Weekend Meanderings No. 105 | Pearls, Peonies and a Putting Green

 A busy week, the best peony year yet, three garden videos I could watch on a loop and a film about an octopus that I cannot wait to see

I started this week with two things on the calendar and ended it completely wiped out. That seems to be how weeks work lately. The good news is that the peonies are doing something extraordinary this year — more buds than I have ever had. Whatever happens with the trees and the beds and the relandscaping plans, the peonies will be putting on a show and I am here for every minute of it.

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The rest of the garden is a little more complicated. Something is going after the camellias in the front beds, and the three new ones out back have been visited by the deer again. I recently found a deterrent that smells like a garlic pizza. Effective, but a bit much when the sun comes out. We are also working through ideas for the circle — fountain or birdbath, what kind of tree, whether a Japanese maple might be exactly right. In a perfect world a year round flowering tree would be a dream. If you have thoughts I genuinely want to hear them.

This morning we are heading out on Thistle Du, the putting green at Pinehurst No. 2. Bill is getting back into golf after a few years away and I am joining him for the putting, which is the limit of my attention span for the sport. The Masters is on this weekend — are you watching? After that I will be at the pool with my book and my magazines. Juliet, Kim and I have lots to share. Let’s meander.

Pearls

Apparently pearls are having a moment again. When did they go out of style? In my book pearls are classic — a wardrobe essential right up there with a good trench and a white shirt. My mother gave me pearl studs for my high school graduation. My mother-in-law gave me two antique strands that I wear constantly. I have never once thought of them as old-fashioned.

They are perfect in spring — beautiful with pastels and florals and prints, equally good stacked or worn as a single pendant. If you have them tucked away somewhere, pull them out. If you think they feel dated, try them with irregular shapes or charms or just a good pair of jeans and a t-shirt. They work. They always have.

In the Garden This Week

Three videos this week and I have watched all of them more than once, which tells you everything you need to know.

Alan Titchmarsh: A Private Garden Tour is a rare one — a step inside a space he rarely shares. Seventeen years of gardening passion: yew topiary, wildflower meadows, a croquet lawn, billowing borders and a greenhouse, all managed without weedkiller and with nature genuinely in mind. The kind of garden that makes you want to go immediately overhaul your space.

Nigel Slater’s London Garden is the one for those of us working with limited space. A small city garden transformed into a sanctuary, with practical ideas you can actually use.

Arthur Parkinson at his Cotswold Cottage — Arthur transformed a building site into this! A lush, wildlife-friendly garden with a romantic border full of foxgloves and roses, thriving sweet peas and a beautiful shade garden at the front. Arthur Parkinson is one of my favorite gardeners working right now and this video is why. He makes everything looks beautiful and easy.

Films

I cannot wait for Remarkably Bright Creatures. Based on the bestselling novel by Shelby Van Pelt, it stars Sally Field as Tova, a widow who forms an unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus who lives at the aquarium where she works. Marcellus, it turns out, is on a quiet mission to solve a mystery that will change everything for her. Sally Field and an octopus what could be better? Coming to Netflix May 8th and I will be watching immediately.

This week I also enjoyed the short film Love at First Sight, featuring Sir John Hurt and Phyllida Law. Quiet and romantic and beautifully performed — the kind of short film that stays with you. It was Oscar shortlisted and deserved the attention.

Was It Worth It? by Gina Neidmeier is a meditation on belonging — what it means to carry where you came from while slowly learning the rhythms of somewhere new. The in-between place. I found it unexpectedly moving. The kind of film you finish and then sit with for a while.

And for something with a little fun — if you are a Miranda Priestly or Anna Wintour devotee, this is for you. 

This Week on the Blog

This week I shared a Spring Bucket List for Women Over 50 — the small things, the intentional things, the things worth actually putting on the calendar before the season slips away. And the one I have been working on for a long time: Recipes for Entertaining — Soups, Salads and Desserts and the Stories Behind Them. Nearly six hundred recipes on this blog and there are a handful I come back to over and over. This is where I gathered them. I hope you will settle in and stay a while.

If you missed last week, Weekend Meanderings No. 104 | Easter Weekend, Egg Hunts and a Garden in Progress — it was a good one.

Before you go — are you watching The Masters this weekend? And what else is on your calendar? Tell me in the comments. I always love to know.

Don’t forget to visit Juliet at Make Mine a Spritzer and Kim at Northern California Stylewe always have lots to share.

If you enjoyed this post, I would love it if you shared it. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and X — I would love to have you along.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends.

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Weekend Meanderings No. 102 | The Circle, a Landscape Architect and a Weekend With a Pool

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