Wamboldtopia's Magic Lives On

Even the simplest gardens are wondrous things. That interaction with the natural world opens a door into another realm. More elaborate and complex gardens can be quite impressive and inspiring. There are so many possibilities.

I have seen many gardens over the years and been duly impressed and sometimes a bit covetous of the plants in them. It is not at all unusual for ideas found in other gardens and the plants, in some manner, to eventually follow me home.

Very few gardens have made me say wow. To find two such gardens mere blocks apart in the same city was something special. One of those gardens was Wamboldtopia. I was wowed the very first time I saw it.

On Friday another small piece of Wamboldtopia followed me home.

I saw the garden of kindred spirits were the stone work was sculptural and monumental. The dry stack stone walls I was in the process of building at the time were common in comparison.

These were not the big budget gardens of the well to do. The gardens that wowed me were infused with the passion of their creators. They were unique, one of a kind outdoor spaces that pushed the boundaries of what a garden is and can be. The plants were only half of it. Art in the garden was a major element and then a big question. What is art really?

I was inspired. More precisely, I was given permission to let my creative energy flow freely. I was invited to let the idea of a garden become a playground.

High on the low spot of a North Carolina mountain top, the magic of Wamboldtopia lives on.

More than the small cement sculpture gifted to me, it is the inspiration of Wamboldtopia that is the real gift. Wamboldtopia has sold. What the garden's future may hold is uncertain. It creators lives are also in flux.

I have taken that permission to be freely creative and turn my garden into more of a playground than I ever imagined.

    



















One more item has been added to the roadside attraction.