I think my garden style could be called, Greedy Guts, or, Quart into a Pint Pot style. I have been used to a much bigger garden than this one, and have yet to learn that there simply is not going to be room for everything I want to grow. I keep trying to squeeze more and more in. The poor roses and other plants have to take big breaths in to accommodate their neighbours. I still haven't laid the paths or steps. At this rate, the paths are getting narrower and narrower, but there will be plenty of flowers! Daisy

My ex didn't want me to get this birdbath and it is one of the things that was the final straw in our marriage. Actually the other thing was three round bales of hay. That was nine years ago. When I had this birdbath on the other side of my creek before I moved the garden over here, I had Ranuculas around it which looked really pretty. When I get my new bare root roses through the mail, the roses get put in the bird bath prior to planting. All the large rainfall last Summer killed my perianals around the birdbath. I will have to get some more My girls put this statue in the birdbath some years ago, the lady is nursing a baby and I thought it was appropiate. Too bad about her neck or head and I haven't repaired it yet.

One bed is a memorial to my mother who passed away in the fall of 2001. We dug out many of her perennials from her garden and moved them to my newly dug bed that I had planned on using the next summer. It also has lots of annuals that where started the next year from seeds of her annuals. Every year I add more and more annuals and perennials from a list that she had made of plants she wanted years ago. It also has her garden decorations in it. 2 other small beds are the cosmos beds. Under the picture window are my 2 beautiful blue hydrangeas. The darkest blue I've ever seen and never seen anywhere else. Those are my lucky hydrangeas. Hubby bought them for me at the market 26 years ago around Easter time. Everyone said the chances of them being hardy and surviving a New England winter where "slim and none". the jokes on them cause they are there every year and bigger and bigger every year. Just in front of them is an old plastic birdbath that no longer can hold water for the birds. It is taped together with white duck tape, but it sure holds soil for some plants. In the same bed are all my potted herbs that I dig out and grow in pots for the summer. the rest of that bed gets all the extra morning glory that I have no room for on my fences, arbor and trellis. They get grown in pots. I have another area that is all daylilies A whiskey barrel that gets filled with what ever I decide to stick in it from WS. I really mean stick in it and fill it up well. It changes from year to year. This year it has cosmos, painted tongue, a datura and still room for more to stuff in. The center of the yard bed has an arbor with 4 heavenly blue morning glory growing up it. On either corner of the back of the bed are lupins. At least there where 2 lupin yesterday. One large blue one, WS last year and bloomed this year. The opposite corner "had" this years WS lupin la chaterlaine growing. that was until this afternoon when I found it had been eaten by some 4 legged critter. all that is left is a small stem. The rest of this bed is just crammed full of whatever is there from WS seedlings. This year I decided to plant it to face the street, so it's tall stuff in the back, going to very short in the front. Had it the opposite direction last year. So where ever I find a spot of soil, some seedling gets put in there. This year, so far, annual poppies, zinnias both tall and short, dwarf dahlias, 2 foot sunflowers, 5 foot sunflowers, blue thimble gilia, scabiosa ebony and ivory, 2 kinds of malva, a nautica, livingston daisy, dwarf nasturtium, california blue bells, chinese forget me nots, verbina, edelweis, painted tongue, cleome both short and tall, cosmos, nigella, 4 o'clocks and a pot of nicandra. It's all crammed in there and I hope when it all is blooming, I won't see any bark mulch. The back yard has a chain link fenced in area that will be covered with about 50 different kinds of morning glory vines and my tomato plants in pots and my 2 snowpea plants in pots. I also have a bunch of plants in containers that get moved around to where ever it looks empty and needs some color. Some design, but the basic motto is this. Where ever there is dirt and a smal trowel will fit, a hole is dug and a WS seedling fills the hole. The less grass the better, the more flowers the better. Need more and more beds dug every year. Fran

I came to this post late, but I have enjoyed each and every one of these dreams immensely. Eduarda, your dream sounds a lot like like Huntington Gardens in San Marino, CA, right down to the tea room. It's a huge place, with art galleries, a research library, a rose garden, and themed gardens from different parts of the world. I love going there. It's not free; the admission is a bit steep, but it's well worth the visit, if you ever come this way. Lorinscott, have you considered those doggy suppliments that take the burn out of dog urine? I have a friend who uses the pill form for her little dog, and she swears by them. Her lawn is perfectly green. I haven't tried them because my poochie already takes two prescriptions, but you could ask your vet about them. I don't think they're expensive. cziga, I'm aiming towards the Secret Garden with my cottage/potager. It's isolated behind my garage, and I think of it as my special "hiding" place. I ofen fantasize about owning a hobby farm/bed and breakfast combination. A place that has a homey restaurant (and pub) supplied by the gardens outside, where people could come to escape for a weekend. It would be a fantasy place, like it popped right out of the Shire. It would have acreage with hiking trails, and it would be a real working farm with animals, but it would also be quaint with a fairybook quality to it. I know it's not practical at all, but I often think of it.