It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!
So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?
What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?
Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)
Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?
Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?
What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?
Your garden will be spectacular! Sounds wonderful.
You will be very busy doing the prep work! Whew!
Those sound absolutely beautiful. Yes, I love the names too.
I loved their names as well; the whitish one was Madame leGras de St. Germain. (French names roses have such panache!)
You're right - every rose is beautiful!
https://meadowbrookhall.org/magazine-blog-roses-of-meadow-brook/
And if you love roses, you must look through David Austin's catalogue of roses. He's a master gardener in the true sense of the word, and doesn't need the kind of "certification" that Americans use for MGs. He's an English gardener, a hybridizer, and a rosarian.
https://www.davidaustinroses.com/us/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5P2rqu6c5QIVDNvACh2QQQhWEAAYASAAEgJ49PD_BwE
I bought some of his beautiful, lovely, fragrant roses and pampered them for years. But eventually, I lost all of them, probably to the cold west winds, but contractors who couldn't stay on the driveway path didn't help.
Oooooh, a place that focuses on roses is so pretty to see. My grandpa grew beautiful roses. My godmother did too. They can be finicky. I’ve never tried growing them.
I do love all flowers, certainly fancy flowers from green houses but wild flowers in a field are just as beautiful. Don’t you think?
There is something to appreciate in all gardens. Formal gardens such as a lovely English garden can be very serene and relaxing but a more relaxed natural garden can be equally as pretty and would require a lot less maintenance.
It’t interesting how it’s tough labor for some, indeed it’s hard work but for others it’s a passion and they don’t see it as work. That’s how my grandpa viewed it, a true passion! My grandma detested doing anything in the yard. She preferred her needle work and cooking. She was a fabulous cook!
New England can’t be beat in the fall! It’s like God took a paint brush and painted all the leaves gorgeous reds, oranges and golds. It’s just lovely.
We have the beautiful plantation homes in the south with lovely gardens too. Oak Alley Plantation has the lovely oak trees leading up to the plantation.
Yeah, I love Longue Vue House and Gardens in New Orleans. Beautiful home and gardens. Also Zemurray Gardens near Loranger, LA. They are known for their azaleas. Really pretty in the spring.
I remember seeing a botanical garden featured on Victory Garden in Christchurch New Zealand that looked phenomenal. That would be a dream trip to do!
One had an interesting configuration with different gardens of different themes, including two formal parterres. Another focused on roses. And that's primarily what I remember: roses and another charming lower growing perennial with light greenish foliage and lovely little yellow flowers - Alchemilla mollis - Lady's Mantle.
Both were peaceful, diverse in layouts and use of the land, and surrounded by massive blends of open and forested land, consistent with mansions of the wealthy classes.
But what really charms me are English cottage gardens, as well as formal gardens.
I want to visit many more...alas, so many gardens, so little time...
I have been to the botanical garden in San Francisco, CA Lovely! (Golden Gate Park) Beautiful gardens and gorgeous black swans.
I have been to the botanical garden in Birmingham, AL. Pretty. I liked the Zen garden.
Bucket list: Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile, AL
I'm just wondering if hybridizers have created Squills in any other color, such as a pale pink or yellow. They would be beautiful.
The flower in my avatar is a Heavenly Blue Morning Glory. If you copy the photo and enlarge it, you'll see there's a happy little bee in the center, busy in its work as a cherished pollinator.
We've grown MGs ever since I was a child, when my parents started a practice of going outside very morning and counting the number of blooms, which changes daily. I still do that, but usually stop counting after about 125 or so.
I've also grown Crimson Rambler and Grandpa Ott, as well as the comparable evening bloomer Moonflower.
https://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/vines/morning-glories.html
Next step is to give up chocolate and spend the money on Japanese MGs. They're absolutely stunning! (looked for a site with a good collection of photos of these beauties but couldn't find one that showed the ruffled ones I discovered years ago.)
You are going to have a magnificent garden!
When my daughter was young I read to her constantly. The stories would often speak of meadows. She used to call the backyard a ‘meadow’. Isn’t that funny?
The first time she asked me if she could go play in the meadow I cracked up.
She loved the descriptive stories but I had never heard a kid call their backyard a meadow. It was kind of cute. I still remind her of that today. She’s 31 now.
Maybe they will choke out any goat heads!🌸🐝🐝🌺
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gSJA0qcFmew
GA, what is the blue flower in your avatar?
I'm glad you've gotten Siberian Squills; I think you'll love them. They spread so much each year and create a carpet of lovely lilac flowers. I probably planted a few dozen or so a few decades ago; now they grow across the full 51' feet width of the garden and probably another 50' angling off in multiple directions.
I planted some in my father's yard; now they cover probably 1/2 of his front yard. And they really are sooo pretty.
My very favorite memories with my grandfather was helping him in the garden. Thanks for sharing your garden with your grandchildren. It really is special.
What kind of bulbs are you doing? You all know so much more than I do as far as gardening goes. I would like to learn a bit more.
That’s exactly what I wanted to know. I think I would like just a small garden. My grandpa had a large garden. Lots of work and upkeep. Small sounds just right for me.
Five plants sounds great.
I have 3x3 raised beds and I can plant 5 plants in each one.
If you have critters, plant enough to share or you will be frustrated because they know before you when items are ready to be harvested and they are early risers.
I hope your plants make it too.
I stopped coloring my hair probably eight or so years ago. I was a towhead as a kid, went to dishwater blonde. Did highlights for probably 15 or so years. Now still dishwater blonde, lightish Brown with gray/white highlights that look towhead again😀 and free!
I turn 65 in a few weeks. Mom's bday is the 26th.
Hope plants (to stay on topic) survived the freeze. They look cold!
Don’t you find this year is going by fast? Here we are in October already.
Funny every time I hear the word, blustery I think of the sweet Winnie the Pooh stories I read to my kids.
Thanks for bringing back that memory, Glad. 😊