“To every thing there is a season.”
The past few years I have been dismayed at how the 1080 Laughing Labyrinth prairie grasses have taken over the seven circuit Classical labyrinth we designed and created in the front yard. And, the lovely magnolia tree was dying. What to do?
This winter I decided that after our annual burn, we’d restructure the labyrinth to a five circuit, dual entry. Happens that is a design colleague and friend Lisa Gidlow Moriarty designed. I must have seen it somewhere because as I began to draw out, based on my seven circuit, the design flowed and seemed to be what the land called for.
In Tom Sawyer tradition, I roped several colleagues and good friends into helping in late March through the dedication in early May about the cross-quarter date that we call May Day. Faithfully they came, staked, marked, suggested, laughed and after cheerfully ate snacks as we reflected.
After the magnolia tree came down, I saved a piece for a friend at her request to make her own finger labyrinth from a cross section. Rich selected a sturdy bur oak to plant in the center. We both check it out weekly and thank it for gracing the center. It’s doing well and does not seem quite so small anymore with leaves and some growth. It’s a good addition.
I routinely mow the paths, re-adjust flags, string and re-paint strips in bright orange field paint along to mark the paths until vegetation grows up. Now, it’s pretty easy to find the way.
In July we have two labyrinth programs here at Winding Pathways. One for employees and members of Bankers Trust and the other for an out-of-town garden club.
Rich and I are amazed at how luxuriant the grasses and forbs are, how many butterflies and birds use the labyrinth. We saw a mama turkey with her poults scurry along the path. Deer wander through and eat foliage which I have sprayed with stinky deer repellent to keep them at bay. Works some until the rains come. Vultures from the nearby nesting tree wing overhead. Bluebirds perch on the post and bell at the entry. Milkweed has colonized along the edge. A garter snake cools itself under one of the entry rocks.
So, all in all, the redesign has been successful and a pleasure. “And a time to every purpose under Heaven.”
1080 Labyrinth 