Already, as I Write These Words in Mid-October of 2024, Memories of High Summer are Fading as Fast as the Surviving Blooms that Somehow Manage to Linger On Inside the Walled Garden’s High Red Brick Perimeter

But, to give you a glimpse of just what it was like to stroll through the thousands and thousands of beautiful, colorful and startling cascades of plants, here are a few pictures that should give you some idea of the fun we had enjoying the Walled Garden of Alta Vista’s very first summer season

Now that summer is gone and autumn is in full swing I look back on the walled garden’s miraculous appearance with something approaching sheer disbelief. How could it be that this old run down roofless red brick filling station could possibly burst into such a spectacular explosion of blossoms, blooms and verdant vegetation? Well, the answer of course hinges on a whole lot of work built upon the support and belief of Ben Kormanic, owner of K Construction, who placed his faith and ample resources in me to come up with an English Country Walled Garden where previously stood and old wreck of a building – and that was one full year ago, in October of 2023.
It is my intention to post a series of before and after pictures in order to underscore the point regarding the walled garden’s dramatic transformation, but that will have to wait for another post at a later day. For today I simply want to share a few of my favorite photos that depict the garden in the full flush of summer – it’s first summer, with as few comments as I can limit myself to in order to let you wander around and take in the scene for yourself. So, here goes….

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Please click on a photo to enlarge

Kris was in her element pretty much all summer long, and was never happier than when she got to wander around and pick her favorite blooms at will, creating bushels of colorful arangements on an almost daily basis.

We soon developed a neat little slogan: You Pick, We Snip, since we found that people were quite hesitant to simply wade in and start cutting flowers here and there. This way, we enabled them to take home the longest stems holding the brightest, freshest, most beautiful flowers. Best of all was watching the local children running around picking out their favorites to take home to their moms. Gradually they began to learn their various names: “Zin-ne-a”, “Mari-gold”, “Cos-mos”. Happy memories, indeed.

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Myself, I loved to cut the basil – six varieties in all: Regular Italian and Genovese, Regular Thai and Thai Spicy Globe, Purple Ruffles and Siam Queen. I’ve no idea just how many pounds I snipped but bags and bags of the lovely stuff were eagerly carried away over the length of the summer. And even today (mid October) the basil raised bed is still going, although a little past its prime, it must be said. Still, never in my wildest dreams, as Kris and I headed east down I-70 from Colorado last year, did I imagine that Kansas would, or could, produce not only the best basil I have ever grown, but possibly – quite possibly – the very BEST basil EVER to be grown. It was THAT good. Consequently, we now have pounds of dried basil to give away over the winter months as nice little reminders of The Walled Garden of Alta Vistas first, spectacular, success. Ahhhh, Basil !

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Surprisingly enough, tobacco made a stunning appearance by not only putting out scores and scores of beautiful brilliant white and very fragrant flowers, but also these massive, succulent deep green leaves. I only decided to add them at the last minute when laying out the garden, as I have never been in a climate suitable to grow the stuff before, but I thought, here I am, Indian Peace Pipe is aparently quite native to Kansas, so why not? Now it is difficult to imagine the walled garden’s first summer transpiring without them. They certainly drew a lot of attention, I can tell you.

But perhaps the most spectacular and unexpected contribution to the floral array were these flaming red Amaranths – one of four distinctive varieties to adorn the garden this summer, and what longlasting blooms these monsters were too. Almost everyone who had their photos taken seemed to gravitate to them, and not surprisingly perhaps, no one had the slightest idea just what they were. But, truth be told, neither did we, as I have never grown them before, but I certainly will from now on in. The birds too loved them by the way, bouncing from bunch to bunch to munch on their aparently delicious seeds.

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The vivid pinky, red purply Amaranths never ceased to amaze and entertain walled garden guests throughout the summer. And we were quite surprised by their odd appearance too. And guess what? They are still there today, one month into the autumn, looking quite as good and amazing as ever. Amaranths – who knew?

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However, it was the fabulous Morning Glories that quite took the place by surprise – crawling up the wall, around the windows and gleefully invading just about any space they could. But what a lovely sight they made each morning as they greeted the eye with a veritable calvalcade of the most beautiful colors imaginable; pink, purple and bluer than blue. Of course, they would fade to almost nothing by late afternoon, but each and every morning, there they were, cheerful as ever and quite undaunted. A lesson and inspiration, if ever there was one.

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Over the course of the summer a lot of sculpture made its appearance within the walls of the walled garden, and it was fun to place them here and there. And being ‘Light, Portable and Carved for Full Immersion in the Real World’, such as my carving are, it was the usual simple case of picking them up and moving them here and there at will – no heavy lifting gear required. And THAT’s the benefit that my Reductionist Tendancies bring to the art world. Put it wherever you will. You and the sculpture will benefit from a little spontaneous, light hearted flexibility. Because, after a while, all carvings grow old and bored if they are simply left to rot in place. In the end, nobody really even see them, let alone enjoys glimpsing them here and there around ‘the real world’.

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But, this post is not so much about my sculpture as it is about flowers… flowers and flowers and lot’s more flowers. Oh, and butterflies…

There were some real beauties roaming around the garden this summer – and bees and hummingbirds too, plenty of them. Of course, there were none at first, none at all. After all, this was an old long ago abandoned and roofless filling station, so why would there be? But as word got around among the wildlife kingdom more and more fluttering, hovering and humming lifeforms began to make themselves at home – to the amazement and delight of all, it must be said.

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However, when it comes down to it, in truth, it was the humble Zinnea that truly stole the show and formed the rich canvas of color, variety and flair that gave The Walled Garden of Alta Vista KS its true character. For without their bouncy, bubbly can-do spirit we would have struggled to present the rich tapestry of color that soon became the trademark of the garden – the sheer abundance of it all would simply not have materialized they way that it did, especially in the early months when Kansas would simply not switch off the winter wind until quite late into the spring season in fact, which came as quite a worry and surprise to us at the time.

Yes, the common-or-garden Zinnea proved to be quite the stars of the show in the end, surprizing everyone with its variety, durabilitiy and imagination – forming itself into every flower shape imaginable, and throwing off colors galore in a multitude of hues and persuasions that I personally have never witnessed before.

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Possibly, however, it was Green Man, as usual, that turned up and quite stole the show. All summer long he was at it, blowing out his stream of water, then clipping it off, and on, and off again, to the amusement of all. He was clearly having a grand old time of things. Good old Greeny. He had such a torrid time last summer, being boxed up and in storage – it just doesn’t suit him. However, not one to hold a grudge, he came out in good form and enjoyed what was possibly his best summer yet, as the hot Kansas sun beat down and he soaked up his solar rays all day long.

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But at the end of the day, The Walled Garden of Alta Vista was conceived and assembled to host a workshop whereby I could carve stone and display the results within the confines of those huge, high red brick walls. The flowers, in that regard, serve a window dressing to the main event of carving stone. And now, I am glad to say that I have reached a point wherein I am ready to lay tools to stone and continue my sculptural journey right here in good ol’ Kansas, USA. I look forward with growing interest as to how the next year is going to unfold – and there will be more about that right here at martincooney.com, so stay tuned, things are beginning to get interesting.

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And now, before we part company…

The Slideshow

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Parade of Flowers: Summertime in the Walled Garden of Alta Vista KS

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Thanks for visiting martincooney.com

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