I read Paradis Express regularly.  Delphine Gitterman writes this blog-she truly loves anything and everything relating to the garden.  She doesn’t write so much.  She publishes lots of pictures.  We have become fast friends, via an internet that permitted us to talk, and get to know one another.  She lives some 40 miles north of Paris; I live in Michigan.  She is an art director; her partner Lucien is a garden designer.  

This past fall Rob shopped for Detroit Garden Works in France.  One night of that trip involved a dinner-Rob visited Delphine and Lucien.  Via skype, Delphine called me.  I got to be part of that dinner.  Via skype, she was exactly whom I thought she would be.  Energetic.  Committed.  Thoughtful, and passionate.  Compassionate.  She wore me out.  Thank God she has made time for me.  The images she assembles for her blog are always striking and provocative.

She has a passion and enthusiam for the garden few others could match.  Her interests are wide ranging.  How she circles the globe, and reports on gardens and artists amazes me.  Her blog is five years old. Her pictures sass me.  They energize my thinking.  They enchant me.  Do you read Paradis Express?  If not, you might take a look.

This photograph published on her anniversary post says everything about Delphine.  A tiny truck, hauling an enormous Christmas tree accurately describes her.  She would willingly move a mountain of ideas with a spoon. She is one single person beaming to all of us about the miracle that is nature.  Her take-decidedly unconventional. 

She has a voice that I greatly admire.  Happy anniversary, Delphine.