Oh, what a garden. Grown in containers and walled garden accents throughout the fairgrounds are hibiscus, cannas, impatiens, angel-wing begonias, trumpet vines, ferns, ornamental grasses, mums.
A few steps away from the hustle and bustle of crowds, mingled aromas of smoky barbecue, hot popcorn, cotton candy, livestock and fresh air that is part of the annual event known as New England’s State Fair – The Big E – is Aunt Helen’s Herb Garden. This almost hidden secret is part of the Storrowton Village, which is not as well known as Sturbridge Village (Mass.) or Williamsburg in Virginia. Yet it is a gem composed of authentic buildings with a village green and traditional time-honored crafts, arts and interpreters. On this day, chance brought into view this serene beauty paging through Culpeper’s Color Herbal a book by David Potterton and illustrated by Michael Stringer. Yes, that is a hand-knit shawl of colorful odds and ends.
As the day turned blustery and the temperatures plummeted, sweaters, hats and jackets came out. One woman sitting beside me inside the Rhode Island building on the Avenue of States calmly remarked, “It is New England, after all.”
Foreground, a cabled knitted sweater.
