Just when the work was getting too much and fall was in the air… We came across a few refinements for the Last Door Keystone Retreat. The gravity fountain system and the flower gardens are illustrated in the pictures taken at Peterhof, Petersburg. In the meticulously pruned tree-scape there is a vanishing point that drives the eye to the entrance. Margaret said something about this being a little too much work for the current crew. She said Peterhof has some 200 gardeners to tend 250 acres.

The arbours that hold the Engleman’s Ivy are aligned so that the walkway created between the arbours is a visual feast of fall colours. The ivy will turn bright red as the early hints of frost touch the foliage. I hear a voice whispering something about the alignment of the Keystone driveways.

The greenhouses care for all the delicate plants through the winter. The houses also grow tulip bulbs and seedlings in preparation for the spring gardens. The pruning of shapes and the shaping of flower beds makes these gardens a visual feast. Margaret can be heard saying that the natural greens and the colours of fall are all the colour we need.

The fountains of the gardens are ecologically a miracle. All the fountains are fed by water delivered daily by gravity from the reservoirs. The 64 fountains are fed by gravity without a single pump. The waters flow through ponds and fountains toward the Gulf of Finland.

We walked through the gardens marvelling at possibility and content that all the work at the Last Door Keystone Retreat was frocused on a balance between food production and visual feast!

A feast of recovery!