Your Home, Garden and Travel

Walking along the street, I see a colorful patchwork of cottage garden flowers. I want a closer look at the front yard of a quaint stone cottage.

A white-painted bird feeder rises up from the blooms. A brick path invites me to an open patio circled with brightly painted Adirondack chairs. Can I really go into this garden and take a seat?

Yes. This isn't a home garden after all! The patio, garden, bird feeder and colorful chairs are actually in front of the Bob Timerlake® Gallery in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

The garden objects can easily be adapted for home gardens, but are there bigger surprises in this flower-filled town?



The town of Blowing Rock is known to be pretty. On the August day that we visited, hanging baskets donned every lamp post. The storefronts and the parks were overflowing with flowers.

Veterans Park flanks one side of the downtown street where The Blowing Rock Garden Club maintains a gorgeous garden. The sloping bank has both sun and shade where shrubs, annuals and perennials are used together to provide interesting vignettes for strolling visitors. In addition to the flowers, the town is filled with galleries displaying works of local artists. But, not all art is displayed indoors...

Among the masses of flowers, I see the head of a gardener! I can relate to her sitting there among her flowers. I can see that she has paused from her gardening to take in the results of her work before moving on to her next delightful task.

She is you. She is me. We are gardeners.

"The Gardener" is a beautiful bronze sculpture by Alex Hallmark. She was commissioned in 2006 to recognize the work of The Blowing Rock Garden Club.

Alex says:

She is composed close to the ground. She has a sense of pride in her work, but she is also humble, knowing that she is only a simple tool working in a medium she did not create. Her neck is slightly elongated to give her a feeling of vulnerability.

She seems so real to me. I want to chat with her about the flowers in her garden. Maybe you'll want to visit with her, too.

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Words and flower photos by Freda Cameron. Bronze sculpture and photo by Alex Hallmark. Location: The Town of Blowing Rock in the mountains of North Carolina. No incentives were provided to the writer for mentioning the products or businesses.