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Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park: “Uncovering Serenity”
My love affair with Japanese gardens began many years ago when I was a student at Cranbrook Summer Theater School in Bloomfield Hills. Later, when I had a home of my own, I created a small Japanese garden in a corner of our back yard. When the editor of Michigan Blue asked me to write a feature story about the newly installed Japanese Garden at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I jumped at the chance. This magnificent eight-acre landscape is a work of art — and well worth a visit. You can read my feature here, in the “Travel & Adventure” issue of Michigan…
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The Healing Power of Gardening
“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” ~May Sarton Gardening restores me — no matter what else is going on around me. The essay below is a tribute to my Scottish-immigrant grandfather and his garden. It first appeared a few years ago in Country Gardens and was reprinted in the American and British editions of Reader’s Digest. It’s also included in my essay collection, Writing Home. Grandpa’s Ferns My grandfather was the proverbial Scottish curmudgeon, born and bred on a farm in the Orkney Islands. In his last…
