Orcas Garden Club presents Margaret Payne, joyful gardener

||| FROM ORCAS ISLAND GARDEN CLUB |||

Please join us on Wednesday, May 21, at the Orcas Center when Orcas Island Garden Club welcomes Margaret Payne to describe helpful principles and practices to find joy in the garden and show us slides depicting deeply personal and joyful gardens in Mexico, France, England, Scotland, Wales, Croatia and her own garden on Orcas.

Margaret Payne

Margaret wrote: “I think too many folks think of gardening as difficult and demanding of esoteric knowledge. When we relax and let the earth and our personal aesthetic show the way —in other words, when we garden with “soul” rather than “instructions” — we create deeply personal gardens that are joyful for both ourselves and visitors to our gardens.   

I began gardening nearly 50 years ago now, which is hard to believe. My style has always been “organic,” meaning it develops as I go. I don’t seek to impose a design on a landscape. I like it to “tell” me what it wants to be. I have always sought joy in gardens. I believe this stems from my first experiences of gardens — “grandma” gardens that were rather haphazardly created and maintained, but full of wonders of leaf, flower, food, and decoration. You don’t forget these things. Nasturtiums!

At 78, I am beginning work on my fourth major garden, on the south end of Orcas. This joy is what keeps me moving and dreaming. It is just the best thing.”

The presentation begins at 10 am at the Orcas Center. Margaret will present from there. For a link to the live Zoom presentation go to the Orcas Island Garden Club website and click the link below the list of presentations. The presentation will be recorded. To watch the recorded presentation, go to the link ‘recorded presentations’ under ‘events’ on the club website.

Garden Club presentations are free and open to the public.