This discussion amuses me. I posted here YEARS ago about wanting a very private and functional front yard--one that was completely screened from the street and yet provided entertainment spaces. I was instantly reamed by no few people for wanting something weird and unfriendly--front yards should be ornamental, not an entertainment space, period, and it was WRONG to want to shut out the street view. Never mind that no one here has seen my neighborhood--never mind that there are a good dozen houses with the level of privacy I seek and about as many different total styles of house and garden as one can imagine in my very eclectic neighborhood with very large lots. We have everything from Mediterranean houses with formal clipped gardens and sun-drenched yards to cabins in dense woods to Tudor-style houses with English cottage gardens to American cottage gardens to five-over-four-and-a-door cookie cutter colonials to 1970s geometric houses with loose, abstract juniper landscaping to lovely contemporary-traditional houses with highly landscaped woodland gardens to....well, EVERYTHING. We have people with no fences, people with 6' wooden privacy fences, people with picket fences, people with split-rail fences--in back AND front. People with no-knock policies and people with NO TRESPASSING, PRIVATE PROPERTY, KEEP OUT signs. People with naked front yards and people whose houses can't be seen at all from the street. 4500 square foot houses and five-car garages and 1000 square foot houses with no garages. And yet when I said I wanted to screen my house as completely as possible from the street, people--including some designers--instantly told me what a horrible, unfriendly person I must be, and what a blight to the neighborhood ANY house so screened would be, and how weird it would be to have entertaining spaces in a (technical) front yard. (I'll let some of my neighbors know who have already done this. They'd be interested to hear it.) No one, interestingly, asked me WHY I wanted this. The answer is quite logical. We have an enormous front yard, because of the shape of our lot, which serves no practical purpose. Being at the end of a cul-de-sac, we get no end of idiots who wander into the neighborhood and turn around in front of our house, staring into it and shining their headlights into the rooms. The back yard is mainly given over to a potager garden and children's play areas, as we have the neighborhood "fun yard," too, so the front is a better place for grownups. And I adore the feeling of intimacy in a garden and the sense of movement created by going from room to room--and garden rooms require garden walls, with borrowed views and intertwining paths. (These paths are fabulous for children, too--chase and hide-and-go-seek are a hundred times more fun with paths and rooms!) Conversely, there is nothing more unpleasant to me than a flat, treeless, unscreened garden with beds bursting with 3' high perennials. Did those who didn't like the idea ask? No, they said that obviously I hate my neighbors and should live in a place without any. (That's why I invited 300 to come over weekend after next, right?) My main point here is that a garden can take many forms and still be a good garden--even unconventional ones in most neighborhoods. It's all about purpose and context. And those must always be considered. Whether a garden is good or bad has nothing to do with whether it is public or private, sun-drenched or shady, practical (vegetable) or compulsive (a collector's garden) or cheap or common or....well, many things. Stella d'Oro daylilies can still be part of a very good design. It's all about fulfilling a purpose--almost any purpose--aesthetically. And that can be done many, many different ways. Amusingly enough, I'd read--and, minus the hippie nonsense, largely agreed with--A Pattern Language not long before setting out on my garden design, and it, along with the patterns of traditional Chinese gardens, really inspired me in my quest! (No, my garden is NOT Asian, but it serves the same sorts of impulses.) Now, I don't remember who all condemned my "bizarreness" at that point, but a couple of the old regulars did from the outset on the basis that that kind of design could have no place in any neighborhood, period. That close-mindedness doesn't seem like good design to me. It seems like not thinking about good design. There were plenty problems with my initial design--its scope was to great to do at once, and it was TOO structural, especially since I've since turned away from modernist gardens, even though my house is modernist--that, too, was a big tripping point for those who could not reconcile themselves to a geometric landscape, period! THAT decision has more to do with economics than aesthetics, though--plenty of geometric modernist gardens appeal to me, but the level of hardscaping required is cost-prohibitive at this point and quite opposite the incremental approach I've adopted. It also had unnecessary elements, or rather elements that had goals that could be accomplished more inexpensively and more reasonably in other ways. But the central objections--geometry is bad/natural shapes good, using front yard for entertaining and having furniture bad/back yard good, screening front yard bad/public front yard good--didn't address truly design issues but addressed issues of prejudice or taste. (Those that addressed the DESIGN, I listened to and took into consideration.) One of the most ridiculous arguments I got into at this site was about trees--again, years ago. A couple of people flatly declared that no tree over 35' in height had a place in a residential settings. NONE. No freaking kidding. I can't IMAGINE Mobile, Alabama, without its live oaks, among many other cities with their fabulous LARGE trees. There would be no tree-shaded boulevards in such a world! I happen to loathe neighborhoods with only "people-scale" trees, all younger than the houses. But not even I don't say they CAN'T have good design. Design issues are about balance, grace, and function--with any number of constrictions or lack thereof. They aren't about absolute, blanket rules. Knot gardens and woodland gardens, sculptural gardens and prairie gardens can ALL have good design, even though each has a different and conflicting aesthetic. Internal rules are often the most important.

