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levels of garden






I'm thinking garden thoughts ...

... thinking not so much of types of gardens as levels of garden. Dream garden (unconscious garden), garden in the mind (mental garden), blog garden (garden in cyberspace) and the 'real' physical garden that can be seen outside the windows and that needs muscle power to influence.

... thinking about how these levels of garden are inter-related but different, and how they have evolved over time. For instance, I don't know how my ongoing dream garden affects the others. What I know is that my dream garden is so big that I can't really manage it. There are parts that are totally uncontrolled / beyond control, other bits that I manage to create garden pictures in. Now that I think of it,  I can only manage a bit of it because I leave most of it. It's big and shadowy - I don't dream in colour. I love this dreamscape and look forward to being there in intermittent dreams.
















There is a kind of a conversation between the garden in the mind and the physical garden. For decades I would have grand ideas for re-arranging the garden, unable to decide on an acceptable structure. That is the reason that it is over 30 years old and still has so many small trees.

Lately when I walk in the garden I'm not thinking about changing things so drastically. I notice the trees slowly growing and imagine what it will look like when it's not so vertically challenged.

I think about how the garden can be a site for enchantment -  attracting as many wild things as possible,  and keeping human intervention to a minimum. One idea is to do more photographing of teddy bears and other toys in the garden, to illustrate their various adventures. Another is to build simple cubbies or platforms in the trees for my little grandchildren. There are three nesting boxes for wildlife and I want to provide something similar for J and S.


I have learned that, just like the physical garden, I can ignore the blog garden for a while and  it will still be there when I get back. One has spam to get rid of, the other has weeds. Like weeds, some spam is worse than others. And sometimes you get unplanned precious things, like wildflowers self seeding, and wonderful cyber-friends who provide support and motivation and ideas and information and inspiration.
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  1. Hermes23 January 2012 at 18:18

    The Grand children seem to like it. No garden is ever finished as it evolves, so we evolve.

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  2. Bangchik and Kakdah24 January 2012 at 01:49

    children would love walking bare footed among plants and plants...

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  3. Gardener in the Distance24 January 2012 at 04:12

    Catmint, I eally like your idea of the garden existing on a number of levels, actual and felt, defined and yet to be. And that the garden isn't just a space out there we sometimes enter, but a space inside us.

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  4. Pauline24 January 2012 at 05:11

    I think my physical garden will have to be my dream garden too, it has taken so long to make that I really have put all my ideas into this garden here and would hate to start again anywhere else.

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  5. Rohrerbot24 January 2012 at 06:02

    Great comparisons. This is a complex topic. I have the same frustrations/dreams/goals as you do. Sometimes I have doubt whether or not I've done the right things. But people always say that a garden is never truly finished. While I agree with that statement to a degree....there are still bones that need placing in the garden....and I haven't done all that work yet for the artsy stuff:)

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  6. Diana Studer24 January 2012 at 06:34

    (I was startled when I realised people, other people, dream in pictures, never mind colour. I dream in words, as if I'm reading a book). My garden is the theory-idea-plan, then what I think I see, and finally what the camera tells me is there!

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  7. Sue Catmint24 January 2012 at 07:27

    Dear Hermes, lovely to hear from you, fellow evolver.

    Dear Bangchik, I suppose I would love the children to feel at home among nature instead of being scared like some people.

    dear Faisal, beautifully put, I really like that idea of space as a place as well as metaphor.

    Dear Pauline, that is very interesting, a dream garden is not necessary. I don't choose it, it just inhabits my dreams.

    Dear RB (Chris?), your comment I think can be linked to Hermes' opening comment: the garden doesn't evolve independently of our evolution. Yes it is a complex topic, and I so love 'talking' about it with you.

    Dear Diana, dreaming in words must affect the content of the dream????? Maybe there needs to be another level: that of what the camera tells?

    cheers, catmint

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  8. tina24 January 2012 at 23:26

    I never really thought how all gardens are interrelated. Very interesting thoughts. So true about the spam and weeds. What has helped me with spam is I moderate comments on posts older than three days. It has saved a lot of work. I wish I could moderate weeds! Cute toddler!

