Flâneur Gardening

>For a while I’ve been wondering just exactly what all those North-American bloggers were talking about when they said their garden was in zone this-or-that. I mean, I realised it had to do with the climate, obviously, but I had no idea how warm or cold a zone 3 would be as opposed to a zone 8. Or even which was the colder of the two…

Now, though, I’ve discovered that my garden is in a zone 7, and this gives me at least a point of reference for understanding what sort of climate other bloggers are gardening in. Because yes, obviously it’s nice to know if you should copy an idea or just take a VERY loose inspiration.

On Friday I’ll be going over to visit my husband in Aberdeen, Scotland. Obviously I can’t wait to see him, but I’m also quite looking forward to telling him about my preliminary plans for the garden. He doesn’t know much about gardening, nor does he seem to care an awful lot about the details, but he does seem to appreciate that I make all these plans and projects so the garden will end up a haven for the two of us – and any friends we might invite. He wants this garden to be wonderful, just as I do, even if he doesn’t know how to take it there or really cares too much about the process.

He does, however, need to be informed and agree, because I don’t want to start something that he doesn’t like. -And let’s face it; what people like and don’t like in a garden is hard to tell in advance, so I need him to more or less sign off on my plans so we won’t suddenly end up in a situation where I’m doing something opposite to what he thought we had agreed.

In other words, I need a full-scale presentation, complete with a plan of the house and garden, suggestions for planting (with pictures) and whatever else I can find to get him to see exactly what I mean. I don’t care if he disagrees – plans can be changed – but I would mind terribly if we misunderstood each other.