In my dreams, my garden is...

I voted 'none of the above' because ideally I would like it to be a plumeria grove with a beach in the background!! Kind of like this....

Actually, my dream garden (and what my garden is) is a blend of English garden and an edible garden with many fruits and veggies.

I voted for an edible garden, but I actually want it to be filled with exotic tropical edibles- Mangosteen, Jackfruit, Coconuts, Cocoa pods, etc.

Some day, perhaps.

I am originally from Mississippi, so....The garden of my dreams would be a beautiful Southern garden, with a formal parterre (spelling?) garden and an informal cottagey area as well. Traditional plants like Azaleas, Crepe Myrtles, and Magnolia trees would be mixed in with tropical accents like Banana plants, Elephant ears, and palms. A hard feat to accomplish here in Missouri, but I'm getting there!

I voted none of the above also because I want it to be a combination of many styles. I want to have outdoor rooms with the gardens attached as well as different greenhouses situated nearby. Rose and strawberry garden is one of my ideas.
Tina

I was torn between the woods garden because I live in the woods and that's pretty much what I have and the English cottage garden. Is there such a thing as an English woods garden?

Tina, are you thinking of planting strawberries at the foot of your roses? I've got some berries I need to move and was giving that some thought as well. I find roses to be a not very attractive bush (until they bloom and then all is forgiven). I've relegated them to a sunny fence line where they get good air circulation, hoping this will minimize all their various 'issues,' or they can just share them with one another I guess. It's kind of off by itself and I need a ground cover of some sort so I don't have so much to weed.

Left out the Tropics... obvious choice... .. a large, tropical island with tons of rooms to grow palms... and no mosquitoes...

A conifer collection . . . sort of half-woodland, half-alpine

Resin

I love my edible garden but I would really like to have an alpine/xeriscape garden on the roof. Unfortunately the roof isn't really built to support that kind of weight. Oh well, I can dream.

Anything with an ocean view.

I voted non of the above. My dreamgarden is a combination of all the gardens.

A warm (not hot) tropical garden on the ocean with a large colonial house & big porch with expansive planting beds surrounding the house. Sections of the acreage devoted to groups of plants: Heliconias & Gingers, Fruit, Palms & Cycads, Orchids, etc. with a good sized propagation area. That's my garden,... in my dreams.

I put English cottage garden, because I can manage that without much trouble!!!!
Just like this picture -that was my old garden.

I love what I term as "Wisconsin gardens" - beds thick with flowers that bloom all summer. No rows or sections just a riot of types and colors. These beds seem more visible when driving through that state (instead of tucked into back yards) and I always enjoy looking at them. Anyhow, I strive for that effect in my own gardens --

~Sharon

Bonehead,
That's what I did in North Dakota. I had a flower garden in the front with just the roses and strawberries. The only things is that I should have put in 3X the amount of strawberries that I had.

Hmmm, I think today is the day the strawberries find a new home. Thanks.

There is a difference in what I dream about and what I do in my garden.

I voted none of the above. Mine would be a tropical garden with lots of cannas,bananas,palms and elephant ears and plumerias of coures and lots of tropical fruit trees with a few monkeys now im dreaming of Costa Rica !!!!!!!!!!. Which I do have most of the above plants any how. I just need the island now.

A combination of A, B and F! (Is that asking too much - they DID say DREAM, right?!

Hello All,
I voted for the edibles, and though I have one of what most would term 'large' (1250sq') size, I can always dream of bigger! Ooops, how did that tiller get over there?
I would also have voted for the 'cottage' type as I dream of getting my new front bed finished. It won't have many of the traditional flowers, but it does take up a third of the front yard, and will (eventually) wrap 3/4 of the house in blossoms.

@ Sharon: I've lived in rural Wisc. all my life, and I think the reason that you see the flowers in front has to do with, most times, there's a corn field in back - where munching deer sneak out of to raid the hostas! Around here 'deer resistant' doesn't necessarily mean they WON"T eat it, hungry moms making milk aren't picky. But that's not so bad - more for my freezer in fall!

PS - Anyone else looking for Strawberries? Send me a note!

