What a wonderful place to be in the rain…my garden. Everyone who loves his or her garden should have a place to sit, recline, or rock while it rains. This special place can offer you peace, recollection, and, of course, time to consider what you want to move, add, or redesign in your garden. My special place is a protected porch outside the living room of our home.
This brings to mind another subject that is a topic that I deal with day to day. The design of each garden should be a reflection of one's individual home and personal taste. The interior of one's home reflects their taste, so it seems appropriate that the exterior of the home should do so as well. Specifically, this means that if your home is traditional colonial, the garden and landscape should be reflected in an English garden style. A contemporary home could have an abstract, very unconventional style landscape with exotics and tropicals, or succulents and cacti as plant material. Even a small patio home exterior can become the homeowner's oasis with a small water feature or a focal point of a central sculpture as the basis for the total landscape design.
Regardless of the style of your home, please remember that special place when it rains. Take it from me-- it will always be your favorite place to sit while reading a book, talking to a friend or spouse, or just relaxing under the protection of a roof while listening to the rain and feeling the breeze.
Betsy Shaw, Smith County Master Gardener
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