Cottage Notes ~ New House Design

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Cottage Notes

Posted by MAKMU ta On Sunday, January 08, 2012 No comments

Garden Dreaming

Our garden isn’t quite asleep this winter, with early blooming Narcissus, remnants of roses and sages here and there.

All the while, I have been dreaming and planning for the upcoming seasons.

I can dream walk through my garden and imagine the blossoms of spring and of summer, my memory filled with their beauty and fragrance.

I have been filling my imagination with ideas of ways to preserve their beauty and their fragrance. I have few places in my home with sufficient sunlight to carry off bringing too many plants indoors to prolong the sense of spring and of summer.

The light of the sun’s long, southern rays only stretch through a few rooms. I know this is a pursuit of gardening Kindred Spirits. I found that Tovah Martin too has experimented with bringing flowering, fragrant plants indoors in the wintertime. Tovah’s winters are longer than mine, so she is able to seek this pursuit early with amazing results.

One of Tovah’s observances that I took particular note to was that when seeking plants to bring indoors – search for lighter shades in flower – white, yellow and pinks – these are the more fragrant of the flowers from plants and bushes.

“Fragrant flowers are rarely large, showy or brightly colored. After all, a flower’s main purpose is to attract pollinators. And with fragrance as a ploy, other advertisements become superfluous”.

summer

winter

Fragrant, flowering plants on Tovah’s list included: sweet olive, citrus, freesias, tuberoses, angel’s trumpet, African gardenia, jasmines, geraniums, peace lily, passion flowers and several herbs.

I can just imagine these beauties being muses inspiring me all the more while searching for ideas and inspiration of flower combinations and color for my garden from my favorite garden books, magazines and catalogs.

Are you garden dreaming too. Do you bring indoors fragrant plants or forced bulbs to inspire you and console your heart white the winter months and days do their work outdoors?

If not, I hope if set a spark of ideas to your imagination – perhaps you’ll stop by a store or nursery to pick up a hyacinth, a tea olive, a fragrant geranium to set by a windowsill so that you might brush by it to be transported in your heart and mind to warmer places and times.