Dear Friends,
I’ve done it! I have taken the big leap and arrived at our new home in Dixon MT, a small town in easy reach of Missoula on the Clark Fork River, one of “America’s 10 Best River Towns” in western Montana.
Getting here was an adventure, not being used to driving on snowy roads; carrying and pushing my piano and our belongings through the snow into the new home was another challenge.
The snow has melted away, and out of my window I see the barren trees along the Flathead River. I’m enjoying the play of sun and shadows on the hills across the water and a few bits of snow left on the peaks of the Mission Mountains in the distance. I hope that the mild weather will hold as long as possible and I can begin getting a feel for our new property and the lay of our hilly terrain.
What brought me here is my family, but also the beauty of Montana’s open plains, valleys, and the emerald green waters of the Clark Fork River that merges with the Flathead River a few miles from here. There are so many creeks, rivers, and lakes here that it would take me another lifetime to see them all.
Add to this the excitement over discovering a new plant palette and the desire to master the challenges of gardening in the Rockies: I’m especially interested in learning which tricks are employed to keep a landscape interesting even under several inches of snow. And getting familiar with local tastes and preferences; the wide open spaces that Montana is famous for are most likely influencing how people see their gardens and perhaps also what they expect from them.
Also, I imagine that our traditionally dry/hot summers, limited rainfall and cold winters are one part of the challenge. Pocket gophers, voles and ever-hungry deer are another. (Flickers too? They are said to peck holes into exterior siding...)
But, for my new gardening friends in Montana, although working now in a different environment, my “eyeball” is still good and I bring my design passion and experience that I gained in Southern California and in other places where I have designed gardens for people. And I have kept my admiration of Native plants, this time the Montana kind, and I’ll integrate them whenever appropriate.
I look forward to working with you and to helping you articulate your ideas, to interpreting and transforming them into reality.
Thank you so much for your continued reading of my posts from Montana.