I am also trying to combine a cottage garden with an edible landscape that is also water saving (I just can't go as far as xeriscaping, though I do use graywater.) I have plums, apricots, cherries, oranges, limes, huckleberries, strawberries, and am planning on putting in a pineapple guava and either persimmon or loquat. My borders are lavender, sage, rosemary, mint - as well as quite a few roses. I can't resist roses! And a wisteria arbor, and my fence is covered with morning glories. I have had poor luck with veggies and right now just have some chard and of course will put in tomatoes. I love fruit - edible and perennial!

And - I have a nice view of San Francisco Bay :-)

Anything mixed with edibles is the way for me. I took out my grass lawn to plant veggies, I just couldn't water grass any longer. There are so many edibles that are beautiful but if I see something I like I won't deny myself just because it isn't edible.
Lisa

I did vote for an edible garden. Although, I would love to have a cottage garden...then you could meander through....along the paths..stop and sit for a while under a canopy of wisteria or honey suckle. Watch the birds and butterflys feed off their most favorite plants. I have a space that I would love to do this with. I want to turn it into a memorial garden for my Gram who loved plants, her hummers and any other wild life that happened to show up.

I have always choose shade plants and love them. It might be from years ago walking to the top of the hill above my Grandmother's house to the tree line and finding so many orchids and trilliums you almost had to step on them to walk. I just like the feel and the woodsy smell

Have to live to enjoy, have to eat to live. Therefore I voted edible garden and a few fruit trees. Now if only that were available with no skeeters, no snow, no hot sultry temps. Okay I'm dreaming right?????

I said none of the above--cause I wanted ALL of the above--I just love all kinds of plants and all kinds of food too
Sandra

Same here... all of the above... and constantly striving to get there.

In my dreams, my edible garden has no squash bugs.

I voted for the English Cottage Garden but I'd really just love to own and live in Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in south Florida!

I voted for other because my garden will be a mix of flowers and veggies. Kind of an edible cottage garden with lots of color.

Actually, an English garden often includes a fruit and veggie section; at least traditionally. All my relatives there have them.

I still can't figure out how to vote, there is no little circle. Anyway my dream garden is flowers and edibles mixed. I have both but not together. This year I plan to remedy that and mix them. There are so many pretty veggies.

Donna

I voted None of the above. My ultimate garden would be room enough for every type of garden.

@ greenbrain -
I was overrun with the striped devils the first year I put a garden in this yard. Then I read a book called 'Carrots Love Tomatoes' by Louise Riotte, which is about companion planting. The copyright is 1975, but the knowledge is timeless.
I plant many varieties of the squash family, and should be a utopia for their pests but for one thing - the radish. My garden looked like an unkept meadow last year because of all the 4' tall blooming stalks, but I had NOT ONE BUG. Not on 5 varieties of squash, or on the beans, or on the potatoes.
Since the radishes are left to finish their cycle, you can collect seed for next year. Cheap, renewable, effective and 100% natural. The best kind of pest control. I had a mix of radish varieties, so I believe it's more the flower than the flavor that counts, seeing as I like the milder tasting ones, personally. I do recall the ones I had seed for were 'Cherry Belle', 'French Breakfast' and 'Red Meat'. The seed was scattered randomly so I can't say one is better than the other, and I just used Y-sticks to prop up any that overgrew the paths - one radish plant will grow Ht 4', W 3'.
This year my seed will all be hybrids, so some interesting things might result!

haha, i voted none of the above yesterday, but was too tired to wright a response... well, while i was sleeping, i had a dream that my garden was demolished... and i nearly commited murderXD. but my garden is kinda a mix of everything.. we have a wooded shade garden, a tropical themed bed, with banana plants, bamboo, and hibiscus. our new addition will be in the corner with white birch and hemlock:)

English cottage garden with edible portion PLUS the big greenhouse for all the tropical plants now crowding me out of the basement.....
Wouldn't it be nice???

I'd love a woodsy garden, not just with ferns and shade loving green plants, but lots of shade loving flowers too. I miss the "woods" I grew up with in Minnesota. Now I live in Denver, which is high plains, 300 days of sunshine annually and dry as a bone. The first thing I missed when I moved here 40 years ago is Minnesota lakes and trees. None of that here.

temafilly,

I'm going to try that radish idea this year. I'm turning a wild pasture grass area into a garden with flowers and veggies and I've been concerned about what kind of bugs I'm going to fight. I don't want to use chemicals because I have a habit of lunch in the garden. I've heard about using Marigolds for pest control, now I will try radish also. Thank you for the information. I'll look up that book by Louise Riotte.

Marti