“… the garden is so much more to me than a resource for cooking or decorating. To me, it is also a refuge, a place to go for rest and spiritual renewal. In the freeway of my life, I love to find an exit ramp that leads to a green retreat. There I can sit still or stroll slowly or dig in the soil and let the serenity of shrub and vine begin to grow inside me.”

~ Emilie Barnes (American author: Time Began in a Garden)

Shared by Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& frequent garden refuge seeker)

This woodland garden breathes refreshment and rest at the end of an irregular stepping stone path that ambles through evergreen shrubs beneath towering shade trees, Elizabethtown, PA.

The goldenrod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

The gentian’s bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow nook;
And asters by the brook-side
Make asters in the brook.

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.

~ Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885; American poet, writer, activist)

Shared by Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& joyful ‘all-season’ enthusiast!)

“Standing in my garden, breathing in deep and sweet, I realize how often I seem to be holding my breath. So much of our urban air is noxious, thick. What a relief to find a place where the trees and plants have helped to cleanse the air, where taking a deep breath feels safe and pleasurable.”

~ Emilie Barnes (Gardener and author of Time Began in a Garden)

Gladly shared by Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& garden breather)

**Wishing you rest from your labors, a place to breathe deeply, and joy in your garden this Labor Day! We’d love to help you find rest in your garden, not just on Labor Day but every day. Give us a call at 717-653-1271!

The refreshment and sensory delight of falling water is undeniable, whether it be a trickle into a stone basin or a stream-fed, swim-in waterfall. Growing up as he did in the jungles of a tropical island in the Philippines where jungle streams and waterfalls were his playground, James Hanselman takes great joy in bringing the experience of falling water into the lives of his clients. Maybe you need this refreshment in your daily lives, not only in the heat of summer, but all year long!

Shared with delight by Betty Hanselman

Gardener’s wife (& fan of falling water)

A variety of inspiring “falling water” options are available from the design/build team at Hanselman Landscape. Examples shown are a Japanese-style tsukubai, a Costa Rican vacation-inspired waterfall, and a church courtyard water garden, Lancaster and Manheim, PA.