What Dreams Are Made Of: Your Very Own Dream Garden
By Monica Crosson
When I was a little girl, during the hottest months of July and August, I would cross the field behind our barn and crawl over the fence that separated my parents’ property from my grandparents’. Once on my grandparents’ farm, I would spend lazy afternoons behind my grandmother’s greenhouse, where the mint and lemon balm were allowed to grow wild and tiger swallowtail butterflies fluttered above swaying leaves.
I would bring my dolls, and tuck down beneath the foliage and play until the intoxicating fragrance would lull me to sleep, only to be awakened by my grandmother. Her earth-stained hands would gently caress my cheek.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” she would say. “Your mama’s wondering where you are.” Then I would scurry back home, to be met by my mother, who would greet me with her hands on her hips.
“Where have you been? I have been calling for you,” she would scold.
“I’m sorry.” I would say. “I fell asleep in Grandma’s garden. But it’s okay, she woke me up!”
As I grew older, dolls were exchanged for novels, journals, and sketchbooks. It was my private nest—a place of relaxation and contemplation. A hiding place from my little sisters and the stress of academics. A place to dream.
A Place for Dreaming
Imagine an outdoor space dedicated to sleep and dreaming a place where the scent of lemon balm and lavender beckons you to a hammock or comfortable lounge chair. As you relax with a hot cup of chamomile tea, the scent of peppermint compels you to close your eyes and drift into a heavenly sleep. Jasmine invades your sleeping senses and induces prophetic dreams. A new lover perhaps? Is this a form of guided meditation? No, it’s your very own dream garden. The idea of a garden as a resting place goes back to the beginning of gardening. Pliny the Younger wrote of a resting place in his own garden—an alcove with a couch—in amongst the springing fountains.
Many modern gardens lack a simple place to unwind. And considering our modern life pressures, such a place seems to have more relevance than ever before. A dream garden is meant to gently settle and soothe the senses into submission.
You can tuck your garden in a section of your backyard, deck, or balcony. Add elements that are sensory treats. Consider creeping thyme between soft shale stones or a brick path. Add a water fountain or birdbath for the soothing sound of trickling water or the soft splashing of bathing birds. Fill the garden with statuary or mementos from your childhood or from a special vacation. My own dream garden is dedicated to a Celtic goddess of dreams, Caer Ibormeith, so I added a cement cast swan alongside a small stone altar tucked beneath cottage roses. Remember, this is your sacred place, so add plants and elements with color, texture, scent, and form that are pleasing to you.
The Perfect Location
Before we begin, you must ask yourself what you need. This is your dream garden—your personal place to rest. So what constitutes relaxation for you? It could be a hammock and a good book tucked in a shady nook. How about a reclining lawn chair surrounded by fragrant potted herbs on a balcony? Or just a place to lie and watch the clouds drift by. What about location? Do you want to be tucked away where no one can bother you or within direct reach of the house?
If you have a large yard or acreage, explore your property for the best location. You’d be surprised at how many microclimates your garden offers. Watch your garden. Record the number of hours of light any one spot receives during the day. Even the smallest gardens have sun traps, cool shady spots, and places blown by wind. Your dream garden demands only the most luxurious climate your garden offers. So find the spot in your garden with the maximum number of comfortable hours.
The next consideration is distractions. If you live in an urban area you will want to shield yourself from the noise of traffic or passersby. This is easily done with a cleverly located arbor, a trellising plant, or by placing a water feature, such as a fountain (even a tabletop one), in your garden. Wind chimes are a nice, inexpensive solution as well. Adding gentle, soothing sounds can help relieve outside noises.
Digging In
Now that you have found the perfect location for your dream garden, it’s time for the fun part—picking out the perfect plants. Remember to play with sensory qualities like color and scent. Some colors that are known for their restful qualities include green, which calms the nerves; blue-green, which brings about a passive, dreamy state; pink, associated with tranquility; and violet for introspection and peace.
Aromatherapy comes into play, too. A number of scents are reputed to have a calming effect, which you may like to include in your garden. Rose, lavender, lemon balm, chamomile, jasmine, and tangerine are all known for their calming effects.
