Today we are in the garden of Cynthia Chopra in western Massachusetts just outside of Boston. Cynthia, we are deeply grateful that you have thrown open the doors of your breathtaking garden for us. It’s such a gift, thank you so much for your time. And you highlighted the fact that you regard this as a gardener’s garden, so would you mind giving us a little bit of insight into what you mean by that?
Wild, Crazy, and Full of Interesting Plants
Uh, it’s a little bit wild and crazy and it’s got interesting plants that a lot of people don’t have, and so it’s interesting for gardeners to walk through, things are not placed just so, it’s, you know, it all is not just mulch and plant, it’s it’s crafted to look like there’s something interesting everywhere with textures and sizes, hopefully I’ve accomplished that. I would say you have.
Three and a Half Acres of Daily Routines
Um, it’s a three acre garden right? Three and a half, yes, three and a half acres. And you are out here pretty much every day working in the garden. I am, I am, yeah. So tell us a little bit about what your, what your daily routines are out here, what are you, oh well my daily routines, first thing is walk the dogs around the garden and then I start seeing what I need to do during the day.
Obsessed With Weeding and Knowing When to Divide
Um, I unfortunately am obsessed about getting rid of weeds so a lot of weeding, but um, you know it’s it’s deciding when to divide plants, you know what’s gotten a little bit too crowded, what needs pruning, um has the light changed, are things starting to brown up and do I need to move them, um or what is going on with those plants.
A Walk Around to See What Needs Attention
So it’s sort of a walk around and I do a first walk around to see if anything is suffering or if there’s a real big concentration of weeds and then I decide what I’m going to do next. And would you say that’s kind of how your garden has expanded too, because it seems like you have a lot of repetition in the garden, um so as you know seeing what needs to be divided helped you to fill it out?
Drawing It All Out From the Very Beginning
Well it, yes, when I first moved here I actually drew out what I wanted this garden to look like, I had paths in it and um, you know my hills, everything that came with the house, I had it all put in there and 3 and 1/2 acres is a lot of plant material, um so I’ve had to, you know, friends bring me their plants, if friends move they bring me plants they don’t want to lose.
Friends’ Plants, Twigs, and Filling It All In
You know, they want to give them to me so that they can see them again, so I have lots of friends’ plants here, but to cover the space you have to divide, and so I have divided and rescued plants, you know from the, you know this is a $50 tree type of a thing, or people giving me twigs, or um, you know, so I filled it in.
Hard to Imagine How Far It’s Come
Mhm, um with with plants, and it looks so totally different from what it began with, it’s it’s hard to imagine how far it’s come, um because I first started by moving um shrubs away from the house out into the garden so that I would have some big um things to start with and build around.
The Plants Tell You Where They Want to Be
Mhm, I think you were telling me too that you’ve relied a little bit on the plants to to tell you where they’re happy or where they work, because you do have a lot of volunteers right? I do, and things that you move, that you edit, so right, yeah. So I do, um, I know that uh butterfly bush will not live in my garden.
Some Things Really Like It Here and Just Move
Okay, so there are a number of things that really really like it here and and they will move and then sometimes I will move them, you know, to places where I think they’ll like it, um and you know, so they do tell you, like some some fuga moves itself all over and every year I don’t know where the lilia are going to come up because they’re in a different place every year.
Certain Plants Thrive and Certain Plants Just Won’t
Um but yeah, the plants tell you if they like it where they are, and and certain plants do really well and certain plants just will not thrive at all here. Can we go take a look at some of the garden? Yes, why don’t you come right over here, I’ve divided a lot of the hosta over here, um I started with three, oh my goodness, and and there are 32 there now.
From Three Hostas to Thirty-Two and Growing
And I think I started with one of the hukra there, and I’ve moved um a lot of the hydrangea away from the house, I keep cutting it out and moving it because it gets huge, um but most of this was, there were just plants right up against um the house, and every year I try to take a little more lawn away.
