boulders, whether at the edge of a mountain stream or in a Lexington County granite outcrop.  Established long and winding paths around and through native stands dictate design and are synonyms of paths followed around a Pond Cypress Bay in Awendaw to see all 4 types of pitcher plant (Sarracenia sp.)  Rock groupings vary in size. Some are placed within the soil, like years of weather has lead to exposure, to mimic scenes of the area where the Broad and Saluda Rivers converge.      

..........

Today, the Romagnola herd slowly grazes the relic fence line as I watch from the window by my desk.  The scene often distracts me, and I find the same cheap Bic pens staining the edges of my notebook with things other than the task at hand.  The cows are beautiful, and so is the half a century old rusty wire and weathered cedar fence line.  It follows the curve of the hill down into oblivion, the same place the sun goes to in July.  The seed heads of the tall grass glow in late day sun and dance among the slow stiff pace of cows and fence.

This scene along with other utilitarian aspects of rural life often inspire me: the symmetry of peach trees in the local orchards, the chaos of plants taking over abandoned buildings, the sparkle of fine droplets from agricultural irrigation raining down on freshly planted fields, and the variation in greens of different row crops planted side by side.  Experiences such as this have lead to the placement of Sweetgrass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) in the path of those starting a new day; backlit by the rising sun and wet with irrigation.  Houses with overbearing architecture are often slathered in plant bulk, including vigorous vines, in lieu of the common over clipped symmetry.  Subtle combinations focus on the contrasts of foliage color, like the chartreuse tones from stem and leaves of Wintergreen Boxwood, the burgundy of Ajuga, the blue of Agave, and the white of Miscanthus. 

Garden inspiration is not relegated to the garden.  Anyplace where form, texture, and color come together are potential contributors to the design process.  Take a minute to stop, it’s there.  Look.