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A Gardener's Guilt
by Dorothy Foltz-Gray

Every spring I am flush with enthusiasm for my garden. I can't wait to dig and plant, plant and mulch. I can't wait to see who's poking his head up, who's going to bloom, whose return I can celebrate. But one return I don't relish: my gardening guilt. As temperatures creep into the 90s, my enthusiasms wane. Saturday arrives, and what I really want to do is put my feet up and read. Later I'm after a nap, and later still I want full immersion in the local pool.


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What I don't want is to be half naked, covered in topsoil, unable to wipe the salt stream from my eyes. Nor do I want the sun glaring down on my blistering shoulders. Or the steam hugging my sunglasses. Yes, I want a beautiful, fragrant garden like my neighbor has. But I also want clean fingernails. Actually, what I'd like is to set my neighbor to work for a few hours.

So I think up guilt-preventing schemes. I can garden ten minutes each morning when I let the dog out. Just not this morning. I can look into ordering a sprinkling system. That's part of gardening, right? I could go buy the mulch for tomorrow's stint. Or I could lie down.

But midway through my languid fantasies and rogue rationales, the plants begin to stare at me. They suck in their cheeks. They call out to the neighbors for help. Some of them picket my house. Some of them even die on me, martyrs for the others.

Death, of course, activates me. I grab my favorite small shovel and begin digging holes for the six pots of salvia languishing on my front stoop since last Friday. If I bury everything that's staring at me (I think this was Poe's way of thinking also), then peace will come. In a half hour or so, I'm done, and the front garden looks renewed, like a kid after a bath. I pat the mulch back into place, and rinse the leaves. I look around. Not one parched plant stares back. Guilt has slid off me, soaked with the plants into the topsoil, and in a moment I'm showering.

As I do, however, I wonder why I have to go through this anguish each weekend. The source of my guilt, I decide, has to do with money, and the clash between desire and indolence.

Find out how the writer solved her dilemma

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Essentials of Great Design
by Rochelle Duckwiler

In the last issue we talked about how grouping and repetition helps give a garden a sense of unity. Here are a couple more factors that contribute to a "pulled-together" look:

Continuation is the process of creating a line or edge--either real or implied--that carries the viewer's eye throughout the space. In the garden, there are endless possibilities--create an edge along your garden beds or construct a meandering path.

Continuity refers to the visual relationships between two or more planting designs. Rather than repeating the exact planting design of each garden bed, which can look monotonous, arrange them to complement each other. Try mixing plants with similar features such as color, shape or texture. Select plants that may feature similar colors, but are completely different shapes. By creating unified variety among your garden beds, you increase the visual interest.

Remember, just because a garden is unified doesn't mean it has to be dull. Spice up your designs by selecting a variety of plant shapes, colors, textures and heights.

See photos

--This article is the second in a series on great garden design.

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	Garden Notes
	The last thing many of us have on our minds is fall gardening, but the time may be near. To determine when you need to plant, count back 60 to 90 days from the average first-hard-frost date in your area. The biggest challenge, of course, will be to get the garden established when temperatures are soaring. If the bed is in a sunny location and temperatures are consistently in the 90s, cool the soil a bit with a light misting, then plant in the late afternoon or early evening. A light mulch of straw can help too. Check out more of master gardener Paul James' fall-garden planting tips. Related Articles: Favorite Fall Veggies Planting a Fall Garden Choosing Fall Crops