Building With Color in a Cool Spot
Um and this is a place that I like to grow my dalas although they haven’t bloomed very much, um this year, but it’s a cool place to uh to build with color, I think there’s good color here, um with with everything there is. And you have a lot of texture too with the different leaf shapes, um notice you have some bleeding heart back there and they’re blooming?
Reblooming and Dry and a Little Bit Fried
Blooming weird, yeah, I know, they’re reblooming and that’s not a usual thing but yeah. But unfortunately I also have some fried to still be, um because it’s been just so dry this year, it’s been hard for a lot of things. Yes, um and then I have my acidentra there which I love, the bobbing little white flowers always just add a little bit of interest, um in the in the garden.
The Hill, the Pathway, and the Creeping Thyme
So this section of the garden I call the hill because it’s a hill, but um I wanted to put a pathway through here and then some steps to get up the hill, um you know I’m trying to avoid using mulch, more so creeping thyme is a big deal, and um just, you know, trying to repeat plants, um and my sculpture, yes, you’re an artist as well?
Stained Glass, Big Rocks, and a Curved Path
Yes, yes, a stained glass sculpture there, um and all these rocks, you see a lot of big rocks around here, and they’re from this property, some of the steps are not, so I just wanted this to um curve through here, so uh my arborist actually helped me lay this path down and I learned how to sling these big stones which um we bought at a uh a nursery.
Slinging Stones and Setting Big Boulders on the Edge
And I learned how to sling the stones and position them, so um we did this and then put some of my big boulders around here on the edge, that was on the edge, yeah. So you can get up to the top of the hill but it it adds some interest and it gave me a place to put this very strange Japanese maple that just looks like it’s a very long thing because it it was growing that way.
Streams of Plants Coming Down the Hill
Um so we put it there and it’s perfect, because part of what I wanted to do on this hill was to make it look like plants were streaming down, so I have a lot of repetition and different textures with hostas and grasses, and unfortunately I lost a tree here so a lot of my European ginger got burnt this year.
A Work in Progress With More Sun Coming In
So I have to come up with um something to transition to more sun, um than what it’s been in the in the past, so that is a work in progress, but you know you can look at this and just see that um there’s a lot of um dividing, yes, a lot of dividing, like somebody gave me a little bit of this this grass and I’ve divided it.
Pulmonaria, Luwi, Cringoma, and a Burgundy Painted Fern
Pulmonaria divided it, my luwi, I love luwi and I’ve, you know, divided that, yes, people gave me cringoma and uh it is it is wonderful here, unfortunately this year it’s been so dry that my um painted fern which usually covers this, I’ve got a burgundy painted fern, is just little stems, it’s terrible, so usually it looks really pretty but now it doesn’t look so pretty.
Hostas Suffered but the Flow Is Still There
And some of my hostas have suffered as well, but still, you see, you definitely see the the flow of sort of almost streams of plants coming down the hill, yes, and that was the intention was to do that, and then putting some big things up so that you feel like you’re sort of in a separate place than out on the lawn.
The Big Grasses and the Most Comfortable Bench
And I think that the the big grasses, you know, do that really pretty well, um for this area, um and then one of my favorite places to sit is right up at the top on that um that bench, which is the most comfortable place to sit in the garden, and I love sitting there and just looking out over the garden, um to see what there is to see.
Sitting Down to See What’s Doing Well and What’s Not
Yes, and you make time for that right? You’re not always, I, yes, when I’m weeding up there I can go sit for a little while, or when I’m trying to decide, you know, what do I need to do, I’ve got places to sit around the yard to just sit there and look at it and say oh, what’s doing well, what’s not doing well, what am I missing.
Too Many of the Same Size or Texture
Um do I have too many things that are the same, you know, size or texture, and and uh so it’s good for that, yeah. So that is um that is my hill, but this used to be all poison ivy, and um it had lots of um garlic mustard and other wonderful things that you do not want in your garden, right.
