Not Open to the Public
A bunch of Master Gardeners were talking the other day about possibly setting up a tour of their gardens. When they suggested including my gardens, I emphatically said "No way"! I'm not being selfish or anti-social. My gardens are not for display purposes. They are not "designed". They are my playground, my therapy when I need it and my place to experiment. That's the biggest reason why I never gardened in my front yard until last year. I don't "do" attractive. And it shows. You've seen the pictures.
Here's a great example. This is my latest experiment:
First of all, it's taken me a year to find a strawberry pot that is well-made and reasonably priced. In the top is the chocolate mint. In the pockets are trailing nasturtium seeds that will (hopefully) germinate. There are also a few seeds in the top of pot with the chocolate mint. I love the idea of nasturtiums spilling out of the pot.
If this little experiment doesn't work, i.e. no or poor germination or looks awful, I will simply plant various mints in the pockets next year. Whatever the result, I will post pictures as the season progresses.
Here's another picture of an Angelique tulip. Sorry, I'm just so in love with them.
My lilac bush is blooming. It's nothing special. Just a cheap one from a catalog. It was labelled "Old-Fashioned Lilac".
It's right next to one of my bird feeders. The birds perch in it while waiting for their turn at the feeder. And it shades lily of the valley and violets underneath it. Sounds attractive, right?
It's not. Like I said, I don't "do" attractive!
posted by OldRoses @ 7:45 PM
6 Comments:
This is exactly why my front yard has looked as boring as it has up until now. I don't plan my gardens, and I don't really plan what I'm going to buy and plant. I just plant a bunch of stuff that makes me happy. For me, that's good enough.
I finally started on the front yard last year. The island bed turned out better than I thought, and I've spent the last few days reshaping and renovating the beds up near the house. It's much more taxing doing the front. I find myself thinking more about if it looks "right" or not, whereas in the back, I just kind of do whatever the hell I want.
I guess, technically, I don't do attractive, either.
Hi Old Roses, our yard couldn't be called landscaped either. I would like to think that it is more like a mini botanical garden as we pack in more and more plants. At this point even color combinations and form of plants are out the window. If there's an empty spot that's where it goes when we buy a new plant.
Your angelique tulip is much nicer looking than ours.
Colleen, I feel exactly the same. The plantings in the front of my house feel more like "work" because I am so concerned about how they look. I feel constrained, like I can't have any fun at all.
Ki, I keep complaining about my tiny yard (50x100) but the reality is that I am far from filling it. I would love to a yard like yours, literally stuffed with plants. I'm working on it, if I can just get ahead of the darn squirrels!
Popping in on a fun conversation.
Gardening should be fun and fascination with plants is what gardening is all about, otherwise everyone's garden would look alike. How boring ...
Loved your fascination with 'green flowers', Old Roses. Colleen and I have e-mailed about PASSION and it's PASSION that makes each garden unique and what makes the soul sing.
Have you read Jamaica Kincaid's book MY FAVORITE PLANT? As an admired writer and PASSIONATE gardener, Jamica says it well. "I shall never have the garden I have in mind, but that for me is the joy of it; certain things can never be realized and so all the more reason to attempt them."
So we plant succulent bulbs knowing squirrels and chipmunks, perched high above licking their chops, will dig before our showers are done, rabbits will nibble tender leaves, and slugs will devour precious hostas. But that's OK ... We'll find something else we 'must have' to fill the void. Right, Ki?
There are parts of my garden that I feel are attractive, but mostly I feel it is very unattractive. I'm just really good at framing the photos I take ;)
Color schemes are the furthest thing from my mind when I plant. I have colors that I like, so if anything looks color coordinated it is because I buy all the same colors in all the plants that I buy!
And what usually happens with my garden is that I am at the plant store (how did I get here? I am usually thinking to myself) as I buy whatever looks interesting - things I'd like to try out, experiment with. I have no idea where they will go. Their homes are where ever I have room.
And if I don't have room, I make another bed!
Love the tulip:) No lilacs for me this year. I've lost a few things and some things just never came up. Maybe the squirrels ate mine too.
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