Today’s Garden Ideas

I think I’m having a bit of a mid-life crisis. You see, I went to have my hair done yesterday because it had reached the stage where it was annoying me. I told the nice lady that my hair was annoying and to fix it. So now I have soccer mom hair. ack! I’m a soccer mom! I have nothing against soccer moms, mind you, but I just never really saw myself as one. OK, OK. I DID buy a minivan so I could take the dogs to the dog park and to daycare. (yes, my youngest dog goes to daycare. no, they don’t have mats for naptime because they eat the mats… yes, I AM one of THOSE people…)

Anyway, back to my crisis. As I sat and pondered my fate, I started surfing through one of my favorite sites - Park Seed. I’m big on growing things from seed mainly because I have a larger selection available online than I do locally via cuttings and started plants. Also, I don’t have to worry about introducing God knows what in the form of bugs into the garden via the Wal-Mart nursery. I wondered if I couldn’t change my hair - work would freak out if I dyed it purple or put stripes in it - if I could change my garden?

I was thinking about maybe a themed garden. I ixnayed the upside down garden. It would take me forever to put dirt in all those tiny holes. Also, I passed on the Goth Garden. Granted, it would be cool to have plants like “Devil’s Tears” and “Dragon’s Blood” but I don’t want Kudzu or Poison Ivy. I have no desire to have a garden that gives me a rash. Besides, the Kudzu would take over the rest of the yard where the Lantana hasn’t already conquered.

So I need a theme… something very non-soccer-mommy. Since MY mother rides the Harley Davidson - yes really - and I am still young enough to not want to be my mother - I don’t want a Harley garden. I wouldn’t mind a hot cabana boy garden, but I don’t think you can grow those on plants. Drat.

So dear readers - I have a chainsaw, pruning shears and garbage bags galore in hand. My yard is going to be totally cleared of excess - and hopefully of 6 Lantana bushes, a ton of boxwoods and a kumquat tree. I am going to plant a nice new themed garden - but themed how?

Give me suggestions! How does a middle aged non-soccer mom cure her mid-life crises through gardening? Only you can help! Oh yeah, back to Park Seed, it would be great if your suggestions contain at least a few plants I can grow from seed.