I'm Jay, I ask strangers if I can see their gardens. I met a couple when I gave a presentation last year. They invited me to visit their garden, but they told me there was only one time window to see it—their garden peaks in May, well before most gardens come to life for the season.
In May 2024, with many questions in mind, I drove along Lake Erie, crossed the state line, and arrived at their garden in Pennsylvania. What I saw took my breath away—an extraordinary landscape cultivated on their 200-year-old family estate, woven with remnants of the past. Their incredible collection of rhododendrons was unlike anything I had seen before. But what truly astonished me was what they told me at the end of my visit—their approach to gardening was remarkably simple, almost effortless. And the way they’ve embraced their inheritance, preserving it while shaping it into something even more extraordinary, left me in awe.
This is Grimshaw Glen, tended by Chas and Karen.
#home #travel #garden #nature #gardening #lifestyle