Mercy me, lots to read this morning. And that's a treat because I have to go into work late this morning :( ! and this will amuse me until I departure time (7 AM). Count me as another admirer of that nifty wreath. Please tell me about the plant with the amazingly colorful buds/seed heads... is that color for real or a trick of the monitor? The baby jacket is wonderful; I am not a knitter but perhaps I'll give it a whirl as Mum was very accomplished and there are scads of pattern books (dating from the late '30s-early '90s) as well as countless sets of "knatting noodles". Cat names: Sir Thurston Bottomly, Sam, Fred (slept in the basinette with me), Thomasina, Tosca, Millicent Friendly (Millie), Oliver Orange (all over orange, Ollie), Nicolette, Salvatore, Floey (Florence Griffith Joyner), Robert E. Lee (Bobby Lee), Mr. Sleek (Junie, short for Junior), Polly, Spencer, Vera, and Minnie Pearl. Nick names are too numerous to recount without putting you all to sleep. Hey YOU asked! Smitten with kittens we are indeed. Wow, Drema, I had forgotten about your daily commute. I'd hasten a bet you won't miss that too much. I have between 15 and 25 minutes, depending on which route I take, but it's early in the morning and is unfettered by clogged roadways. Gas is just over $3/gallon and my usual route takes me by all the places I need to visit routinely, so I accomplish much "on the way home". I don't joyride much these days. I hope the impending "vacation" doesn't add too much stress to you life. Any thoughts on what you might do as a "second" career? Mary, have you ever heard of LAGQ, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (or quintet, never can remember)? I occasionally hear something by them when I'm allowed to listen to the classical program on NPR (workers generally veto that selection, sadly). Anyway, they're terrific, Deanne would probably like them, too. Bedbugs! uck... who would ever have thought we'd be revisiting those detestable creatures? Shudder. I'm not particularly squeamish, but they give me the creeps (ticks, leeches, included). OTOH, I have to confess to a certain grudging respect for their adapability... . Sounds like an intersting research project for you, Cindy. :) There have been a rash of grisly domestic violence incidents in our area over the past couple of years... the weirdest was the guy who killed his wife and entombed her fibreglass at a marina. What's up with THAT? I sympathize with the worries about friends/children and the loss of one's "space". Having had one dreadful room-mate some years ago, I know how it feels to come home and see their car in the driveway when you were hoping for some ALONE time. The best I can say for that idiot was that he paid off our mortgage for us! haven't seen him since and don't care if I ever lay eyes on him again. Hang in there, you guys. The seamless gutters were in place when I returned from work yesterday. The estimate for the drywall came in yesterday, too. I still don't understand how anyone can do that sort of work for that price. Sheetrocking and insulation rate as the most odious of home improvement tasks, at least to me. Rich will understand, huh, Martie? Rex has become quite a pest when I get home. He follows me everywhere, sitting directly in front of me and staring at me with imploring eyes... are we going out for a walkie, Mummy? WHEN, pleeeaaase? Jeez, I can even use the bathroom without him. He apparently missed the memo that I hate dogs. Time for the "rain locker" and raiment selection and then off to an interminable day at work. I'll probably be alone (mercifully) but will be faced with the final round of huge curtains for the largest of our commercial accounts. Greeaat. Hope your day is a fine one, everyone.

Oh sure, Katie, leave me the hard part! Just kidding! What a beautiful ending, perfect, Katie! I'm adding my part now, so we can all read how the poem fits together. And I'll post again when I get the poem from Katie. And I just want to say: Great job, everyone! Not just with the poem, but you all did an excellent job of keeping the Robin going, in a timely manner, for which I am really thankful! Wasn't quite sure how this would work out, but it turned out far better than I could have hoped for. Thank you all for being such great FOTESSERS! And one more thing, I really enjoyed doing the Robin (and hope you did too), and loved Margo's idea for doing a Round Robin Story. SOOOO, we may borrow another month from Jeanne and do this, maybe in the Fall. Keep it in mind and I would appreciate any imput, ideas or suggestions for a Round Robin Story. And because I didn't have to work very hard to finish up, I thought I would give the Poem it's title: Friends of the Earth's Spring Journey A haze of green and longer days, And lots and lots of rain! Helps nature work behind the scene as sunshine pushes through the grey. Upwards push the tender tulips. Companion of the daffodil So lovely, but I sigh, there are evil weeds to dig, battle them tomorrow, for now a glass of wine. First blooms of Redbud glow pink and bright, under a clear blue canopy in the morning sunlight. As with all God's creations, spring brings forth the beautiful flowers. Which are doubly enhanced by the coming of April's showers. Pollen-nation! Oh the sneezes and the misery; the price we pay for leaves on the trees and a colorful array of bright Spring flowers. Let the rain come back again - the irritants to devour. Descending from cloistered winter aeries, Exclusive silver-winged garden faeries dance in the flower beds among blossoms of yellow, pink and red. Cherry trees blossoming in the sun, give a small taste of bounty yet to come. Days lengthen, the earth grows warmer; summer's just around the corner. Awaiting to see the hummingbirds flight, so majestic, what a delight. How fast and silent its small wings zoom, intending to drink nectar from every bright bloom. Spring has sprung, the blossoms bloomed, Now there are plants to tend. Never fear, SummerâÂÂs almost here; But for Spring, this is THE END! Shirley!

I don't know why that strikes me so funny. I like Paris Garters and Harris Tweed the best. Did you know the race horse Barbaro was named for a dog in a painting? The breeders are continuing to name their horses after those dogs. Barbaro, Lentenor, Marcano, Sereno, and Calypso. SO naming the steer after names in a poem would work quite well.