Why are English gardens so fascinating to many Americans? Angela of North Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, believes it might be the sense of history that accompanies anything British. In truth, she feels, tending the soil is likely quite similar in Belmont, as it is in the mother country. When alerted of the questions a few Belmont Patch readers had for her, Angela pointed out there’s no magic formula for English gardens relative to any others. Gardens are organic things and so much can alter one’s plantings over the years, she said in reference to those she has nurtured for the past 16 years. “…

Each summer, Belmont Patch features a series that profiles gardens and their creators in the community. Owning a garden center and a landscape business has certainly helped Mark Saidnawey with the creation and maintenance of his own bucolic site outside his home on Grove Street “I spend seven days a week caring for thousands of plants,” said the long-time Belmont resident. “And I have an eye for what will look right in a garden.” The co-owner with this brother, Tom, of Pemberton Farm and Garden Center in Cambridge and its two-year-old landscaping design company, Saidnawey spends his entire …

Each summer, Belmont Patch features a series that profiles gardens and their creators in the community.  From the time they moved into the Charles Grant Winn House on Pleasant Street in the historic district of Belmont in 1979, Joyce and Walker Shields, who work as psychotherapists, have shared projects in their lovely garden together with great enjoyment. Since their family and their careers have been their major priorities, they knew their garden would be at best an avocation. “We decided to take the long-range and more relaxed view and accept that it would require many years to explore the…

Each summer, Belmont Patch features a series that profiles gardens and their creators in the community. If you tend a bucolic space  -- whether with flowers, shrubs, vegetables, aquatic plants -- or know someone else who does, please contact us in the comment section and tell us a bit more about the garden so we can more fully describe its glory.   For Anne and Philip May, their garden is the heart of their home. When they married and Anne moved from Lexington to join Philip in the Stults Road house in 2006, the couple renovated and made changes to the interior – all geared toward access to …

This week, Belmont Patch begins its annual series profiling gardens in the community and their creators. If you tend a bucolic space  -- with flowers, shrubs, vegetables, aquatic plants -- or know of someone else who does, please contact us in the comment section and tell us a bit more about it so we can write about its glory. For Jeanne Mooney, gardening serves as a blank page or canvas that awaits her creation. “It’s my pallet, my musical score, my pen and paper,” she said. “Part of gardening is playing around with things – seeing what will do well where, looking for the right soil …