ANDREW'S GARDEN
A gift from Andrew Ciccarelli
By Cal Garrison
"I am pretty sure that when they repackaged the Winter Solstice rituals they invented New Year's too. And poor us! Since then we've had to live with the insanity created by this ruse. Before our hangovers are even gone we have to get happy about turning over a new leaf! Though it may be appropriate to begin thinking about what's next, at the coldest, darkest point in the year, someone please tell me, who's got the energy for it? With the IRS breathing down our necks, ten extra pounds on our hips, and three-feet of snow on the ground, crawling back under the covers with what's left of the holiday chocolates sounds more attractive to me".
An excerpt from "The Old Girls' Book of Dreams" By Cal Garrison
Needless to say, January is my least favorite time of year — and I would imagine that, with the exception of our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, most of us feel the same way about it. The ravages of Christmas, along with the cold, make this month kind of depressing — and at the very least, anticlimactic.
I don't know what keeps all of you going in January, but for me it's the thought of Spring and the idea that underneath all the snow, Mother Earth is pregnant with new growth that will be ready to come to life when the world thaws out. One day in early December, as I played with ideas for the January issue, I kept thinking of ways to capture this concept of 'New Beginnings' — and it was then that Andrew's garden came to mind.
I could tell you a lot of stories about this place. For 15 years, I had the good fortune to live close enough to it to be able to go there almost every day. Sometimes I would go just to lie on the ground and be healed by the essences pouring out of each flower — and sometimes I would just go to sit under the trees and talk about life over coffee with Andrew and his partner, Nick.
So many things began and ended in Andrew's garden. The trees and the flowers witnessed all of it — and the fairies and the elementals who live in this realm of safety were always there to support whatever the process happened to be at the time. When anyone would accuse Andrew of going too far over the top with his planting, he would be quick to remind us that the garden was his spiritual work, and that he couldn't fulfill his mission on Earth if he didn't go over the top creating all that beauty!
The pictures you are about to see come from Andrew's garden. We are including them to remind you of the power of life to rebirth it self. It happens every year with miraculous regularity — and since a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe these photographs will help you feel the new life that's gestating inside you right now, and bring your attention to all the unseen possibilities that are forming as we speak, amidst the darkness and the Winter cold.
By Andrew Ciccarelli
My house sits in the center of the garden, at its heart. The garden is laid out as an extension of the house, with areas of the landscape designed to be like rooms that you can go to. Each of my 'garden rooms' has a different purpose or mood, depending on where it is located. These rooms provide mystery in the garden. I sometimes use them to frame a vista that directs the eye toward the distance, or I use overhanging shrubs to envelope, and bring the attention inward. Having tended this garden for over 20 years, my 'garden rooms' have been added one at a time, sometimes in response to an aspect of the property, but just as often, as a response to something in me, a need that I can only fulfill through the garden.
There is a certain amount of structure to the way I do things when I create my outdoor rooms. I use trees and shrubs to anchor the space and then I lay in my beds. I put the low plants in front and then build up to the higher ones in the back. It seems pretty simple and logical, but when you're looking at a packet of seeds in the Spring you have to be able to imagine what they will do once they grow, and build the garden accordingly. There's a constant back and forth between planning and then adjusting once you see the results. That starts with the shape and the size of the plants and continues with knowing when the plants bloom and which colors will come to life as they do.
Here is where the partnership with nature begins. You may lay out one garden, but as it begins to flower you find that the hollyhocks aren't blooming at the same time as the foxgloves, the way you thought they would — or maybe some other plant comes in much taller than you expected — so you start adjusting. Then you start noticing effects. For instance, the morning light passing through the maple trees planted to the east casts a shadow over the garden that looks like open lace. Things like this are subtle, but the way light moves and the way it hits things at certain times in the day are all part of the symphony you're conducting. Sometimes you notice that the blue flowers growing in the shade look more intense and electric than the ones you planted in the light, so you try to duplicate this effect somewhere else. Sometimes you plan everything and nature surprises you. More often than not, the wind and the birds have other plans for your seeds — and their serendipitous planting makes things much more spectacular than what you had in mind.
Although the visual element is perhaps the dominant one in the garden, for me, both sound and smell are important. I plant the most aromatic plants, the lilacs and the hastas, close to the house so I can smell them through the open windows. My birdhouses make it more enticing for the birds to come and sing all day long. Water from the small stream that flows through my garden provides an inviting sound that reminds me of laughter, and joy, and life.
I love what I do. This is my sacred work. I plan and nature corrects — and I have learned that the best gardens are made in partnership with nature.
About Andrew Ciccarelli
Andrew Ciccarelli lives in Washington County, New York with his partner, Nick Loscalzo and his Airedale, Cleo. A visual artist and a photographer, Andrew spends every spare minute working in his garden. No ordinary bed of flowers, this 'wonderland' is a sanctuary of beauty, safety, and peace that reflects Andrew's love for Mother Earth and his connection to Spirit. He can be reached at drewsdale@localnet.com
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