I Do Like to Garden by the Sea

My name is Melina. Welcome to my Zone 8a garden in the Seattle area. It has been a few years since I have shared photos of my garden with you all (A Love/Hate Relationship With the End of the Season), so it’s nice to have you back to have a peek around. Much has changed over the past couple of years, and slowly my grass is disappearing as my annual “edging” project turns into another foot (or two) of garden border. (The shovel just slipped, LOL.) Next year I have plans to take out some larger sections for dahlias and berry beds, but here is where it sits right now. I have a collector’s garden, which means I love plants but don’t have enough space to plant three or five of many things. So instead you will find a lot of one-offs jammed together in the borders. Like many, I found my way to the garden through the need for peace and healing. What started as a “hobby” has quickly turned into an obsession that I hope to parlay into a career one day. For now, though, I will keep experimenting in this lovely space—learning and growing through dirty hands, piles of garden magazines, and those of you on social media willing to share your spaces and lessons learned. The gardening community is a wonderful one, and I am glad to be a part of it.

Growing herbs makes your garden look nice and gives you the advantage of spicing up your meals with fresh greens. Creating a herb garden requires only a small chunk of effort and, after investing a little bit of time as well, you will bear the fruits of your hard work soon enough. Even if growing herbs outdoors or indoors doesn’t require plenty of gardening knowledge on your side, you might still want to check our extensive guide on how to grow a herb garden.

In Yorkshire we are lucky to have several gardens designed using the theme of a Himalayan Garden. The Hut near Ripon at Grewlthorpe is   ‘The Himalayan Garden’ with all the plants you would expect in such a setting including

Half Standard roses are grown on a 60-80cm stems. The selected flowering variety is grafted onto this stem. A spreading variety of polyantha or ‘fairy rose’ attains further  height of  2′. Clusters of bead-like buds open to globular, scented flowers which are most effective en masse.

Britain has some of the best gardens in the world. The choice of which to visit is far larger than this selective list but at least it gives you somewhere to start planning this years outings.

In the cold wet winter it is a good time to plan where to visit as the year improves. The South West is the obvious place to start your visiting tour of gardens containing exotic plants.

China is one of the great destinations for visiting gardens. The influence over garden design and the vast array of plants and flowers is secondary to the investment in time and dedication demonstrated in so many great locations. This is just a selection of those you may consider visiting if you can make the journey..

Is your garden safe from petty crime? Unfortunately in recent years garden theft has been on the rise. Plants, furniture, metal objects and statues can all be  attractive to thieves. Our local police  circulated this timely reminder on how to ‘nip crime in the bud’.

Peace is not just the absence of war it can be a reflection of a personal inner tranquility. To many gardeners peace may be a state of harmony with nature. It is a theme of several ‘hard landscape’ projects and sculptural works as shown by the selection of Peace gardens below.

Holland Park has some Zen like features but fails my Zen test. The classic elements of a successful Zen are stone, sand or gravel, water, plants and space. Then there is a question of balance between yin and yang. Cramped or cluttered gardens inhibit the flow of spirit so space is potentially the key ingredient of a Zen garden.

Not what you would expect for a garden called ‘The Phoenix Garden’  in the middle of  Tottenham Court Road near Crown Point. It isn’t a phoenix from the ashes of a great fire or a WW11 bomb site at but was built on a disused car park in the 1980s. It may be part of an overflowing burial ground for St Giles-in-the-field church back in the 1600s and is reputed to be the last surviving Covent ‘Garden’. The entrance is located in St Giles Passage

Home gardeners always seek new and innovative ways to improve their gardens and increase their yields. This is particularly true now, when at-home fruit and vegetable gardening is becoming increasingly popular.