A friend of mine was touring my yard the other day, which basically means he stepped into my house and I locked his hand in a manacle worthy grip and forced him out back to look at my garden. This happens a lot nowadays. Even the mailman and the delivery guys look at the house nervously, afraid I’ll trap them in a conversations about how to get your azaleas to turn ice blue or the benefits of fresh beets. But my friend said something that got me to thinking… “Many artists become enamored with their gardens.”

This gardening obsession isn’t completely new. Ever since my husband and I have bought this home, I’ve worked in the yard, some years more intensively than others. Which means one season I’ll put in a rose garden while others, I barely remember to mow. Consistent I’m not.

This year, I’ve stepped off the cliff into the abyss of weeding, clipping, hoeing and planting insanity. I’ve moved some plants so many times, they think we’re playing musical garden. I’ve planted vegetables I’ve never even heard of for god’s sake, let alone know if I actually like them. (WTF is a kolrabi? I have no clue but it’s growing lush and happy in my brand spanking new veggie garden.)

Part of the reason is that my son is getting married this summer and I’m having the rehearsal dinner in my back yard. Things that have been put off must now be done. Another reason for my crazed flora and fauna fixation is that I’m a rabid Pacific Northwesterner and we like to eat shit out of our backyards– preferably in plaid, drinking our designer coffee and micro-brewed beer, our tats glimmering in the weak sun peeping out behind the clouds.

But I also think that part of it has to do with the increased level of creativity in my work.

Looking back, I see that the years where I worked in the garden most feverishly were the years where I wrote the most.  More writing, more gardening. This year, I have been writing at an insane pace and my gardening time increased exponentially.

I made the correlation, (do I get a gold star) but what does it mean?

I’ll explore that in my next blog. For now I will leave you with some before and after pictures of my garden! (You knew that was coming right??)

PS

Before