SCALE OF BALANCE 

Sandra Elizabeth Visnapuu

As an obsessive lover of the garden, I have learnt that no matter how much schooling you’ve had, “if you can’t feel it, you can’t.” I fell into this world of gardening not for want of a profession but from my endless imagination that will fill my brain until I stop thinking. 

Referred to as ‘my shadow’ from one Grandfather and ‘my pet’ by the other, words were rare as I watched the care given to their gardens. The handful of fruit and vegetables freshly picked for the house were as a piece of sculpture, while intoxicating fragrance of the bundle of flowers placed in my arms (a challenge to manage!) followed me right through the door.

In the Easy Bay of San Francisco, Grandpa had your classic garden with an additional ‘picking garden,’ which supplied many local churches besides their own with flowers. In contrast, my Grandad had a country garden at an elevation of 2,070’ in Volcano, California, well known as the gold rush country, where we ran wild. We often returned covered in blood from picking the delicious Olallieberries, which covered the outside of many abandoned gold mines. We actually got a handful of coins from Grandad for the pies and tarts to be made from our efforts. 

These 2 dear men were totally opposite but both shielded me in every possible way and exposed me to varied beauty and the solitude of one’s garden. Loving the formal and the informal brought a desire to learn more of the why, what and how. Structure was apparent in both but used so differently in the informal that it escaped my notice, which it should. Education and experience has taught me that it is the hand on the scale of balance that is of importance for success.

A priority is to meld the properties demands with those interests or loves of its owners otherwise the real beauty of a garden is lost.