First Photo Mom and me in front of one of the garden's dawn redwoods, once thought to be extinct. Carl English started it in 1948 from the first seeds brought to America after the species was rediscovered in China.
One of the things David wanted to do when he got home to Seattle was visit the Chittenden locks - a massive system built by the US Army Corps of Engineers to lift boats of all sizes from the ocean (Elliott Bay) to Lake Union and Lake Washington.
A big attraction of the Locks is the Carl S English botanical gardens. Our tour guide told us that the 7 acre garden was originally meant to be a parade grounds (flat area of grass) in the military style. But the young officer in charge of the grounds, Carl English, didn’t like the idea of mowing all that grass, so over the course of several years he turned the grounds into a garden, and he did this without any budget or even permission from his superior officers.
This is how he did it. Whenever he and his wife had vacation time they travelled to various destinations and hiked and collected seeds. Then they grew the seeds in their greenhouse and planted them in the garden. They also corresponded with other botanists and traded seeds in the mail.
Today the garden is famous for it’s hundreds of rare and beautiful plants.
A big attraction of the Locks is the Carl S English botanical gardens. Our tour guide told us that the 7 acre garden was originally meant to be a parade grounds (flat area of grass) in the military style. But the young officer in charge of the grounds, Carl English, didn’t like the idea of mowing all that grass, so over the course of several years he turned the grounds into a garden, and he did this without any budget or even permission from his superior officers.
This is how he did it. Whenever he and his wife had vacation time they travelled to various destinations and hiked and collected seeds. Then they grew the seeds in their greenhouse and planted them in the garden. They also corresponded with other botanists and traded seeds in the mail.
Today the garden is famous for it’s hundreds of rare and beautiful plants.
It's often referred to as the garden grown with postage stamps.
I think this story has many applications for us as we journey on our way home:
Planning and goal setting are very important.
We need hard work and focus.
We need to gather as much research and information as we can.
We often need to enlist the help of others.
In life, most things of value are a marathon, not a sprint.
I'd be very interested to hear your feedback on this story, and anything else it teaches us.
Luv to all,
Dad/Gramps
I think this story has many applications for us as we journey on our way home:
Planning and goal setting are very important.
We need hard work and focus.
We need to gather as much research and information as we can.
We often need to enlist the help of others.
In life, most things of value are a marathon, not a sprint.
I'd be very interested to hear your feedback on this story, and anything else it teaches us.
Luv to all,
Dad/Gramps
4 comments:
P-r-o-f-o-u-n-d!! OJ
Great analogy. Superb advice using such an extraordinary story. I want to see this garden & not only on my way home - but on my way to your home!
Love to all
Mom
That's a really amazing story about the gardens. I think it does teach us to set a goal and work towards achieving it. I think that writing goals down and telling others about them helps us to achieve them. I like how we check in with each other about our 'on the way home' goals. Ian and I have set goals for our family- once/month temple attendance, individual, couple and family prayers a few times a day, and scripture study once a day. Hopefully we'll be able to make our family grow beautifully too!
Thanks for sharing this story and its analogy certainly provides some ideas to consider. What are your dreams OJ?
What a great story and analogy, Ollie. I would love to see that garden too sometime.
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