Defining Goals For Your Outdoor Garden

I read a great article about a lady named Patrina. Her small home was cozy but hard to arrange. Once she examined her lifestyle to determine how she needed the space to function, everything came together. Now she has a home that she and her guests enjoy. She is using the same out of the box approach to her gardening. Although she hasn’t written out a garden plan, she has thought about what her outdoor garden should be like. Now she is recreating her landscape to match her inner witness of what is right for her. Along the way, she is finding ways to affirm her family ties and make room for the next generation.  Her religious statue has special meaning for her.

While the mostly shaded bed along the back fence is planted with more hostas, monkshood and, to fill in the temporary spaces, annuals such impatiens, the focus is the large statue of St. Francis of Assisi.

“It was a gift from my mother,” Petrina explains. “My father died on St. Francis of Assisi day. My father had the character of St. Francis: he was a gentle caring man.”

Petrina illustrates an appreciation for childhood with other statuary as well: fairies hidden in the middle bed where her newly acquired grandchildren can see them if they are looking. She is also in the process of creating a secret garden for these little ones at the end of a path through the shrubbery. “I think it’s important to create beauty for children, and foster their imagination,” she says, obviously taking as much pleasure in its creation as they in the discovery.  (From Finding new ways to live in her older home by MARG HRYNIUK, for the Leader-Post, August 27, 2009)

This article spoke to my heart because it encompasses so many of the teachings we share here at Outdoor Garden Statues.  It is so important to figure out what you need from your garden space before turning it into your little spot of Heaven on Earth.  Otherwise, you will keep adding stuff trying to achieve a balance but never quite finding it.  My last article called Finding the Key to Your Outdoor Garden spoke to this.  By defining exactly what you want from your garden, you have an achievable  goal to work toward.