New Canaan Woman Develops Passion, Knack for Gardening

[Note: Photos that include Kathleen were shot by me on May 7. Her own terrific photos of the garden in bloom are from past months -- can't wait to see this landscape unfold.]

Kathleen Dakin kneels down and with one hand goes to pet Murphy, her rat terrier.

In the other hand she holds a sage plant. The herb has its proper place in the splendid garden that Dakin has created and that surrounds what she calls her “Cotswoldsy cottage” home at 392 South Ave., at the blinking light where Gower Road comes in.

Knowing that the sage has its place in a flower garden filled with perennials and soon, annuals, is something it has taken Dakin about two decades to learn, as she pursues her passion as a green thumb while working as a Realtor with William Pitt Sotheby’s downtown.

“A lot of gardeners want everything to be a flower and you end up with a jumble,” Dakin says sagely (sorry about that) as her standard poodle, Charlie, leaps toward her.

Raised in the Midwest, about an hour northwest of Chicago, near the Wisconsin line, Dakin developed an interest in gardening down in Florida, where she lived when she met her husband and where her children were born. (Her kids are now 26, 25, 23 and nearly 18—the last a senior at New Canaan High School.)

“The first garden I did was a ridiculous patch in Florida in the front yard,” she said.

Asked why that was, she replied: “Because I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.”

The Dakins moved to New Canaan nearly 20 years ago, to Hemlock Hill Road, and they were there for eight years before moving up to Wellesley, MA, she said. She continued gardening the whole time -- she emphasizes that she is a novice and not a 'master gardener,' though take a look at her home and tell me what you think -- and then, five years ago, when they moved back to this home in New Canaan, Dakin said she took advantage of “wonderful, truly wonderful resources” such as the New Canaan Library, New Canaan Nature Center and Elm Street Books to further her education and fuel her passion.

“You’re always moving something around if you’re a gardener,” she said. “You can lose yourself in it. It’s like a painting, it’s so relaxing for me. I see some bumper stickers that say, ‘I’d rather be fishing.’ Well, I’d rather be gardening.”