The Ornamental Gardens
Every day I go for a walk, usually around the Experimental Farm. Yesterday I went a little further than usual, to the Ornamental Gardens.
It was a lovely day, sunny and breezy, and I wandered around the Gardens, studying the plants and their labels. They have such poetic names.
It’s only early May, so most things aren’t blooming yet. But there are leaves and shoots and buds, and it made me feel good about life in general.
Crab Apple Trees
Little old couples strolled through the Gardens holding hands and smiling at me.
I happened upon the Organic Gardeners’ Demonstration Gardens, which consists of about eight sample gardens – fruits, vegetables, herbs, fragrance, butterflies and bees, and a few more.
I was seized by an urge to garden, and with it came an unexpected but familiar surge of enthusiasm. I could throw myself into gardening! I could read gardening books! I could plant seeds! I could join the Horticulture Society! I could….
See, that’s what I’ve been missing from my life. My usual passion for my hobbies. I love feeling inspired and enthusiastic and motivated. I love feeling obsessed.
Unfortunately, I lost my garden plot at the Carlington Community Gardens. I missed a critical meeting. When I went to check the date of it, I discovered it had happened two days earlier. The notice clearly said in large bold letters that if you didn’t go to this meeting, you would lose your plot. I keep meaning to call and see if there’s any way I can redeem myself, but I’ve been procrastinating and the more time that goes by, the more unlikely that seems.
But I do have my own wee front and back gardens, and I could lavish my enthusiasm on them. Last year Bonnie and Grace and Debbie made the Garden of Hope in my front yard, and it’s starting to bloom now. It even has forget-me-knots and a bleeding heart.
What’s always stopped me from making flower gardens in the past is I’ve been paralyzed by a desire for perfection, which makes it hard to get started. And if I don’t start on time, the weeds completely take over, which makes it even harder to get started.
These days I don’t feel my gardens or I have to be perfect. If I can make things a little bit better, that’s good enough.
And now I’m going into my back yard to cut back my neighbour’s invasive Virginia Creeper, which has climbed almost to the top of my house.
HOORAY!!!!
I’m going by our new house later today to covertly plant a big honking row of sunflowers.
I’m so happy that you found your happy
Hi Zoom,
My son loves gardening, and he is the driving force behind our recent beautification project. We have a tiny shaded plot in front of our house. It already had a lilac bush and another bush of some kind. Now it has been enhanced with: lilies of the valley, a hydrangea, pansies, a bleeding heart, another perennial with a blue flower (but not forget-me-not), and a perennial with a yellow flower. And lots of wood chips!
Jen
There are other community garden plots around you could probably have a piece of if you really want one.http://www.justfood.ca/community-garden-network/gardens.php
GC’s “garden” needs help! I don’t even think he has a back garden. Of course, that yard face East, which is very difficult in terms of shade. My “front garden” also faces East and I have trouble growing even hostas. Maybe people will allow you to stealth garden in their yards!? Now there’s an idea…
Thanks Mudmama. I love sunflowers – good idea!
Jen G, I’ve never met a child gardener I didn’t like. (There are some children’s-only allotment gardens around town too, I’ve noticed.)
XUP, thanks for that – I just sent an email to a couple of the others, as well as to Carlington (I can handle rejection better by email than by phone….)
Julia, that means GC’s side garden faces south, right? We could plant the herb garden there!
There’s also guerilla gardening if all else fails.
Gardens don’t have to be perfect – let your creativity flow and you;ll love the results
I can’t believe that less than a year has gone by since we worked together on the Garden of Hope. My perception is that it has been a small amount of time; and yet time enough to have become a grandmother or to have moved to a new city or to have left disease in the past.
I was charmed to see forget-me-nots growing in my new-to-me front garden and my mother has promised me a bleeding heart from hers. May gardens and friendships grow.
“See, that’s what I’ve been missing from my life. My usual passion for my hobbies. I love feeling inspired and enthusiastic and motivated. I love feeling obsessed. ”
zoom, i know what you mean… you might like this book, it’s at the public library.
http://catalogue.biblioottawalibrary.ca/item/show/1281085014_refuse_to_choose
Every morning I drive by the Experimental Farm and I absolutely love all of the lilac trees. They are so beautiful! They brighten up my morning drive to work.
I agree with Jen G. We always put lots of wood chips in our garden. I find it gives the garden a clean look.
Friggin’ gardens’ll do that to you, eh? Good thing they just come around once a year…
Hi Zoom, a garden’s a great idea. Like you, I love watching plants grow.
As I proceed with my keyboard art, I realize that these oblong plastic objects that once had a specific purpose now have a new one, or several new ones.
Some have a message, some are the message and others are simply a thing of beauty, like the board you have, Gemma.
Gardens are like this, too. They can contain food, they can be ornamental or they can simply be an English country garden.
Have a superb day.
Best wishes, Shannon
Valerie, that’s exactly how I’m going to approach it.
Grace, it seems like such a long time ago to me. Tomorrow it will be a year since I received the cancer diagnosis. It seems like two years ago to me. So much has happened in such a short time. For you, too. May gardens and friendships continue to blossom!
Daphne, thanks for the recommendation. I’ll add it to my wish list.
Shop Haven, I used to walk that route to work each morning, and I loved that brief space of time when the crab apple trees were blooming!
FutureLandfill, doesn’t it make you wonder how different gardening would be if you lived in a year-round temperate climate?
Shannon, I think I’m meant to have an eclectic garden – a little of this, a little of that. No grand design behind it. You have a wonderful day too.