November 21, 2016 – Point of View in the garden 

          Often just starting out gardeners who come to visit my gardens ask:  “What should I plant first?”

          After many homes and over time I now have the answer.   “You plant for your point of view.”  Of course, they don’t know what I mean, so, I will explain it from my “point of view”.

What do I see from the following locations?

Point of view from the interior of the house:

From the front bedroom the mail box garden,

From the bathroom the raised vegetable gardens,

From the kitchen the driveway garden,

and the patio garden,

and the 4 raised vegetable gardens

and the back lawn sweeping down

to the cluster of Maiden hair grass, etc.

From the day room the front walk garden

and the mail box garden, and

some of the driveway garden.

Point of view leaving the house:

[in sequence]

The patio garden, walk way, and

the driveway garden,

and the front walk garden

and the mail box garden.

Point of view coming home to my house:

[in sequence]

The mail box garden,

then

The front walk garden,

then

The patio walk way,

then

Patio garden,

then

the sweeping back lawn, etc.

AND, LASTLY your neighbor’s point of view:

The mailbox garden,

the front walk garden,

a portion of the driveway garden.

Or, basically, what you see when you drive by your house.

Now, the results of this exercise are as follows:

          You will notice that the mailbox garden and the front walk garden get a lot of view in this exercise. Next is the driveway garden.

My conclusion:

          It is the neighbor’s point of view that needs to be addressed first when you create your gardens only because you see them as much, if not more than your neighbors.

          You plant a special something for YOU to come home to.  When you drive into your yard and park after a long day at work, what do you see first?  That is the garden you will plant first.  It doesn’t have to be an all-out spectacular or earth shattering garden.  You can start with a big pot and fill it with beautiful annuals.  It only has to thrill you.  Start simple.

          Then, you back track to the mailbox garden.  Start simple and then add a little each year to it.  It can be as easy as putting a cut bottom whiskey barrel over the mailbox – the rim pushed to the back so that the mail carrier can get to the mailbox.  Fill the barrel with soil and depending on your rain or your willingness to carry water – plant it with annuals or perennials.

          At my first home where I parked my car, we had a 6-foot light pole near the edge of the driveway at the beginning of the short walk to the house.  I dug out the sod in a 3 foot circle; I turned the soil and planted blue morning glory seeds in the circle.  When the plants came up, I edged the circle with some inexpensive bricks and tied several strands of jute to the top of the light pole and anchored them to the bricks.  

         As the morning glories grew [I watered them and noticed them daily – so they got great care.] I trained them up the jute. I got such pleasure out of them.  It wasn’t long before I was saying “good morning” to my blooming morning glories as I greeted them on the way to driving off to work each day.  That is a good example – simple, inexpensive.  When in full bloom at the height of the season it did have a “WOW” factor as well.  And, it was something I enjoyed way into the fall.

          I suggest you make note or sketch at least a dozen ideas.  If you can’t think of any, ride around neighborhoods and borrow someone else’s ideas or visit the Garden Design Magazine or Horticulture Magazine’s websites and cruise through their ideas.

          My current mailbox garden has evolved over the years and I noticed today that I need to hack a few of the shrubs back or completely cut them out – as they have gotten way too big.  But – it makes a statement – says a Gardener lives here. [Possibly a lazy or busy gardener is what it says at the moment, but, nonetheless – a gardener.]

          Yes, my mailbox garden has been re-worked about every 5 years and it is due to be re-worked again.  Perhaps tomorrow I will give it a go – take a before picture and an after picture and re-work it.  Then, I will share it with you.

          Tomorrow with your morning coffee or tea – take a note of your “point of view” or your potential gardens or your current gardens.  Then make some notes for construction or improvement. As winter settles in, you can take advantage of some great “garden dreaming time” to set into motion your personal point of view in your garden.