Monday, May 26, 2008

Weekend Gardening

My dream is to create a Japanese garden in my backyard someday. It would have to contain wisteria. If I started now, with a plan, in several years time it could be awesome.

The thing is, I am not much of a planner anymore. In my 20s I had everything planned. I new exactly what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it and kept lists and deadlines. Now I rarely do that. Flexibility is what works. I still have goals, but I am not so rigid about when and what I'll do. Perhaps I've just grown impatient with age. I want to see immediate results! That's why this Japanese garden dream may end up just being hodge podge of what worked at the time - and more realistically - what I had money for at the time. Add the fact that I really like flowers and they are not the main feature of Japanese gardens - at least not from what I've seen.

My weekend gardening saw me uprooting lunaria to transplant to the front yard - at the front of the house to hide the ugly foundation. I had hollyhocks growing there the last two years but decided I like lunaria more. Hopefully the transplants will survive.

I also uprooted a lavender plant I grew from seed. It was doing really well until the lavender it was near engulfed it, crowding it out of sunlight and room to grow (must have felt like Max in Katy's shadow). So, I moved it to a new location. I think I may have done quite a bit of damage to its roots when I moved it. It's wilted now and just looks awful.

Mr. Field Notes expanded my planter bed to 3 times its original size so I took advantage of the extra space to plant seeds for some veggies and more flowers. I'm really hoping I can get the columbine to take off. They are such a pretty plant and I've seen quite a few of them growing in our neighborhood. That will be the last of the flowers I need to grow to use the seeds from in my shop - all the others I harvest myself from plants I grow. It's just the columbine left, then ALL of my cards will have seeds from my own garden. Lots of people sell plantable cards, but so far as I know, I am the only one who grows the plants and harvests the seeds from them.

Next on the list is getting the wisteria and loofa started!

It's not shaping up to be a very Japanese garden...

6 comments:

Christa from Chloe Rose said...

Wow...an evolutionary psychologist....now that sounds like an interesting profession! I understand about the dreams of a nice garden...for right now, I have to dream. I'm a stay-at-home mom and until I go back to work....I won't be able to add any new fun things to the garden. I like wisteria too. It looks so romantic to me.

Chloe Rose
http://chloerosedesigns.blogspot.com

Unbalanced Reaction said...

...but it sounds like a wonderful garden nonetheless! :)

Mariana said...

Hi! Im not sure how I got here... following links. I had to nod a couple of times when reading your post. I'm in my early 30 (and a psychologist but a psychoanalyst actually...and not practicing at the moment...) and the 20's description you made was ... me. Planning, having deadlines, self imposed ones! ...and I think having a kid made me...relax a bit! hahah I don't know. But my goals -which do still exist- are not so urgent all of a sudden.

My parents in law have here (in The Netherlands) a Japanese garden. I like how neat it is, but it is sometimes too neat. I mean, you have to work a lot to keep all the lines crisp, so to speak.Or maybe it is their type of garden. It is quite expensive too to build it, but quite beautiful.
I have a huge garden, but it is super colorful and full of flowers and trees... we've planted near 14 trees since we moved here 3 yrs ago... and I love growing my own vegetables and fruits too... it's hard work, but rewarding. Yummy...

Anyway, this is becoming a "this is my life comment".
I just wanted to say hi, and will keep reading because I am very interested in what you do...well, the psychology but also the paper :) I want to learn about the second... well, the first too! Always ready to learn more.

Have a nice week!




www.florcita.blogspot.com

KieutiePie said...

OOOH I totally want a japanese garden someday too. Lets do it! =D Err... course I can't right now...

B said...

well it all sounds lovely, so maybe it is Japanese inspired with a twist?

Anonymous said...

Excellent blog! Do you have any hints for aspiring writers?
I'm hoping to start my own website soon but I'm a little lost on everything. Would you advise starting with a free platform like Wordpress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I'm totally overwhelmed .. Any ideas? Bless you!
Here is my weblog wooden buildings