Cottage Enough?

Dad mentioned today that he wanted some pictures of the garden in it’s current state. It’s still really a work in progress, but let’s face it: the real defining quality of a garden is that the gardener is growing and changing as much through the garden as the gardener deludes him or herself into thinking they are the one doing the changing. It’s symbiotic. That’s my big word for the day. So here are a few pictures of the updated garden.

The dirt from the pond obviously needed to go somewhere, as well as the sod. What I did was to take the sod, turn it upside down and make a grass sandwich with the existing grass. This is going to do two things: it’s going to kill the grass that is compacted together, and it’s going to create a really good compost once that’s done. I took the last of the rocks that appeared by the garage and lined the bed. The dirt is about three inches deep and is shaded by the lilacs, perfect for the hollyhocks that I seeded here. Will be putting in some annuals to give it some colour as well as shade out the seeds as they germinate. Come August/September, I’ve got a package of delphinium seeds that I’ll mix into this bed as well.

Some of the weeds are actually pretty attractive and I’ve been encouraging the native heathers and chamomiles to continue to grow. Hard to see them because they look like little light bursts on the fence.

So Dad had an old cast-iron Chinese lantern that’s been around for at least as long as I have (so that’s at least 44 years old if not older….holy crap)…to punch it up beside the pond, I spray painted it with a rust-protecting paint bright red. Cherokee red would’ve been preferred (just because of that damn Frank Lloyd Wright addiction I can’t seem to shake), but the red wagon colour is about as close, if not exact, as I can get. And I’m loving how the red amaranth (Hopi) is contrasting against the other perennials. The pond is going slightly green because of algae, but the addition of some more plants, and the continued grown of the water hyacinth will help to provide more shade and reduce that issue. There is a resident in the pond along side the multitude of water beetle that just appeared almost overnight. I got a rainbow gourami (yes, a tropical fish!) and put him in there. They’re members of the labyrinth fish family, surfacing to take a gulp of air every so often, so as a tropical fish they’re well suited to stagnant ponds. There’s not water circulation as of yet, but I may get a small pump and put it in to help deal with the algae. Then again, I might end up with $150 worth of water lilies and some snails…..

Beans and peas actually have very delicate, very beautiful flowers.

The plants around my little make-shift bench are starting to flower as well. The geraniums are glad to be out from under the grow lights, and there are still several house plants that I have to crate up and move over.

I try to picture the house with the pine boards and cedar shakes, the darker roof, and a fence enclosing the space from the street view and suddenly realize that this is, very slowly, becoming a very cottage garden. I have a hope that within a year or two I’ll be able to try and get into New Dance Horizon’s “Secret Garden Tour” but we’ll have to see.