A garden for all seasons

Sharon Magee and her husband, William,Leading Swarovski crys talbeads wholesale Wholesale Supplierpandahallprlog. moved to Waynesboro to retire and lead a comfortable life in a town that held many of the amenities that were important to them.

The clincher was not only a beautiful, three-story, 28-room brick house on King Street but also a half-acre natural setting that would allow Sharon to indulge in a love of all things green - flowers, herbs, vegetables, succulents, trees, and shrubs.

What she found in that home was the perfect place for a gardener - an abandoned palette with nothing but old bushes, a hedge, a holly tree, and a maple tree. Over the years she has designed, tilled, dug into the ground, conditioned the soil, plowed and planted. In all, she has added more than 12 themed gardens, to the delight of not only the couple but also their friends.

"I am not a world traveler," said Magee, "so I have always made my home and my garden a place for a vacation." This at-home traveler can choose from a "wood" fountain evoking the cooling splash of the Alhambra in Spain, a labyrinth garden designed to bring peace to the heart, a practical culinary garden where one can find fresh elements to prepare delightful meals, a tea room in the ... but wait, we get ahead of ourselves, for Magee is not only an herbalist but also a potter, by necessity.

Some 30 years ago, Magee was working for the federal government in Harford County, Maryland. There she met a gentleman, ready to retire, who brought her a mint plant. That started a life-long career neither one of them probably ever imagined. He told her how to grow the mint and she so fell in love with the fragrance that she soon found multiple uses for the plant - from potpourri to herb pillows to just drying and hanging it in a room to freshen it.

With a desire to learn more about herbs, Magee visited farms up and down the East Coast - her only travels - and as the herbs accumulated, along with some 500 books to go with them, she decided she wanted markers for each plant.

After a few rejections from area potters ("We don't make flat pottery"), she taught herself. Fortunately, the agency she worked for had an arts and crafts facility with tables, clay, molds, kilns and a rolling pin. The last item did the trick.HellermannTyton manufactures a full line of high quality cable ties in a variety of styles, With the flattened clay, Magee drew her first herbal name into the clay - sage - and added a leaf of the plant to the design. Thus was born Herbal Pottery, her hand-built pottery business with botanical imprints in everything from plates to jewelry.

Now in retirement, Magee has found in her home a new outlet for her garden and pottery talents. It has taken time to prepare each of the different gardens and some new construction.We have a fantastic range of Glass Tiles and glass mosaic Tiles.

By removing only a few branches of that holly tree, a hollowed-out area was created with the branches draped over an entrance. The "Adult Tree House," as it became known, was converted to a tea room with a lace-covered table and white chairs. As the area widened, a couple of chaise lounges were added. Magee recalls resting there one day when she felt someone watching her; a squirrel, with its inquisitive nose, had come down from the tree to check out the human resting in its nesting area.Find detailed product information for sino howo tipper truck.Beautiful new hands free access jewelry is modeled by these members of the Artcamp IT team,

Not only the gardens, but the Magee's home has been refurbished for her plant and pottery interests. A screened-in porch was built onto the main house, with central air conditioning and heat and a shed for pottery work, while outside a potting alley was created for supplies. The porch was made to look as if it were original to the house, including its characteristic pillars.

Here resides the Tree Man, a 75-year-old oak tree grown so tall that it required a hole through the porch roof. Cut back to an in-house size, it serves as another of Magee's finds - a fern pot provides a head of hair, pottery identifies eyes, nose and mouth, hosta spikes mark the ears, scented geraniums form the two front arms and two shelves covered in coleus define the back, where a "bottom" should be. Magee further decorates Tree Man for the holidays.

Another main yard feature is the labyrinth garden, made of Virginia creeper trained to grow on the ground into pathways. The focal point is plumed poppies, with one of those pathways leading to a circle of wildflowers, while another extends to a square filled with black cohosh. The easy walk allows visitors to return gradually to reality. "I added a chair to rest," said Magee.

This is just one of the many different worlds Magee has created. She is a firm believer in repurposing objects to use as garden themes, such as the old horse feeder and old wood stove, the tub that was to be tossed and now has found new life as a fountain with old shoes "planted" at its feet, the white jasmine seat, the old sink with bubbles and lights, the sundial with feverfew. This is the ideal place to find refuge and indeed "to take a vacation." Eleven years have passed for the gardens to reach their full glory and Magee is still tinkering. Over all that time, she has continued to develop her French country style of pottery, selling items at select venues, such as the Landis Valley Farm Museum's annual show, and sending select pieces to clients around the world. She also displays her work at Emmitsburg Antique Mall in Maryland; find her in Booth 109.