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  9. HolleyGarden25 January 2012 at 02:07

    I think of my dream garden a lot. Sometimes so much, that I'm surprised when I go out in my real garden! My dream garden has no weeds, all the plants are mature, they bloom constantly, never needs any maintenance, and the weather is always perfect there. My real garden is just the opposite!

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  10. Nutty Gnome25 January 2012 at 05:00

    What a lovely and thought provoking post Catmint. My garden, like Hermes', is very slowly evolving from what was put there by the previous owners to the garden I'd like it to be....and my knowledge, skills and pleasure are evolving at the same time!

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  11. c. Joy25 January 2012 at 15:59

    Lovely post. I can be inspired and tempted - gardening can be fun and hard work. One of the best things is 'there's always next year.' Some years when I don't get things quite right, don't make the changes I had planned on, or we have a drought and almost nothing survives, I can still sit here in the middle of winter and remember what was or wasn't and plan for the garden I hope to have.

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  12. Kathy26 January 2012 at 00:45

    So true! I have lay awake at night cultivating my garden time and again.

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  13. Malay-Kadazan girl26 January 2012 at 02:45

    Now I can understand why each year my dad will find time to paint the unused swings and slide in their garden when it is hardly been used. Now when the grandchildren is back for a visit, its their turn to have memories with the garden.

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  14. Anonymous26 January 2012 at 15:41

    You've pulled some things together in my mind and connected them for me, thank you. I love your idea that we all have these gardens at different levels...brilliant!

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  15. JGH27 January 2012 at 03:21

    Beautiful post, catmint! It reminded me of this quote:

    "From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens: the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house, and the garden of the mind's eye." Katharine S. White

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  16. Sue Catmint27 January 2012 at 22:47

    hi Tine, so far (touch wood) I haven't suffered too much from spam.

    Hi Holley, I believe you share your dream garden with lots of others - it sounds like paradise!

    Hi NG, all this evolving is sometimes hungry, tiring work, don't you find?

    HI CJ, I think what is useful here is taking the longer time frame, we certainly have good and bad years.

    Hi Kathy, beats counting sheep, much more interesting ...

    Hi Diana, I love to think of different generations coming today in gardens.

    Hi RL, so pleased you like the post.

    Hi JGH, thanks for the comment - I like that quote too.

    cheers, catmint

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  17. Stephanie30 January 2012 at 15:24

    I laughed when you mentioned spam. Yes they are like weeds haha... And I truly appreciate cyber gardening friends also. Many times, they (including yourself) are really good motivators. Btw Catmint, you have a wonderful old garden!! :-D

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  18. Anonymous30 January 2012 at 21:52

    Hello Catmint :) The idea of something like nest boxes for grandchildren - that's wonderfully whimsical! I love the idea that all of the different levels of garden can intersect and intertwine.

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  19. Sue Catmint2 February 2012 at 22:37

    dear Steph, thank you for the compliment about me having a wonderful old garden. I need all the encouragement I can get, especially in the middle of a hot summer.

    thanks for the comment GG, I hope I manage to make the idea of the children's nesting boxes a reality.

    cheers, catmint

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  20. Bush and Beach (Australia)4 February 2012 at 23:19

    I really enjoyed reading this post; it is true what you say ... gardening is a vision in our inner deep conscience that we then attempt to invent in the real world. Many of us never meet our full potential, but we try !

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  21. Wendy7 February 2012 at 14:16

    what a lovely post. I love it!

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  22. Sue Catmint7 February 2012 at 14:33

    thanks B&B, and Wendy, for your visits and comments. cheers, catmint.

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  23. Jess8 February 2012 at 12:11

    Little late to this post but its a great one! It sounds like you were having a rather enchanting moment yourself.

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  24. Sue Catmint10 February 2012 at 01:31

    dear Jess, never too late, your comment is deeply appreciated. cheers, catmint

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