The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D.,
Ph.D. (10/20/2014)
The curves of the
wall and the textures of the plants and bricks all drew one into the experience
of the garden. Neises may have had such
an experience in mind when she designed her front yard, factoring in spaces,
colors, heights, and textures. As she
said, “It was all in my head” before she began sculpting it. It is a work of art, as it should be, because
Pam is by profession an interior designer and by avocation a landscape
designer. In college she majored in interior
design with a minor in art history.
But
more than that, she’s a “hands on” gardener, inheriting from her mother a love
of gardening. As well as having the
“eye” of an artist, she gardens with her back and hands. She and her son, Chase, did all of the heavy
lifting, and the soil has flowed through her fingers. As with experienced gardeners, she
understands the value of perennials.
But more than a
work of art, her garden is a therapeutic experience. She said, “The garden is my de-stresser,” as
it often is for gardeners, and what better way to make a garden a de-stresser
than to make it an experience in which one is drawn by the colors, shapes, and
textures. We release our stresses when we
are drawn out of ourselves, such as petting a dog, enveloping our selves in
music, experiencing a garden. She has created
such an experience with her garden.
The
eye is drawn along that long, curving wall holding back its masses of grasses
and flowers, its greens, blues, yellows, and oranges, to a stand of trees, pines,
maples and aspens, shielding the garden from the world, creating a haven of
peace. Secluded with a steep bank on the
left, maples and pines in the front, a fence on the right, her front lawn is
spread out as though it were a meadow, a meadow of thyme and grass. Her front yard is an experience akin to being
cradled in God’s arms.
As with most of
us, she has divided her garden in two parts, the front yard and the back. Her back yard is for her dogs, two Australian
shepherds, and her front yard is for her.
She has designed the back yard for the dogs, a safe place for them to
play, sleep, and eat, and a place, as well, for her to take care of them and
pick up after them.
From her front
porch as well as her kitchen window, her front yard is for her an experience in
which she can touch base with herself and renew herself. When
she returns home from work and looks out the kitchen window, she is drawn into the
private world of her garden, something akin to Claude Monet’s water lilies.
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A garden has many
purposes but paramount amongst them is tranquility. It is difficult to imagine a calling more
stressing in itself than that of an interior designer with all of the competing
calls of the designer’s knowledge and sense of good taste and the customer’s
desires. It is a job that would require
immense emotional stamina and a place where the designer could find herself
again.
Her garden’s not
only a spring through autumn garden, it’s also December garden. She decorates her front yard much as most
people decorate their living rooms at Christmas with large colorful balls
hanging from those maples, pines, and aspens.
Ironically, she transforms her private haven into a community
celebration.
Driving past her
front yard any time of the year is slightly hazardous. The impulse is to take one’s eyes off the
road.
Copyright
© Dana Prom Smith
Dana Prom Smith and Freddi Steele edit Gardening Etcetera for the Arizona
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