Another aspect of selling our house will be leaving my garden. It is neat, formal and based on an English garden of hedges and pine trees as the front. The back garden is tropical and wild, filled with palm trees and hibiscus trees with bright red flowers. We have fruit trees, a lemon, a lime and an orange tree, and a raised vegetable garden. There are three compost bins to nourish the gardens.
We carved this garden out of an abandoned clay quarry. There was no soil, just sandstone and clay, and over ten years we have created a green oasis that feeds my soul and quietens my anxieties.
It is one of our joys to sit on the back deck, surrounded by the green lushness of our garden with a cup of tea and a enjoy the sound of bird song. Priceless moments.
However, I have no plans to build such a large garden with our next house. In fact, I am planning the minimum of garden.
I think part of this change of mind set, is naturally due to the fact that I am ten years older and not as energetic as I was once. No, I am not saying I am old, I am saying that I notice a few more limitations, and if I start a large garden at this time of mid-life, will I be able to maintain it as I grow older? I have watched my parents garden wither away as they aged, and the burden that it became to them, and now to us, as time passed. I don’t want that stress.
I also think that my interests have gone in lots of new directions in recent years, and of course we have the birth of our first grandchild in a few months. A garden takes a lot of care, and maybe a little person will take control of the little spare time I have now.
Now I am not talking going cold turkey, or a scorched earth approach to landscaping, but something that is low care and drought hardy. Something that doesn’t require lots of pruning. A green perennial garden.
Minimalism in life and in the garden!
Maybe something suitable for a small person to romp around in?
I love gardening, it gives me peace of mind… however, I am not really sure that that is actually what’s best for me. I have to remind myself to get OUT of my house and garden sometimes too.
That is what our garden has become for me lately, another source of guilt for not tending it the way it deserves. I am tired of guilt and want to eliminate it from my life. We shall have some trees, and a hiding place or two for little explorers!
I agree with your current landscaping idea. Take care of it and do what suites your life as it is now, what’ll make you happy and tranquil. After all, we only “borrow” our land for a short time. Someone else owned it many years before you, and someone else will own it many years after you.
I dreamed of building a house and garden and I did. Now I am so ready for a less indentured life! Empty nest syndrome perhaps!
This summer has been a frustrating year as I have felt the limitations you speak of. The 30 x 30 foot garden (plus an acre) is too big for me to maintain, and husband has little time. He built two 4′ x 4′ raised beds and I planted a mini-fall garden. But now I’ll be unable to maintain even that because of foot surgery Friday. I keep hinting that it might be time to move. But alas, husband has a shop. Enough said.
Mr FD wants a ‘shed” the Australian equivalent to a workshop, but usually separate from the house. Not that he does anything that remotely requires one, but he thinks….
When we moved here 13 years ago we had freshly-cleared land to polish and build to our specifications. I was that many years younger and went gung-ho into creating large flower beds and spending many hours most days of the week working on them. That was then, this is now, and now I am doing the guilt-because-I-just-don’t-have-that-energy-or-endurance anymore. Time to simplify,methinks. Small perennial beds, maybe containers of color on or around the deck. A gardener would be good. Everyone needs a dream.
For a couple of years during the drought we had to water our entire garden with buckets and as a result we both seemed to be forever at the physiotherapist. I think I have learnt one lesson there!
Makes perfect sense to me. I’ve seen the same happen with my parents.
Watching your parents age is a very important lesson for your own life, I have discovered. Not quite the lesson I wanted, but at least I will try to make it less of a burden for others. Then maybe they won’t sit around waiting for me to cark it!
Well if you don’t have to carve the next one out of a clay quarry, you’ll already be ahead of the game!
You can do a lot with containers, and they’re easy as pie.
Yes I think geraniums in containers, and maybe a vegetable garden (raised of course!)
Flamingo Dancer ‘old’?
I always thought you were ageless.
Oh I am – I am just “old” in wisdom. I shall be around to dance on your grave (in the nicest possible way, of course!)
lol I’ll invite you to the wake
I shall drink to that!
This makes me sad – we live in a second story with only pots and containers to bring us joy. Well, we do have a wild canyon below our deck – but I mess the green of New England. I’m sure you will tend to something lovely.
I will miss the bushland across the street too, though not the deer that eat my trees!
How about
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50826582@N00/2555791792/
not right away but not too long in the future you might want a place where a child could really dig in, run truck around on hand-made roads, make mud-pie tea parties. Of course if you think this will freak out the parents a sandbox or a big pile of ‘pea gravel’ is also fun.