The Country Garden...in the Midwest

    A Place in the Country........finding the Genius Loci of the wide open spaces

The path runs straight between the flowering rows,
A moonlit path, hemmed in by beds of bloom,
Where phlox and marigolds dispute for room
With tall, red dahlias and the briar rose.
'T is reckless prodigality which throws
Into the night these wafts of rich perfume
Which sweep across the garden like a plume.
Over the trees a single bright star glows.
Dear garden of my childhood, here my years
Have run away like little grains of sand;
The moments of my life, its hopes and fears
Have all found utterance here, where now I stand;
My eyes ache with the weight of unshed tears,
You are my home, do you not understand?
~Amy Lowell
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Midwest Garden Tips:

  Working with nature involves the same thing that smaller scale gardening utilizes; just in larger amounts!

Besides mapping out the situation of the wind and the sun's position regarding your garden borders. Knowledge of your soil and its PH are important, simply because it will be difficult to greatly change this.

Concentrating on fertilization, humous addition, and delivering proper water should be the primary considerations. what I am talking about here has a label: Xeriscaping.

Working with what you have, and blooming where you are planted. Good advice for life in general. I would rather have a gorgeously healthy viburnum to a sickly rhododendron, any day.

plant highlights

Let the Land suggest your Garden Style

  Country gardens are somewhat different than city gardens. Besides the onslaught of the elements, the broad vistas create a demand on design. I remember a lesson from an English garden book I read: a plantswoman had an estate with a broad lawn that sloped down to a stream and had planted a rose garden within it. She remarked how she had toned down the colors, and almost regretted the planting altogether, since it was visually jarring to see the beds of color within the landscape. It is important to situate beds in such a way that they relate to the buildings and surrounding area.

  I also grappled with style, since a house's architecture fits better with some forms of gardening than others. This is personal preference, of course, but I hate to see a desert-like garden with cactus and aloes in Ohio. So, when I looked at this flat landscape with its old plain farm house, it seemed as though a few styles presented themselves. A rough interpretation of neat estate planting (analogous to the French provincial interpretation of Louis XVI), or an English cottage style in contained areas, or a rustic freestyle garden were the choices I looked over. If I had enough free time to keep up the work I would be able to choose the highly gardened estate look, but after several pregnancies a meld of the other two predominated. Too many exotic forms and brightly sophisticated combinations do not fit here in the broad sweep of the plain. (I do try to fit in whatever flowering trees I can get away with, and using evergreens around the periphery...which isn't "native", but looks good to me).

Tackling the Workload

  Another need when you have large work areas is proper equipment, heavy duty and equal to the job. This is an investment that many gardeners overlook. High on my wish list is a combination vacuum/shredder, since the large trees can deposit limbs and leaves in back breaking amounts. If you are just beginning to garden I have page of garden tools advice. While one could run a country garden with hand tools, remember that in the past such gardens had many 'hands'. The modern answer to the limitations of the single handed gardener is ....POWER TOOLS. The words that bring a smile to every man's face, and women once they've tried getting a decent sized vegetable plot ready for the season! If you have more than one acre, with alot of grassed area, a tractor mower is necessary. Our first two years we kept breaking power push mowers, an expensive proposition. A tractor mower became a high priority. Tillers are needed if you have a vegetable garden area, and helpful in flower beds, sometimes. If you have hedges or large bushes, you may consider a motor driven hedge clipper, although I only wanted one when I did other peoples yards. My own gardening is the fuel-free sweat equity type (except for the mowing mentioned). My Garden in the Midwest

  One of the things I have most enjoyed, in my garden, are the seating areas; places of repose. I have a two-seater Andirondack under the sheltering branches of a large lilac, and two chairs by the little pond. These places are wonderful for meditation and intimate restful talks. every garden area needs a nearby perch ( a little birdie told me that).

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