Novelist Virginia Woolf famously wrote, \u201cA woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.\u2019\u2019\u00a0 Some women have written fiction in the absence of one or both of those two conditions, but their presence makes it easier.<\/p>\n
I have always thought that a garden is the ultimate \u201croom of one\u2019s own\u201d for those who love horticulture.\u00a0 It is a haven for creativity, a place where individual gardeners can make their own rules\u2014and then break them with impunity\u2014and a refuge from the numerous obligations that society places on all of us.<\/p>\n
It pays to remember that in spring, when many gardeners face an annual dilemma.\u00a0 The garden is bursting with energy, having been revitalized over the winter.\u00a0 Unfortunately work, family and social obligations sometimes force us to ignore all that energy and expend precious sunny days stuck in meetings, stuck in traffic or stuck indoors finishing up the taxes.\u00a0 It is maddening enough to make you grind your teeth\u2014something that would not happen if you could only get a few minutes in the garden.<\/p>\n
Every one of us wants to \u201chave it all\u201d, but to \u201chave it all\u201d, you generally have to redefine what \u201call\u201d means.\u00a0 If gardening gives you joy, you need to make time for that joy.\u00a0 Have it all in the garden by giving up something elsewhere.\u00a0 Minimize tedious household chores, limit gratuitous social obligations and find some way to tame your other responsibilities.\u00a0 Above all, don\u2019t waste time on negative people and ideas.\u00a0 Tending your life effectively makes it much easier to tend your garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll\u201d does not mean perfection, either inside or outside the garden.\u00a0 My horticultural education has taught me how to create every kind of effect with plants and how to tailor gardens to fit every situation.\u00a0 But in order to make a garden that works for me, I have had to acknowledge my essential nature.\u00a0 I am a plant collector and I will always find room for an interesting specimen, even if that specimen disrupts some part of my garden design.\u00a0 It is easier to rearrange plants than to rearrange my psyche.<\/p>\n
Some people take great pleasure in drawing up detailed garden plans, either by hand or\u2014more often these days\u2014on a computer.\u00a0 I like to design a garden on the ground.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the earth beneath my feet speaks to me in a way that apps, software programs and graph paper do not.\u00a0 The existing plants, topography and history of a place tell me everything I need to know about how to build a planting scheme and position specific elements.\u00a0 The end result may not always look logical to others, but it makes sense to me and results in a garden that soothes my soul instead of making me crazy.<\/p>\n
Classical philosophy espouses the idea of the \u201cgenius of the place\u201d or genius loci, which means the overriding spirit of a specific location.\u00a0 This sentiment was amplified by eighteenth century poet Alexander Pope and helped define the English landscape gardening movement.\u00a0 When I work in my garden and attempt changes, I consult the genius of the place, even if the place is a stretch of blacktop and the garden \u201cbed\u201d consists of a collection of plant-filled containers.<\/p>\n
With the genius of the place firmly fixed in my consciousness, I make the choices that affirm that genius.\u00a0 Should I make one garden area absolutely perfect, or try to create a gorgeous whole?\u00a0 Of course, I really want to do both, but if the available time on a given day adds up to 45 minutes and the next few days don\u2019t promise much more, I have to decide.\u00a0 Often I choose the single area, because it is easier to accomplish and gives immediate satisfaction.\u00a0 Trying to do too much in too little time would only frustrate me and not contribute at all to the curb appeal of my house.<\/p>\n
I know that some day, when I reach retirement, I will be able to put in full days in my garden both the days and the garden will be glorious.\u00a0 However, putting off something so joyful for an indeterminate future date ignores the fact that the only thing any of us have with any certainty is today.\u00a0 In spring, as the sap rises in trees and human beings, find something non-essential to put aside and get your hands in the earth.\u00a0 The other work will get done and the garden will work its magic on you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Novelist Virginia Woolf famously wrote, \u201cA woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.\u2019\u2019\u00a0 Some women have written fiction in the absence of one or both of those two conditions, but their presence makes it easier. I have always thought that a garden is the ultimate \u201croom … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[863,85,1841,1842,1843,829],"class_list":["post-2377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-garden-design","tag-garden-maintenance","tag-garden-philosopy","tag-genius-of-the-place","tag-landscape-gardening","tag-virginai-woolf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2378,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions\/2378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}