About Composer in the Garden

About Me
A composer by vocation, a gardener by avocation.  My garden and my life as a composer are deeply intertwined, so that they are simply variations on the same theme.  The sounds and sights of my garden inform and shape my music making; when I work in the garden, it becomes a form of visual orchestration.  The yin and yang of my creative life. . .

I an a member of GardenComm (Garden Communicators International) and teach garden classes at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh. I have traveled extensively in the U.S. to lecture on garden design and am an experienced online instructor and presenter. My photos have been published in magazines, books, and other print and digital media and I have had several one woman photography shows.

You can see music and garden videos at my YouTube Channel
You can see more garden photos at Instagram 

About the Garden
I garden organically on a wooded acre in southwestern Pennsylvania, a few miles north of Pittsburgh. Designated as a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation, a Pollinator Friendly Garden by the Penn State Master Gardeners, and a Certified Backyard Habitat by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, the gardens support the life cycle of a variety of wildlife and are designed especially to support birds, butterflies, and beneficial insects. Herds of deer roam the gardens outside of the fence, along with assorted rabbits, raccoons, possums, and wild turkeys. The gardens inside the fence reflect my love of playing with color and feature plants such as roses, daylilies, and hydrangea that would not survive deer browsing along with many pollinator friendly plants. Although technically the garden is in USDA Zone 6B, the microclimate here is closer to Zone 6A. My garden has been on several regional garden tours as well as serving as an on-site classroom for garden courses.

 

76 thoughts on “About Composer in the Garden”

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  4. Hi Lynn,
    So pleased to come across your blog. I’m afraid you put me to shame when it comes to gardening, but I absolutely love trees and photographing them. My favourite perspective is looking straight up through the branches at the sky. It’s such a majestic and awe inspiring perspective, which I was reminded today, was a favourite of Georgia O’Keefe’s.
    I have been learning the violin for the last six years. It probably comes in at third fiddle behind writing and photography. My daughter is seriously into dance so I also hear a lot of music through watching her performances. Indeed, I was photographing some daffodils this week which were beyond their prime but still exquisitely beautiful and marveling at their twisting forms, which reminded me of dancers.
    Anyway, it’s become very late now and I need to get to bed.
    Best wishes,
    Rowena

    Reply ↓

    • Rowena, so glad you found me and enjoyed the blog! It seems we have many interests in common, especially trees and music. I enjoyed my visit back to your blog, and especially loved the photos of your dog – beautiful! – and the views up through your trees.

      Reply ↓

  6. Hello Lynn,

    I have visited a number of your most recent posts, and can state with considerable certainty that your landscape design and garden presentation are both aesthetically pleasing and professionally executed with great finesse.

    Please be informed that one of my gardening and horticultural websites could be of great interest to you, and it is called the Potted Plant Society.

    Other websites include:
    ✿❀ Queensland Orchid International ❀✿
    Queensland Begonia Society
    Royal Horticultural Society of Queensland

    Please enjoy to your heart’s content!

    Reply ↓

    • Hello SoundEagle! Thank you for your very kind comments. Yes, I agree, we have a lot of musical and spiritual ideas in common. I’ve been enjoying exploring your site. I will check out the links you listed above and in the previous comment and will also respond more fully later this week on your site.
      ~Cheers, Lynn

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  7. Hi Lynn,

    I would like to inform you that I enjoyed your music very much. The range of your compositions is quite diverse. The pieces are all well-arranged and compositionally sound. Thank you for sharing them.

    In reciprocating, you are very welcome to sample a fraction of my original musical compositions published at 🦅 SoundEagle in SoundCloud: Art, Music and Compositions about New Sensations, Love, Life, Country, Nature, Dreaming, Meditation and Spirituality 🏞🎼🎶. Please enjoy!

    Hopefully, my choices of music there resonate well with your general ethos and outlook, as much as your connections with gardening and nature, and your affinities with spirituality have resonated with my own worldview and understanding of your thoughts and approaches towards art, music and technology.

    Happy mid-November to you and your family!

    Reply ↓

  9. Hi there Lynn,

    Thank you for your Landscape Design presentation to the Master Gardener’s class of 2014. You mentioned that a deer resistant growing list might be available…just wondering if you’d consider posting or sending it to us?

    Best wishes!

    Reply ↓

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  14. Dear Lynn,
    Thank your for finding Dig-It-Blog and liking my post. I like your music a lot, and your photos. We have even more in common. My husband “Reb” Julius Rabinowitz has been a friend of David Borden for years– David actually arranged a Happy Birthday for Julius this year.
    Let’s keep in touch!
    Ellen

    Reply ↓

    • Ellen, what a great synchronicity! I speak with David regularly, such a dear friend. My husband and I performed his very first Happy Birthday variation for a mutual friend at her birthday party; little did we know how that would grow! And lucky Julius, to be blessed by David’s birthday gift; I will ask David to send me a copy. I treasure mine, as do others. Yes, by all means, we need to keep in touch!

