She has always lived by superlatives.
These days, Newmar spends her time pinching pansies surrounded by her own private paradise.
She never seemed to be able to decide if she wanted to fall in love with Batmanor murder him.
Credit:Robert Trachtenberg
I found her utterly fascinating.
Some people love dogs.
Seeing something growing gives me the sense that everything is all right and in its place.
Wisdom says if you love gardening, get advice from someone smarter than yourself, she says.
In Newmar’s world, gardens are transporting, even transcendental.
I just stand there and pick up one flower and look closer and closer into it.
The sepals and all those fancy Latin words that tell you whats what.
I fall down into it with a spiritual glee.
I believe in small house, big garden, she says.
Credit:Robert Trachtenberg
Who wants to take care of all that indoor stuff?
For all her attention to the fantastical, Newmar also takes a practical approach to gardening.
Newmar is always honing the plantings.
Credit:Robert Trachtenberg
Let me share a secret with you, she says.
Lets say something is missing or wrong in your garden.
That will eliminate the distracting details and you will see the whole picture.
Credit:Robert Trachtenberg
To dress properly in the morning, do the same thing.
Color is of the utmost importance, particularly with Newmar’scollection of 80 different roses.
Oh, my gosh, she says.
Theres no drug on Earth like the depth of a rose.
And Yves Piaget as big as your face.
I have so many.
Roses and foxgloves rotate over the course of the summer with pansies and delphiniums in a cottage-style planting.
Pandora, a rich burgundy corn poppy, is easily grown from seed.
The best thing about a garden is that youre going to experience it over time, Newmar says.
The flowering part might change every year, but the deep roots are permanent.
Thank god for Catwoman, she says.
Its like the operaCarmen.
Credit:Robert Trachtenberg
Theyll always be writing different versions of Catwoman.
She will live on forever.
Im only too grateful.
Credit:Robert Trachtenberg
Its as if it were designed around me, for me.
At the end of the day, you understand that the real garden youre working on is yourself.
No two days in my garden are ever the same.
you might bury a lot of troubles while youre digging in the dirt.
Sounds like the definition of paradise to me.
