Gardens do reflect our personality. It all depends on what kind of a person that we are...how our garden will look. If we are meticulous gardeners...our borders are clean and flowers each have a place of their own. Sometimes they look like little soldiers across the front of the house. The evergreens are trimmed and shaped into perfection. We plant tidy plants that do not self seed or get out of bounds. Hostas, ornamental grasses, astilbe, purple coneflower,day lily, and marigolds. If you are a more carefree person (I call it a free spirit) you like your flowers to mingle a bit. Kind of like a Monet painting...colors blending into each other. Drifts of blooms. Maybe you could call it a Cottage garden. You aren't happy with bare spots...every spot must be filled. You are happiest with plants like lamium, daisies, petunias, poppies, lady's mantle and nepeta for instance. Now, what if a free spirit marries a meticulous gardener. Can these two different types get along in the garden? I'm a free spirit married to one of these neatniks. We had some problems at first, but with a little cooperation...we have done it together. He has his perfect shaped evergreens and trees planted just so...and I have my "blousy" gardens planted here and there intermixed with things that he likes. When we were first married he would say, "Balisha..I wish you would pull up those columbines that are too close to the air conditioner." I would do it...grudgingly, but I would just take the plants and put them somewhere else. I would tell him that I would like to mix flowers with the evergreens and he would just nod. When it came to a big project...the woods, he didn't want me to touch that area. He felt that it wasn't safe...barbed wire, fence posts, holes, piles of trash were everywhere. He thought that at my age...I had enough to take care of. I really wanted to garden there and he could see that, so he relented and now we have a beautiful spot at the edge of the woods...we both work to keep it up. We compromised..I have only planted at the edge and I let the back part be natural. It is a place where this free spirit can just go wild...the meticulous gardener has his part too....he stands there with his weed wacker and chain saw :)
Balisha
7 comments:
I have to smile at your post...Lou and I are like you and your husband. I guess for us it's the carpenter in him...everything straight and level and the artist in me...just throw it out there to see how it looks. It's nice to know it's not just us.
I too, am a 'free spirit' gardener. It sounds like you and your husband have worked out things quite well in the garden and says much about your marriage :^)
51 more days! We have a winter weather watch out for this weekend. I love this post and the way you two compromise. Your garden looks so serene and peaceful.
This is So good! Sometimes I am glad my husband doesn't care about gardening, but it can get awfully lonely out there.
Pat...you just described us.He is a woodworker...everything must be precise. I am an artist and throw caution to the wind.
Noelle...I know that you don't like things trimmed in ball shapes etc, but like them to be more natural. I have read your blog and I smile to myself so many times.
Judy...I think we all have to compromise a little bit.It's not always 50-50 here...but we deal with it. Thanks for your kind comment.
Barbee...I used to be married to a man who didn't care about gardening. I know what you mean about being lonely in the garden. There are pros and cons for both situations.
Everyone...Have a nice weekend.
Balisha
I enjoyed this post. It made me smile.
My husban will do the preparation work but once it's time to plant he heads for the house, never to be heard from again.
Ha ha - sounds like the Lawn Man and me! He's not a gardener, but he definitely prefers things neat, ordered, and tidy, while the cottage style suits me just fine. I exercise restraint in the front foundation borders, while the back is much more cottagey, except for the large shrubs which he mostly takes care of. I miss the blooms and natural shapes of some of the shrubs, but since he's tolerant of what I do, I don't complain.
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