      Reply ↓

  15. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I have a great appreciation for music and gardening, but am not very good at either. I am looking forward to checking in with you to learn from someone who is obviously quite good on both subjects.

    Reply ↓

    • Chlost, thank you for returning the visit! I so identified with your winter garden post. We got five inches of snow last night and a few more are predicted. I spent 3 hours in the garden yesterday, cleaning up the beds and pruning shrubs; today it is “pictures of the snowfall” day. The month of March . . .

      Reply ↓

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    • Margie, thank you and that is quite an honor. I’m backed up on award nominations, but hope to address everything in the next few weeks. Many thanks again and I will visit your link to learn about this honor!

      Reply ↓

  22. Lynn: I’ve been following the conversation regarding this reblogging feature (agree with you wholeheartedly). I would like to add a similar “warning” to my blog as you have done. I wanted to let you know that I used yours as a model but put a slightly harsher tone to it. Don’t know if it will do any good but maybe if Word Press starts getting wind of these popping up all over the place, they might reconsider this reblog feature.

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention. ET

    Reply ↓

    • Eleanor, I feel so strongly about this and I appreciate your comments and am flattered by your imitation of my “disclaimer.” I made a third comment on the WP blog which they have never let out of moderation, no surprise there. My interpretation of the situation is that they hope to expand their membership appeal by gathering the Tumblr crowd, 90% of whom only reblog. So, I’m not holding my breath . . .

      Reply ↓

      • …and of course I know nothing about Tumblr. Good grief! I’ll do some research this weekend on them. If everybody who delikes this reblogging feature starts adding a disclaimer, maybe it will get WP’s attention. It won’t help their business if people move their blogs to another site. Thanks so much.

    • I have to be honest, this whole thing blows my mind. When I use Tumblr or share stuff roherwhete, I go out of my way to give credit, link attribution, & generally encourage consumption of the source. If I like something, like say, a comic, I want other people to see it & see the source. It’s like playing someone a track off a CD & saying “yeah you should get their album, it’s great.” Vs. “yeah here is a song I don’t know who the band is but isn’t it awesome that I am playing for you because I am cool?” Is it really that rampant? I guess it’s just strange because I have such a guilt hangup over this sort of thing. It’s similar to the issue of paying for things vs pirating. I got into a huge argument in my office the other day with a group of people saying they don’t pay for comics, movies, or music because corporations are evil. I was trying to say that the artists deserve credit & reward for giving us something, & they vehemently disagreed, saying art is free & I am just too ingrained in capitalist thinking. I countered by guessing (correctly) that none of them were artists or creators of any kind, so they don’t know what it’s like. I just feel like my view is very unpopular in my generation & it freaks me the hell out. So if I end up becoming successful in writing, I’ll have to know that more & more people think I don’t deserve any payment for it. Terrifying & sad.

      Reply ↓

  23. I too am visiting your Space after reading your comments regarding the ‘Re-Blog’ on our sites, to me this is ridiculous and we should be able to block that action or indeed forbid it all together. Indeed as a result of reading the ‘What’s Hot’ blog I have removed the bulk of my Copyrighted Scripts as I do not want someone taking my work and not even having the decency of offering a link back to my Space. In my way of thinking this ‘Re-Blogging’ idea offers an ideal opportunity to rogue bloggers and I do not like that idea one bit.

    I know there are a lot of bloggers that simply hate this re-blogging action and not being able to do anything about it other than accidentally stumbling across one’s own work on an another blogger’s Space and asking them to kindly remove it. What utter twaddle is that my friend, for if someone were to take the work without linking back to the original Author, then why would they give a jot that one had complained about them doing that and asking for it to be removed? Simple answer is that they wouldn’t care.

    I too do not like that there is no ‘Reply’ option on the feedback to users of this site as comments were too easily dismissed and that to me is preposterous, my comment is still under moderation so whether or not it will be added is anyone’s guess, anyway thank you for taking the time to read this one my friend and do have a good day today…

    Androgoth

    Reply ↓

    • Androgoth, thanks for visiting and commenting. I just had a friend get reblogged, I visited the reblogger’s site and it was a post with one photo, so in essence, her entire post was reblogged. I wish WP would take our comments more seriously. I like blogging here but have a problem with not being able to opt out of this practice, and I certainly didn’t care for the dismissive quality of their responses to those who were in disagreement. This is an issue worth exploring more, certainly.

