I christen thee...Willoughby

Willoughby? Whatever it is, it comes with sunlight and serenity...

Is it affectation to give your garden a name? Hadspen. Gravetye. Sissinghurst. Malmaison. Monticello. Giverny. Winterthur. Or, closer to home, Marlyn Sachtjen's Wind 'n' View. Or, much, much farther from home, Eden.

Willoughby. Just a whiff of anglo-horticultural correctness. Willoughby. "Farm in the willows." I like willows: Willow Weep for Me (as performed by Dinah Washington); Salix purpurea, purpleosier willow; and, of course, Willow.

And then there's Willoughby, refuge and sanctuary. In the opening scene of "A Stop at Willoughby" from The Twilight Zone's first season, a conference room is filled with suits waiting for either a conference call...or a round of B---S--- Bingo. Our hero is a gentle soul, trapped in the life of a gray-flannel-suited company man. He yearns of escaping to Willoughby, which is "...Peaceful. Restful. Where a man can slow down to a walk. And live his life full measure." And so he does...in a way.

Perhaps the calming and restorative powers of the garden are better appreciated (or the midlife gardening obsession is more acute) when experienced from the viewpoint of one who's run the ratrace and jumped its track. But enough of that. Let's just say--this is my Willoughby.

Willoughby? Whatever it is, it comes with sunlight and serenity, and is part of the Twilight Zone.

--Rod Serling, "A Stop At Willoughby"

Comments

[Alicia]

I love the idea of naming the garden. And the house/estate. Perhaps it is all the same name. I am a freak about naming things, though.