What garden/gardener inspires your design in your garden?
yeonasky
12 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (16)
buyorsell888
12 years agoginnier
12 years agoRelated Discussions
What are your goals when you design your garden?
Comments (20)When I bought my house 24 years ago, my kids were babies and we had no money for landscaping. The house sat on an acre of dense woods all around, except for the leachfield which was purely sand and had an odd steep slope to it that my kids would use over the years as a sledding hill, toy truck ramp, ski slope, skateboard hill and anything else that prohibited the growing of grass. My then-husband didn't have any interest or ambition concerning gardening or landscaping (just other women) and I was busy raising my babies so the yard remained devoid of anything other than trees, rocks and sand. Fast forward ten years and I got rid of many of the trees, stumps, rocks, the sandpit, and.....the husband. While a single mom of 3, I had even less money than ever, but I had no one to tell me what I could or couldn't do anymore. I wasn't into roses yet at this point but I got to work getting a lawn going, planting perennials that were given to me as divisions from friends, composting, and learning how to operate lawnmovers, chainsaws, leafblowers, etc. I got really strong, both physically and mentally. I pushed a wheelbarrow chock full of rocks up that steep slope, over and over again, until I had enough to make a stone-lined bed for my lilies. When that bed looked wonderful it inspired me to build more, until I soon had many rock beds full of blooming beauties. This being the Granite State rocks are free and plentiful....all thats needed is a truck, a wheelbarrow and a strong back. Just this fall alone I have added yet another 5 rock beds for roses and lilies. I have to buy loam by the truckful because the soil here is too rocky and sandy by itself....but the wonderful thing is that my now-husband is very much a part of my gardening vision and passion. Even though he is a great help to me, he enjoys bragging about his 'Wonder Woman' (as he calls me) when folks stop to admire our little acre of Eden. He says I look my sexiest when I'm digging or hauling rocks, my hair all in my face and up to my neck in mud and mosquitoes. So I accomplish more than having a show-stopping yard and a place of peace and refuge....my husband is proud of me...my kids, now grown, brag about their mom and how strong and fearless and rose-crazy she is....my mom who has Alzheimers and lives with us can sit outside and enjoy the scent of roses and lilies....our neighbors and folks passing by get a little 'lift' to their day enjoying the garden beds by the roadside... and friends of ours can rid themselves of all those darn rocks in their yards! I know that its just a matter of time (and coming soon) before there is absolutely not one inch more of space for me to add anymore gardens. I have managed to cram more plant material into an acre (and still manage to have a few trees left, although the lawn keeps getting smaller...LOL) than anyone would ever have thought possible. I guess I never really planned anything out, it just evolved over time as a mad gardener's addiction to planting and building garden beds....in any available space that had a bit of sunlight. I never really had a vision in my mind, just a passion in my heart that couldn't be denied. And my heart led the way. One garden led to another, and one rose to another...and another. Sometimes even I am amazed when I look at old photos and see the yard as it was so long ago. A long time ago, an acre seemed like a lot of land but now that I have mostly filled it up, it is feeling crowded. But in a wonderful way! I am surrounded by hundreds of roses, lilies, 2 water gardens, shade gardens, berry bushes, statuary, arches and pergolas....and LOVE. I guess that was my vision after all. Celeste...See MoreWhat's In Your Garden Journal From This Gardening Season?
Comments (13)My journaling has ebbed and flowed with the times, sometimes I am a prolific writer and cataloger of my life and gardens, other times, not so much. This year I ran out of room in the journal I have been keeping for five or six years now, I just checked and the last entry was June 6 of this year when I said I was running out of room in the journal! I guess that would be a good thing to ask for as a Christmas gift from someone. Wow mariannese, 28 years of journaling! What a lovely history for you, and perhaps family members who would love to see those memories and knowledge for the future. What a treasure. Some years ago I took a class in Women's Journals and Memoirs. It really honed my writing skills and dicipline to write daily. I learned the things you write about don't have to be life changing or monumental, just daily musings about what you experienced and saw and felt that day, nothing more. That's what great about journaling, you aren't out to write the Great American Novel (or Danish or Chinese or any other nationality) but just documenting your life in a way. I tend to mix personal feelings in with garden notations, I think the two are often intertwined. I love to throw in sketches in my journal as well, sometimes plans for a new garden, sometimes just a quick drawing of my dog lying on the porch, or whatever inspires me at the time. Some of the plans in my journal are invaluable to remembering where I planted what! I tend to list new plants I bought and where I planted them (thankfully) so I can find them later and remember their names. In essence, I keep most of my personal thoughts and ramblings in my handwritten journal, but I am also a relentless cataloger and organinzer of plants which I do on the computer. I have lists and charts galore of roses and other plants with photos in my own personal database that I can reference from time to time. It also keeps me busy during the winter months when cataloging and organizing is my only garden chore. Here are some random excerpts from my journal 2009: 2/28 I've ordered 21 roses (eek!) and now I have to figure out where to plant them all... "Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts" 4/23 Zandi's 16th birthday! 4 eggs in the bluebird nest. Going to be a warm weekend, temps in the 80s. Pruned back all old canes on Maggie - she's put up 3 new thick basals so we'll see how she does... There's a Carolina wren nesting in the garage amid the spray bottles...good thing I don't keep toxic chemicals! 4/28 Cardinals have a nest in Knockout. Now I can't SP it. 5/1 Happy May Day! Ugh, its raining - again. 6/6 I'm running out of room in this book...ripped out KO today (yay!) and replaced it with Earthsong... Happy journaling everyone!...See MoreWhat is your garden inspiration?
