Elizabethan Gardens

My daughter and I recently visited the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, NC. Meant to commemorate the lost colony established by Sir Walter Raleigh 400+ years ago, the gardens are an elaborate feast for the eye that conjure up memories of The Secret Garden, the discussion of walled gardens in C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength, and the continual emphasis in Wendell Berry’s writings on a cooperative relationship between human stewardship and ecological/agricultural health.

Lush colors, bees and butterflies and squirrels and lizards, symmetry and diversity were everywhere. But I didn’t photograph everything. One tree, an oak thought to have been growing since the colonists’ residence in the 16th century, was so striking to me that I forgot to take its picture. There were plenty of other alcoves and sculptures and flowers that escaped my camera, too.

All the more reason to return.