The garden in August . . . disastrous or glorious?

Studying our large, overgrown garden at this time of year, I see an army of weeds needing to be plucked, garlic due to be harvested, straggly raspberry bushes blocking portions of a path, assorted trees and shrubs in desperate need of pruning and the odd raised bed that never did get cleared out for planting last spring.

But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When a teenager paid us a visit the other day, she exclaimed as she walked into the mass of wayward vegetation: “It’s like entering The Secret Garden!” As Emerson said: “So shall we come to look at the world with new eyes.”