Comments (23)Another Secret Garden reader here. It was my all-time favorite children's book, and I read many. I am living my mother's dream. She grew up in the country, but moved to NYC when she got married. She missed gardening, and would take me on walks to find wild flowers under train trestles and other spots here and there. When I was a child, "a house in the country" was the ideal. My parents planned to move back to what was then rural New Jersey, but my mom died (from cleaning a rug) before that could happen. She had just turned 38. So I was raised in the city, but for the past 35 years have lived in an old farmhouse on 31 acres. My mom probably would have designed better gardens than I, but I enjoy doing what I do for both of us....See MoreNW Veggie Gardeners...what's growing in your garden?
Comments (18)It's my second year vegetable gardening as well, and I'm loving it! If only the sun would come out! Fruit Trees: *Cherries *Melrose apple *Redfree apple *Peaches *blueberries (multiple varieties) In raised beds: *Lettuce/greens: black seeded simpson, green oak leaf, red deer tongue, Australian yellowleaf, cracoviensis, rouge d'hiver, merlot, arugula, spinach *Tomatoes: black giant, black, bali, red russian, eva purple ball, russian 117, yellow peach, stupice *Peppers: gypsy, jalapeno *Winter squash: small sugar pumpkin, potimarron, musquee de provence *Summer squash: ronde de nice *Beans: vermont cranberry, rattlesnake, purple, jacob's cattle, agate soybean *Peas: green arrow *Carrots: dragon, atomic red, scarlet nantes *Onions: rossa di milano, generic white sets *Potatoes (in wine buckets): russian blue, french fingerling, alaskan sweetheart, caribe, german butterball *Cucumbers: lemon, armenian, boothby's blonde, straight eight, tondo di manduria Herbs: *greek oregano *italian parsley *lemon thyme *rosemary *mint *cilantro *garlic chives Still to go in: *Rosa bianca eggplants (under lights) *Genovese & Christmas basil (under lights) *Long Island Improved Brussel Sprouts (from seed) Beans: Rossa di Milano onion: Greens:...See Moreyeonasky
12 years agochristinmk z5b eastern WA
12 years agoechinaceamaniac
12 years ago
DYH
12 years ago
anitamo
12 years agobuyorsell888
12 years ago
Ginny McLean_Petite_Garden
12 years agoyeonasky
12 years ago
Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
12 years agoflora_uk
12 years agoyeonasky
12 years agobuyorsell888
12 years ago
Virginia J. Citizen
5 years ago
Related Stories
GARDENING FOR BUTTERFLIESGreat Design Plant: Scotch Heather
The moors aren't all moody, as this prettily colored evergreen shrub proves. Plant it en masse for an epic romance in your own garden
Full Story
GARDENING AND LANDSCAPINGGreat Design Tree: Star Magnolia
Winter-blooming magnolia is a stellar plant for all seasons
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESGreat Design Plant: Knock Out Roses
As glorious as their high-maintenance kin for a fraction of the work, Knock Out roses make even beginners look like garden stars
Full Story
GARDENING AND LANDSCAPINGGreat Design Plant: Bald Cypress
Enjoy this beautiful tree's feathery foilage, fall color and tolerance of wet and dry soils
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESGreat Design Plant: Veronica
Consider adaptable Veronica, or speedwell, for its colorful blooms, butterfly-drawing power and low maintenance requirements
Full Story
PLANTING IDEAS8 Design Tricks From Sunny Botanical Gardens
Take a yard from stale to stupendous with ideas from these expertly designed gardens in the U.S. Sunbelt
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESGreat Design Plant: Sensitive Fern Shows Its Strengths
Wondering what will thrive in your wet, shady garden? It’s Onoclea sensibilis to the rescue
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESGreat Design Plant: Osmunda Cinnamomea
Cinnamon fern brings spring interest and summer cool to the shade garden
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESGreat Design Plant: Winterberry Rouses Frosty Gardens
Energize dormant winter landscapes with this shrub's brilliant berries — and do right by hungry birds too
Full Story
GARDENING GUIDESGreat Design Plant: Grow Blueberries for Their Fruit and More
Eastern gardeners should consider growing blueberry plants for their delicious fruits, bee-friendly spring blooms and brilliant fall foliage
Full Story
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5