Dunsmuir Garden
Hollyhocks, apples,
lavender, lettuce, Swiss chard
love close company.
Friendships grow across the fence–
thriving in community.
© 2016 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)
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I haven’t had a garden of pretties and edibles for some years now. We’re not allowed to grow food plants in the garden beds of our townhouse. But if I ever had a food garden again, I’d like it to be a plot in a community garden. There’s something about gardening in community that seems so right!
This post is connected to Poetry Friday, hosted this week by Penny Klosterman at her blog, Blog-a-penny and her jots.
Violet Nesdoly 
Community gardens are such a good idea and a wonderful use of public space. I always like looking at all the little plots.
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We don’t really have space for a garden but I grew up eating fresh vegetables and fruit all summer. My grandpa and dad were big gardeners and let me and my sisters help plant and pick. Great memories.
I love how the plants are in close company…their own community… in your poem.
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That picture certainly shows off the ‘close company’. I drive by a community garden by a church when I go to the bookstore and often see those tending their plots, but standing by each other visiting, looks fun. Thanks, Violet, a nice connection.
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Thanks, Linda! And I’m pleased you picked up on the human friendship and community angle that I hoped would come across in this. Because that’s what attracts me about this many-plotted gardens–the friendships that grow along with the Swiss chard and melons.
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My daughter has a pea-patch community plot and has been sending me photos all summer of her vegetable harvests! I love the idea of the plantings being a community, too, as well as the gardeners! Thanks for the poem.
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I totally agree! Community is the way to go… we all thrive that way. Beautiful photo and touching poem, Violet.
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I love growing flowers, but only the ones that survive pretty much on their own when I forget about them. Food plants, not so much, as they tend to like their consistent caregivers better than somebody like me who forgets them for a week!
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Dori, I sort of feel the same way. Even when I could have a vegetable garden, it became an iffy proposition. I felt guilty about using any sort of pesticides, yet was constantly competing with the cabbage butterflies, cutworms and slugs. It ended up being more work than it was worth. Then there’s my sis, who is a committed community gardener and has kale and beans and Swiss chard enough to turn us all green!
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I agree, community gardens are a great concept, Violet. I love the line in your poem: “friendships grow across the fence” – our photo proves it! =)
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Beautiful photograph, Violet–and a wonderful poem to accompany it. I especially like your final two lines.I’m jealous of your sunny garden. That’s the one drawback of living in the woods!
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Buffy, the garden is mine only in photograph! Dunsmuir garden is a huge community garden near us where I love to harvest with my camera. It’s lovely in every season.
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Beautiful! It makes me think of Seedfolks, which I usually read with my seventh graders in the spring! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Violet, I love the observation of these plants that love close company… it’s comforting, esp. when you carry it through to the community in your poem. Thank you!
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I’ve pretty much given up on a garden that produces food for humans. Instead, I am growing more and more milkweed for monarchs and dill and parsley for black swallowtails and morning glories for the hummingbirds!
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Awww, sweet! And I’m sure all those flying critters thank you.
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