The Restoration Garden

by Sara Blaydes

We needed a fresh start, a chance for him to be a kid again away from the shadows of grief.

I’d been anticipating disrepair—after all, that was the reason I was here—but not like this.

I wasn’t sure this could be called a garden at all.

I was going to fix this garden. And then, somehow, I would find a way to fix my life, too.

“Few things can be called perfect when it comes to a garden,”

Margaret is absolutely insistent it be done exactly as it was in the summer of 1940.”

a restoration is a precise replica of an original garden. With a re-creation, we would take inspiration and cues from the era and style in which the gardens were designed to capture the feel of the original, but it wouldn’t be a true restoration.”

“Because I made a promise to someone I loved a long time ago. Someone who hurt me very badly, so I let anger get in the way of that promise. But I don’t have much time left in this world, and I don’t want to spend it with regret. Restoring this garden is the only way I know to find forgiveness.”

Irene May 21, 1940

Of all the flowers, none better represented me than the beautiful camellia with its bittersweet meaning. Longing for something more, something better, was the only constant in my life.

pink tulips for well-wishes, marigolds and geraniums to express sorrow, orange blossoms and roses for love.

Dear Miss Irene Rosalie Clarke, This letter is to inform you that your application to Goldings Institute of Fine Arts has been accepted.

“There isn’t any room for art when there’s a war going on, no matter how far away it is.”

“On the contrary. There is always room for art. After all, what are we fighting for if not that?”

Moon gardens were often believed to be deeply spiritual places where the barrier between the dead and the living thinned. They were a place for meditation and reflection. For memorializing those who have passed on.

It was a speech he’d recited before, but this time it was different. This time he said it as though I were the danger. The enemy.

I believe that good and evil exist inside of all of us. Rarely are our intentions ever truly pure, but even if they were, the outcomes never are. There is a cost to every decision, every choice. Even if this war is justified, there will be lives lost and families torn apart on all sides. How can anyone think that is a good thing? What is the point of this war if we are giving up all the things we are supposedly fighting to protect?”

natural. “Talent like yours deserves the finest tools,” he said softly. “It shouldn’t be held back by anything less.”

Astrantia for courage. Eucalyptus for protection. Camellia for longing and desire—not

In every project, the key was finding the one person who was eager to help, and Helen seemed more than up to the task.

“What is it?” Helen asked over my shoulder. “A florilegium,” I said, my voice rising with excitement. “Come again?” “It’s a collection of drawings of flowers,”

“Who is she? Was the florilegium hers? Whoever created it clearly loved the gardens.”

I’d known from the moment I walked through the front door that Havenworth was a place filled with long-buried stories. If I was going to see this restoration through, I had no doubt more secrets would come to light.

What if Father was right?

You couldn’t erase the people you love. Love didn’t stop because of hurt or pain or betrayal. It thickened like scar tissue around the heart, until the muscle was too stiff, too inflexible, to work properly again.

Developing photographs is all about balancing the light with the dark.”

“The same can be said for human beings,” I mused.

“Only that you have to be responsible for your own destiny. You can’t rely on anyone else if you truly want to be happy.” “Is that why you aren’t married?”

“I never said I was a sophisticated man. Deep down, I have the same wanton desires as anyone else. We all like to believe there are lines we will not cross, but there are always ways for those lines to bend.”

“If she was truly remorseful, she would have turned herself in. Not run away.”

If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that you must live the life you want, not the one you’ve been told to follow.”

“My sister never cared for the war. She believed it was art and beauty that would save humanity from destruction, not guns and bombs.