My virtual garden

Like a lot of non-gardening type people, I really enjoy gardens. To look at, to walk through, to stop and linger over, but not necessarily to weed, to plant, to battle moles (don’t get me started on that) and so on.

I’m always impressed by good gardens and I always resolve to plant one. But somehow it doesn’t work out. I hope to someday break through my inertia and actually get one planted (one that survives anyway) – the same way I hope to break the inertia that keeps me from making a quilt.

I spent some time in the library Wednesday, browsing through landscape planning guides. We don’t have a huge backyard, but what we have is a big ole rectangle of nuthin – scabby grass mainly. I’d love to tear it mostly up, put in some flower beds, brick pathways and veggie trellises. Back as a kid, I always wanted an Elizabethan knot garden. For me now that seems far too constrained and regimented – I’m looking more toward a cottage garden with lots of color and mess and whimsy.

If I get off my duff this year and actually get a garden planned and planted, here are some of the things I’d like to put in:

The “Anne Boleyn” rose (found here) because my obsession for this Tudor queen borders on psychopathic, but the flower is nice anyway.

Hollyhocks (seeds found here) because I just love their towers of flowers.

Hydrangeas (found here), especially the lovely bluish-purplish ones because they make me think of fairy tales, castles and all sorts of fantastic things.

Lavender (seeds found here) because I love the scent and would love to make some sachets or dried hangings with them. Maybe I’ll make it to the big lavender festival in Sequim, Washington this summer.

I suppose the time for planning this garden is now; figuring out how to tear up the grass, make the pathways, build up the flower beds, account for where the shade will fall, how water will get to the plants and on and on. It’s a daunting project for a non-gardener, but one that would make me very happy when it was done. So maybe 2009 is the year I get it going. If nothing else, it is fun to wander the virtual gardens and imagine the warming days of spring on a very cold and foggy January day.