Pulling It All Out Without Spraying a Thing
So how did you go about getting rid of all of that, was it lots of um, poison? I pulled it, I pulled it, I don’t believe in spraying things, so, and I don’t fertilize either, so I I pulled a lot of it, at first I got a guy who was the poison ivy guy, that was his name, okay, the poison ivy guy.
The Queen of Poison Ivy and the First Clearing
And he came and he said that I had the most varieties of poison ivy in my garden that he’d ever seen, so he put me on his website as the queen of poison ivy, so he helped me do the first clearing and then I’ve been, you know, digging it up and trying not to get poison ivy, yeah, so you just have to keep after it.
Digging the Roots Out Is the Most Effective Way
But I think it’s most effective to dig it out, to dig the roots out, yep, um so now I hardly ever see any poison ivy in here, which is good. That is that is good. So Cynthia, you were telling me you have an area of the garden you think of as your color garden, so could we take a look at that?
Marigolds, Snapdragons, and Just a Mess of Color
Yes, it’s right this way, this is the back way to it, and it is just color, it’s colorful, it’s like I didn’t choose a color, I have planted things over the years and I allow things to recede, I have dalas in here too but you’ll see many different varieties of marigolds, different shapes and sizes, and many different colors of uh snapdragons which I love.
Cosmos That Come Back and Crocus That Just Multiply
And um just every year it recedes and I’ll move the amaranth someplace, these cosmos come back every year, um and the colium, which I’m not sure, I’m the otter blooming, um crocus, yes, is amazing, I started with like six bulbs, you know, and they’ve multiplied every year so now I have really big display everywhere.
Things Choose Where They’re Going to Grow
But like, and then things choose where they’re going to grow because I didn’t plant all of these, you know, where they are, right, right, and sometimes if I get a bunch of seeds in one place I’ll dig them up and move them, um so that it’s distributed more, so that it’s just not one color in one place.
Not Trying to Match the Color, Just Let It Be
So people don’t think that I’m really trying to match the color, right, you know, that it’s just, it is just a mess of color. Yes, it’s beautiful, it’s, um, you know, it’s just so interesting because it’s not necessarily colors that you would put together but they work together somehow, um, maybe it’s like rainbow, I sort of think of it as it’s a rainbow.
Pink Goes With Things Even If You Don’t Like Pink
It’s not, it’s not a choice of colors, because like I don’t really like pink, you see there’s a lot of pink here, is there, some pink, but it goes with, you know, things, if you look at little tidbits, you know, it’s great, but I just say hey, it’s like a rainbow and, you know, it’s just very vibrant and everybody can find something in here that they like the color of.
Rose and Peach and Yellow All Tangled Together
Yes, and I love how they play off each other and pick up different notes from each other, like your amaranth, I think, um, with the cosmos, like this is a very sort of rose color and then with the peach and the yellow tones, just the way they’re tangled together is, it really does look good together.
A Good Backdrop of Color With the Red Twig Dogwood
And I think with the red twig dogwood, I’ve got mid-winter fire back there but the leaves are always a little bit yellower than green, you know, so there’s a good backdrop of color, yes, there as well, which I like.Cynthia, we truly appreciate you showing us around your garden today, it has been such a joy to stroll through here.
Love and Effort Put Into Every Corner of This Space
Um, see some of your treasured plants and just hear about the love and effort that you’ve put into creating this space. Well, I thank you for, I love having people come to my garden, and this garden has been not only made by me but other people have contributed greatly, you know, with plant material and with items, objects in the garden.
Prosecco Under the Maple Tree With Good Friends
Um, so I’ve been very lucky and to build this garden with my friends, and and and we have, um, under the big maple tree there during the summertime, we have prosecco under the maple tree, so people will bring stuff to eat and we have prosecco and we walk around the garden, there’s always something new in bloom and it’s great.
Always Something New in Bloom, Come See It
I love having people in the garden and I appreciate you coming to see it today, thank you, so thank you very much, sorry babe.