      Reply ↓

      • Thank you for your kind reply my friend and I can understand the horror of your friend’s photographic posting being re-blogged without her permission, I see no positive use of this Reblog if it is used without linking back to the original Author / Creator with the Copyrighted content intact…

        For me personally it
        is a complete let down…

        Have a very nice rest of week my friend 🙂

        Androgoth

  24. Hi. Nice looking blog! 🙂 I was reading your comments on WordPress’s recent post about reblogging. I am very unhappy about this reblogging function, which I just discovered. As a lifelong professional writer, I am very concerned about my intellectual property being hijacked wholesale. The reblogging function here on WordPress seems to even allow the reblogger to edit the content of the original posting! I would have to stop blogging if this were the case. How are you handling this problem? I see you have a notice top right asking people not to reblog you. Has that worked? Do you find your stuff reblogged even so?

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Kim, thanks for visiting. This discussion has gone on for a while among many bloggers. I just put up the notice recently after my concerns were so readily dismissed on that page. I do know someone who complained about the reblogging of one of her posts and it was taken down. However, it seems to me that WP removed the reblogging capability during the SOPA protest and then put it back up afterwards, which says a lot right there. Anytime anyone puts something up on the Internet, the possibility of theft is high. What I object to is that WordPress seems determined to make the theft easier and the defense against it more difficult. I added a response to my comment but it was never approved – and THEY talk about censorship.

      Reply ↓

      • Thanks for the reply! 🙂 Yes, I agree entirely. It’s true that piracy/theft/infringement is always a problem for anything we post online anywhere. But for WordPress to be formally facilitating and in fact encouraging this is what really galls me.

  28. I love how your blog theme is intertwined together. You see, I am not musically inclined at all and know that music is another language that I cannot “read” nor understand.

    But by putting other art forms with music, it helps a person like me (who is highly visually oriented and word oriented) understand specific sensations caused/instigated by different types of music/tunes.

    You’ll see my blog where my other interests in the arts are….besides cycling. 🙂

    Reply ↓

    • Jean, thanks so much for your thoughtful comments. I’m delighted to learn that my penchant for intertwining my own interests is helpful to someone else. I did visit your blog earlier – love the Prague photos – now I will go back and explore some more.

      Reply ↓

  30. Thanks for stopping my blog earlier today. Your doing so benefited me in more ways than one; in addition to the feedback (always helpful and appreciated) it led me here.

    I’ve spent some sampling the last couple of months of installments–it’s highly inspiring work. You’ve produced a wonderful synthesis of visual and audible elements and I very much look forward to future posts.

    Reply ↓

    • Kerry, thank you for your kind words – it was very much my pleasure to discover your work. Your photographs are truly beautiful and inspiring; may I add your blog to my links section? You’ve inspired me to use my Nikon more (it’s heavy and the iPhone is more convenient, but the difference in quality is always obvious) and to go the extra mile in Photoshop to get the most out of my photos. Thanks for visiting. More music videos are on their way.

      Reply ↓

      • Lynn, a link to my blog would be great, thanks very much. (I’ve added Composer in the Garden to my blogroll; hopefully it’ll generate a hit or two for you.)

        Re your choice of cameras–I always recommend the best available tool for the job. Sometimes it’s not immediately obvious what that is, but it usually sorts itself out. If you do decide to go with an SLR might I suggest using a tripod, if you aren’t already doing so? I know a tripod can be a pain to use in some ways but the benefits almost always dramatically outweigh the costs. (In fact, this may be a worthy topic for a near-future blog entry. Hmmm…..)

        In any event, I eagerly await your next music video.

      • Kerry, I agree. I do have a Nikon DSLR, but it is heavy and cumbersome and the screen is dark; I used to use a Pentax SLR in the old days and still miss it. At any rate, I use a Bogen tripod for all of my video shoots, with a quick release attachment for my other cameras. I’ve been using the Nikon more as I explore long exposure night shooting but I still like the feel of hand held camera, probably from my traveling days of shooting Tri-X B&W fast film for photojournalism type shots. It is just a matter of taking the time to rethink my strategy. Thanks for the tips and encouragement!

  32. I’ve so enjoyed my visit to your blog; the slide shows of your garden are luscious! And, I love music, though I’ve never learned to play a note on any instrument. Often thought that if I get another life, I’ll be a musician (supposing a choice, lol). How wonderful to weave the garden and the composing together…

    Reply ↓

    • Elizabeth, I was very impressed with your blog as well. It has a beautiful look and it is obvious from your thoughtful and elequent posts that you are a writer. I’ve been thinking about fairy tales all day after reading your post. There was an interesting independent film on the Sundance Channel a few years ago based on the Baba Yaga tale – can’t remember the name of it, but it was visually memorable!

      Reply ↓

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