My Garden Wish List

We visited Ladew Topiary Gardens today.  The historic property is a great place for children because it has lawns that beg to be run across, whimsical topiaries, and secret rooms hidden among the gardens. 

Walking along the pathways, I formulated my Garden Wish List.  I'll likely never own a property like Ladew (*likely* never) but I would still like to try to encorporate some of the elements I saw there today.

1.  Windowboxes  -  I don't know how I'll get these, but these top my list.  Those tulips are great, too, but I feed the wildlife in my neighborhood enough as it is.

2.  More places to sit  -  This little nook is the perfect place for tea or a game of cards.  The odds of me or anyone in my family ever playing cards or taking tea outside are really low, but I'd like to have the option. We found this stone set hidden in a sweet 'room' at the beginning of our tour, which leads me to my next wish list item...

3.  Hidden places  -  What fun it is to walk down a garden path and find an unexpected place to play or sit!

In this picture, notice that the wall has an alcove with a bench, through the arched walkway.

4.  A walled garden -  Just like in The Secret Garden, a mysterious walled garden could have anything hiding within.  I would need a lot of bricks, but this is a project I'd love to try.

5.  A greenhouse  -  I'd call mine the Orangerie, and I'd pronounce it with the most annoying nasal twang I could muster.  It would be fantastic.  My cat would love it.

6.  Nooks  -  Lots and lots of places for the cat to hide and the children to go find it.  What would be better than that? (Oh, and the statues and brick pathways just add to the charm, so I wish for them to accompany the nooks.)

7.  A potager  -  The one at the end of this path is actually a cutting garden.  Cutting gardens are cool, but I'd rather have an English potager, a kitchen garden.  Every year I imagine that  have one, but in reality it just looks like a bunch of plants in a huge cage.  I have got to work on that!