Or maybe not

Ginger, honey, give it some time. It WAS Halloween, y'know! As soon as work slows down I'll be back more often.

Gulliblevolunteer--LOVE the moniker. My husband made me a LESS gulliblevolunteer by mnaking me stand in front of hte mirror and practice saying "no." Over and over. Yes, really!

melanie

Thanks melanie and ginger :-) That mirror would have been a good idea at the time, too late now. This gullible one was walking by the (neglected) garden when a nice old white-haired lady popped her head up and said "Wanna volunteer to pull a few weeds?" Why not? Then, after quite a few weeds, it seemed a shame to let such a lovely garden slide back into neglect, so it became regular weeding, then looking at catalogs to find missing plants, then answering questions for visitors, then researching folklore and history, pest management and plant disease...THEN it was joining organizations and wondering how it got here from there. Feeling isolated since other volunteers are in awfully short supply - the economy or something. No simpatico souls. Anyway, I was excited to find this website on Sun. and jumped in a little enthusiastically. Don't worry, soon I will reach the end of my knowledge supply and shut up ;-)

gullible

Gullible--since we are ALWAYS learning we always have something to add. Well, I do. But then, I'm an opinionated whatsis! Just ask anyone here!

Seriously, welcome. ANd contribute at will. I'm sorry youa re lonesome--perhaps you should move to NC. LOTS of gardening volunteers here! (You should see the garden at the Chapel Hill Ronald McDonald house....)

My volunteering isn't gardening so much--tends to involve THEATAH. More on that later...

melanie

What sort of garden are you working in?

Never mind1 Found my own answer by more carefully reading your other posts.

I put the answer here in case others might also be interested in what you are doing.

Posted by: gulliblevolunteer Nz6Mass (My Page) on Sun, Oct 31, 04 at 15:29

Hurrah! for your get-up-and-go, and you actually getting a garden made. I'm not remotely an expert, but I volunteer at a restored 18th-century site which also lacks anything in the way of garden documentation. The historic landscaper who designed the garden had to work from general knowledge of the family, and assumptions about their social class. Since wealthy New Englanders of that time tended to have conservative tastes, she made a more formal garden than the "Brownian" landscape sort, and planted a mix of flowers and herbs in all the beds, as typical of the day. The assumption is that houseservants would have used the herbs in the stillroom. It isn't exactly a restoration or recreation, so it gets called an 18th-century "style" garden. (Most visitors don't worry about the distinction.) N.E. patriots at the time liked to think of themselves as doing something distinctly American, and that probably followed through to their gardens. At the same time, they were very competitive. Your family would probably have hired a professional gardener, possibly one trained in Europe, since slavery would have been outlawed after 1783. The particulars of the garden, such as espalier, would have been handled by him, at the behest of the master of the house. General ControlFreak would probably not have done much of his own gardening, unless he was a "gentleman scientist." A Gentleman Scientist might well have had an interest in native plants. I think that you are right to devote at least part of the property to recreation, since about this time many upper-class families were following the fashion of doing a lot of their summer living out-of-doors. The paterfamilias at our site was known to love garden ornaments, which we can't afford to reproduce (a hermitage, a tea house, etc.), but any of those would be appropriate. So would a small selection of potted houseplants, such as geraniums, chrysanthemums,and citrus, which could be carried indoors for winter. It is impossible to satisfy everyone when trying to re-create one of these undocumented mysteries, and no matter what you do some visitor will know more than you and not be shy about telling you that it's all wrong ;-) Even if you're only a volunteer...

It is possible that you need to be gullible to volunteer but unless you step up you will never know what you might have missed. Gullible may even be a positive when surrounded by those who want to put a price on everything. Call me old fashioned but I will buy your stash of mercenary attitude and raise you a gullible volunteer. This is an obscure welcome; but welcome.

LoL. Thank you! I think....