Imagination Playground

We finally went to see Alice in Wonderland this past weekend and what a playground for the imagination it was. It really got me thinking about my dreams for our little place unfortunately I'm having a hard time finding talking flowers. What I can find are bushes, trees, and vines that bear berries and fruit so I can have my own little garden of Eden. There are also many other plants I'm learning about that offer other multifunctions in a landscape. I want to use all of these to create meandering pathways that open onto random courtyards and conceal little niches and hideaways. Little rooms created with living walls to sit and read or just stare up at the sky above while enjoying all the fresh nutrition nature is providing. What I see in my mind is really quite fun, now I just have to acquire the motivation to actually put it on the ground. I still haven't posted for you my "walk about" where I photographed our place as it actually exist today. Hmmm, am I hiding that reality from you or me. I am taking workshops and reading books .... but need to do more to take it from a dream in my head to reality on the ground. The last workshop I took was on designing and constructing rain gardens. These are simply bio retention systems designed to retain stormwater while blending in with the yards landscaping and preferably using native plants. At this workshop I hit the jackpot by meeting Sarah Vroom from Bountiful Backyards. As quoted from an article at treehugger.com, they are "an “edible landscaping collective” based in Durham that designs gardens, provides ongoing training, and organizes workshops on everything from vermiculture (worm composting) to mushroom cultivation". Being true permaculturist they work within the area they live, which is still a little ways from me, but I hope to be able to use their consulting service to help springboard some designs, learn more about the plants, and gain inspiration to move me beyond my comfort zone which I seem to be well rooted in these days.