From the Sperry Garden – October, 2007

I am really excited by something I just added to my garden last week! Have you seen them?

I have been shopping at one of my radio-sponsoring nurseries (Covingtons/Rowlett) for more than 20 years. During that time, somewhere about 10 years ago, they began handling the most incredible wind chimes. They are obviously produced by musicians, as each metal pipe is carefully tuned. You can get chimes with Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, pentatonic, Gypsy and other tones in many different octaves. While these chimes may be more expensive than the jangly cheaper ones I have bought in the past, they are simply majestic. I bought the mellow 4-foot Westminster chimes and I have to tell you, it’s one of the nicest things I’ve done for my garden in my life.

Want to hear the most incredible “test-drive?” Click onto this link and go to the manufacturer’s demonstration room. You can hear the individual chimes and you can hear blends of them as well (I’m going back to buy a mix, too, for another part of our garden.) If you’re cheating and reading this at work, you’d best forward this to your home for the listening. The chimes will give you away. People will gather around you. They are spectacular!

Note that I hung mine high up in the trees alongside our driveway. They’re not in a real part of our landscape, but hidden away in the woods. As the trees leaf out fully they will be concealed even better. I was concerned about whether there would be enough air motion to cause them to chime, but I can tell you, these babies sing!