The Incredible Gift of Flora--

Welcome to our Garden!

This is where magic happens for roughly 7 hours each and every day during the long days of summer.  I can never spend only a few minutes out here...for the garden gives me breath and soul.  I give life to the plants which thank me in return with their magnificent display of blooms everyday.

It is a complete Celebration of growth and health in its finest!  There is a sense of ease and grace that falls over me when I play with such Beauty.  The garden will forever be a intricate part of my recovery and my spirituality.

 The backdoor hardly becomes visible as we exit the strict confines of the home and enter the little oasis.

I have started everything in this picture by seed or bulb during the first season (last Spring).  We moved into the home just 2 months before this photo was taken- and what I had to work with upon move-in was literally grass and brush.  No garden space at all.  It has consumed 90% of my free time to create the canvas for my beauties to grow.

 

 Now the garden leading from the back walls erupts with flavor, color, and texture.  I've used tropical foliage as well as regional growers here for all-season drama.  My Canna lilies (the broad green foliage near the door) are some of my favorite statements in the garden.  I wanted this space to be as much about leaf texture and variety as I did the color.  Blooms actually take a back seat to foliage in my garden.

Like a ladder, the foliage and blooms stumble forward into the foreground.  Castor Bean and Tithonia as the backdrop...and Nasturtium, Marigold, and Crassula as the border.  This blanket surrounding the home was a lot of work to knit...but so very worth my Love and Time.

 Subtle curves surround the entire backyard from this main garden here.  Banana, Canna, and Castor Bean give me the texture I need...and Dahlia, Marigold, and Madevilla give the accent of color I need to complete the story.  My dog, Diezel, has also added a touch of his own by peeing right on the clearing of grass off the concrete stoop.  I love the brown patches of dead-ass grass.  A nice touch.  Thanks Diezel!

 The back gate opens into a land where Life is thriving.  As the summer months continued, this little gate door became less and less functional!  Story of my life!!!

 As with the home, I really love the small details that make a space 'speak' to the guests...and to me, for that matter!  Mary on the left stands infront of a lovely old door we found at a garage sale and peers into her garden as if to lift the spirits of the blooms out of the ground with her mournful tears.

And on the right, I have added small elements such as brass butterflies and a Baroque-style mirror to create a sense of the 'story-book' fantasy.  The pink metallic globe is reminiscent of the crystal ball we recall from so many of our childhood classics.  And the wagon struts around a couple of baskets filled with Impatiens.  It is clear in some of my work that my childhood is still very present.  Very Visceral.

 My Mandevilla Warrior (left) and my perfectly colored Cosmos (right). 

One of my favorite flowers to grow for their ease and intense coloring all season long is the Zinnia.  It is an old flower dating waaaaay back into the gardens of so many of our ancestors and still manages to create the conversation in this garden!  They are charming, robust, and great for cutting!

 Above is a relatively new Zinnia strain called Cactus Zinnia.  Huge flowers and very long lasting bloom period.  They bloom in all shades of the rainbow and stand as tall as I am...nearly 6 ft!

The Diablo Cosmo

The Zinnia

 Some of these blooms have such striking structure; such as the Yellow Dahlia and the Purple Coneflower (Echinacea).  These blooms are nearly everlasting and create such a statement in the summer garden.  I have paired my Echinacea with White Angelonia to break up the powerful structure of the blooms and the color.

My Beloved Zinnia Garden.

In all the ways Mother Nature gives to us...it is nice to give back when we are able to.  The garden not only becomes my safe place to create and meditate every day and night...but it is also my gift to the Powers Greater than Me.  I spend all my better-Being on creating this Beauty for the Forces that make my life so wonderful today.

It is my Gift.  And my Duty.

And I love my Garden.