I’m going to start off by telling you that my husband and I have very good friends who live in Oxfordshire, England. My husband met them, via email, while searching for dealers who specialized in British antiquities for the outdoors. We have been fortunate to spend time with them when we travel to Britain, and this fall (hopefully — depending on Coronavirus) we will be seeing them in Washington, D.C. Since 2009, we have been collecting beautiful, old pieces for our yard.
Our most current piece is a 200-year old sundial made of portland stone, which is a mined British limestone. We purchased it in August of 2018 and a month later a very large crate was delivered to the end of our driveway. Not wanting to put it up with winter around the corner, but mostly because we couldn’t agree on where to place it, we kept the sundial in it’s crate and tucked it into a corner of the garage. Then in 2019 we started our seven-month home renovation and expansion, so the sundial sat for another year.
Enter a lovely day in April, 2020 – actually yesterday – where we both spent the day working in the yard. Time to set the sundial! After some deliberation, we agreed on the spot.
Using string and a tape measure, Phil marked off the spot where the sundial would go.
We placed the bluestone, leveled it and evened out the ground slope.
Time to let the sundial and base see some sunshine!
taking it from the crate 
moving it slowly into position 
setting a leveling shim
But the most fun was watching Phil set the sundial.
ker- 
plunk!
Some other views…
That was yesterday, a lovely day to be outdoors, sunny, high of 58. Here is today! And if anyone says, “Well, you do live in Minnesota” I think I’ll scream!
not too bad… 
snow getting worse
#sundials #antiquesundials #britishsundials #antiquebritishsundials #landscapingwithantiquities #lichengardenantiques
Pandemic: Happy Easter everyone. If you celebrate the day, and you’d like to with extended family, FaceTime and Zoom are great ways to be together safely.
A Gardener's Diary 