Did you ever ask yourself "If I could have my dream garden, what would it be like?"
First of all I would have to move to a warmer climate where I could garden all year
long. I would have lots and lots of raised beds since I am no longer able to bend down or crawl around on the ground - as in days long since passed. First of all, my home with glass windows all around would be centered in this masterpiece of a garden. Gardens separated by color would abound covering all shades. Perennials would be accompanied by a wide variety of annuals. Not only tried favorites would be grown, but experiments with flowers new to me. What do you other gardeners envision as our "dream garden?"

Your dream garden sounds just right to me, Don! The only thing I'd add would be an orchard full of fruit trees.

Oh, a couple more things that I forgot. Trellises for climbing roses and climbing vines; fountains, pools and benches on which to sit and admire nature's blessings. Yes, Annie, fruit trees would be a welcome addition. I didn't think of them as I have never had the pleasure of raising any of them. The skies the limit! Let your imagination run wild! And a myriad of flowering bushes. Lots of fragrance permeating the air. Flowers and plants attracting butterflies and birds. Bird feeders and water sources for them. Will think of more later.

About Eighty acres with apple and plum trees, plus Choke Cherry and Rhubarb, a slough for hunting, and a barn for bales and chickens with a shed for tractors and combines.

Mine wood be like Longwood.

"I'd be like the rich people who must send their lawns away to be cut. I've seen it being taken away or brought back, rolled up in rolls on the backs of lorries."

Oh, Rj, I would love to have a Longwood garden!

Bur seriously, I would like the garden I have but with no diseases or pests and a full time garden helper to do the heavy work. I would like all my plants to be big, lush, healthy and full of blooms. The veggies would give me bumper crops every year and someone else would have to pick up all the apple windfalls so his nibs can mow!

Well, if money weren't and object AND I was super human and could manage it all, I'd probably have a sort of cross between Monticello,



Tasha Tudor's garden,



and Monet's garden!

One section of my Dream Garden would be devoted exclusively to a wide assortment of cacti and succulents - buggers I have never been able to grow with any degree of success although I have tried and tried time again. I especially am fond of a lot of succulent forms and would love to see them prosper and I promise to assign their care to someone with better watering control than I possess.

Hi Don! When I was a little tyke, I lived in Linesville, PA for 3 yr. Don't remember much, except for those wonderful peaches!

Hi, Arlene - glad to hear from someone who used to live nearby n Linesville. Nice little town and well-known for the ducks that walked on the carps backs at the dam.
It's a small world and I'm always pleased to hear from someone who lives or used to live nearby. Reminds me of when I lived in Connecticut and met a couple at the pool who were originally from Harmonsburg, a small little town midway between Linesville and Meadville. They recognized my NW PA accent, which I wasn't aware I had, and introduced themselves. Made my day as did your posting.Thanks.

Hi, Arlene - I just responded to your post but can't locate it now - so who knows where it went, if it even did? Anyway, thanks for your response. Always nice to hear from someone who lives or once lived nearby. Reminds me when my wife and I moved to Connecticut several years ago and went swimming in the community's pool. We were approached by a couple who used to live in Harmonsburg, a small town between Linesville and Meadville. They recognized my NW Penna accent, never realized I had one, and they introduced themselves. Made my day as did your posting. Thanks!

Arlene, Thanks for your posting. I have responded twice but cannot see where my response got through. Will wait til later to see if it makes it. If not, I will try again.

My family farm is under Pymatuning Reservoir. After my father died when I was 7, my aunt and uncle moved to Denver and that's where I grew up. Loved it there!

Since being married, we've lived in lots of places, including moving to FL with a job transfer, then to South FL, then to Washing, D.C. then to Atlanta. The last transfer was back to Central FL. We love it here so we stayed. We are on the east coast barrier island, with the Atlantic 1 block to the east and the Inter-coastal Waterway 2 blocks to the west. We have a small yard that I have stuffed with a lot of tropical plants (I'm a Master Gardener). This is truly a dream location with a dream garden!

My entire property would be covered in an indestructible clear dome that never got dirty and had state of the art watering systems and heating and cooling systems and would be planted like the Amazon rainforest

I would have a huge garden, divided into 'rooms': A Japanese garden, with mosses, willows, the ubiquitous cherry trees, conifers, rocks, a stream and pool filled with Koi, a display stand with Bonsai, and of course, several beautiful Acers... Another 'room' would be a traditional English cottage garden with foxgloves, lupins, hollyhocks, delphiniums peonies, a wisteria, buddleias and fruit bushes, roses, a Victorian display unit for primulas, all manner of other traditional English cottage herbaceous perennials, and a little gentle pool for the frogs and newts, and a quarter filled with logs and foliage, as a refuge or section for wildlife...
Then I'd have a Mediterranean section, under glazed pergolas, to allow and increase the sun and heat, in which to grow a fig, persimmons, lemon trees, lavender, bay, rosemary and other herbs, and a beautiful glass house for the growth and display of cacti and succulents.

If all of the above aren't possible, I can do wonders with a window-box!!

While I will never give up voluntarily living in the extremes of the Great White North, I find , that in the French/English climates needed, what you posted Tara to be something that if I could, some of it would be a part of a dream garden, although my ponds would have Bullheads and Sunfish for the plate.

I love, and I do mean love , strolling through formal gardens while also seeing the intense work they involve to keep looking good.

When I lived in Miami I wanted to decorate the house with hybrid tropical hibiscus. Would of loved seeing large bushes of different colored blooms. Thing was the lot was small and really no where to plant the hibiscus.

A mini Kew garden would be nice.

Hi
I would have to live in Wales.
So it would be the. the Italian garden village, created by Sir Clough Williams Ellis at Port Meirion, in the north.















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Dream on.
Regards john