A Glimpse Of The Garden

“A Glimpse Of The Garden” is a miniseries focusing on the heart of a gardener’s work — a special spot, an extraordinary plant, a place of respite, or a place that evokes a heartfelt memory. What is down the garden path of your friends and neighbors? What is down your garden path?

A home can be surrounded by flowering shrubs, colorful blossoms, and carefully trimmed hedges, but sometimes it is just one special plant that makes the garden.

For Drs Rob and Diane Wenick, that plant is a 15-foot tall Japanese maple that flutters its rusty red leaves in the air from spring to fall, and arches its bare branches gracefully into the gray winter skies. Although it is one of just many lovely plantings about their home, it holds a near and dear place in their hearts.

“Rob had a very special patient, and when he found out that I was pregnant, he presented us with this beautiful Japanese maple when Alana was born,” recalled Diane. “It was only about 2 feet tall at the time, hardly more than a stick.”

At the time, the Wenicks lived in Bethel and the tree was carefully planted in the backyard. “I wasn’t thinking at the time, but our backyard had a really tall fence around it,” said Diane. “When we decided to sell the house and move to Newtown, I realized that I would never even see that tree as I drove by, because it was still only about waist-high and behind that big fence.”

The house in Bethel sold in September of 1993, but they made sure that the realtor put in a clause that they could take the Japanese maple with them.

 “We dug it up, wrapped it in a big burlap sack, and stored it in a friend’s garage, because we weren’t actually moving until after the winter. It lived for the winter there, and in the spring, after we moved into our new home, we made sure to plant it right in the front yard so that if we ever sold this place, I could still see it when I drove by,” said Diane.

The patient has since passed away, but the tree continues to thrive, stretching tall above the other plants nearby. “It’s such a beautiful tree, and it always reminds us of that special patient, and of Alana’s birth, nearly 21 years ago,” said Diane.

That is what is down the garden path at the Wenick’s.