You could also add plants that stir pleasant memories. Use those memories as a springboard for dreamy possibilities. Did you spend summers at your grandparents’ farm? You could add old-fashioned favorites such as lilac, hollyhock, and foxglove to your dream garden. Maybe it was vacations at the beach. Think about fountain grass, sea thrift, or yarrow.
I have included a plant list to get you started, and remember, if you’re a city or apartment dweller, all the plants listed can be planted in containers and hanging baskets around a comfortable lounge chair or portable hammock.
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia): A semi-woody perennial that typically grows to twelve to eighteen inches tall and wide. Lavender’s blue flowers appear in terminal spikes from late spring well into summer and have a wonderful fragrance.
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis): The green leaves of lemon balm have the scent of lemon with a hint of mint. Lemon balm can grow twenty-four to thirty-six inches tall, and makes a nice green clump of medium-textured leaves among the other herbs and flowers in your garden.
German chamomile (Matricaria recutita): An annual, growing twelve inches tall and wide. It is in flower from June to July, and the seeds ripen from July to August. The young sprigs are used as a seasoning, and the dried flowers are used to make herbal teas.
Valerian (Valeriana officinalis): Known for its sedative properties, it is a perennial growing to five feet tall. It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from June to August and has a vanilla musklike fragrance.
Catnip (Nepeta cataria): Typically grows in a spreading clump to two to three feet tall. Erect, branched, square stems clad with aromatic, opposite, coarsely toothed, triangular to ovate leaves. Small, white flowers bloom in spikelike terminal clusters at the stem ends from late spring well into summer.
Passionflower (Passiflora incarnate): A rapid-growing, tendril-climbing vine. Features showy, two-and-a-half-inch fringed flowers having white petals and sepals, and a central crown of pinkish-purple filaments. Flowers bloom in summer and are fragrant. Prefers a warm climate.
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis): A native to the Mediterranean, a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needlelike leaves. These plants thrive in warm, humid environments. Colder climates should consider growing rosemary in containers.
Polyantha rose (The Fairy): Blooms nonstop from June until frost, with double, rosette-shaped blossoms of light pink. It grows two to three feet high and wide.
Peppermint (Mentha piperita): Square stems tend to run rampant. In small garden spaces it’s best to tuck peppermint into a container. This plant thrives alongside water gardens or in damp spots in the yard, but will also survive in drier soil.
Jasmine (Jasminum officinale): It is a sprawling, somewhat twining, deciduous shrub, usually pruned heavily to keep its size contained. The foliage is slightly downy with pinnate leaves, having five to nine leaflets. The flowers are white or very pale pink and fragrant from early summer to autumn. Winter hardy to zones 7 to 10, may be planted as an annual in colder climates or planted in a container.
Creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum): Creeping thyme is a very easy plant to grow. It likes well-drained soil, grows about two to four inches high, and can spread up to two or more feet in width. The leaves are very small, but dense, and cover the low growing plants.
Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum): Grows up to four feet high and one foot wide in a clumplike, upright shape with flowers appearing in showy false whorls, and occasionally branching. The leaves have an oval and toothed shape. Anise blooms from June to September with bright lavender flowers.
The Garden Bed
The most important feature in your dream garden isn’t the plants, but the garden furniture. Maybe your idea of a dream garden is a place where ideas bloom. In that case, you may want to include a chaise lounge and a decorative side table to place journals or sketch pads on. If sharing a pot of tea with a friend or loved one is part of your idea of rest and relaxation, maybe add a small bistro set under a tree.
But if your idea of rest and dreaming is more literal, I have the perfect garden project for you—a garden bed.
The first thing you will need is a head and footboard from an old bed. An antique iron headboard is ideal. You can still find them in antique and junk shops. I bought mine at an estate sale for twenty dollars. But really, any head- and footboard will do. If it’s wood, you will need to coat it with either a varnish or a coat of paint to protect it from the elements.
Next, depending on the size of the headboard, you will need to fit it to a raised garden bed. I have included instructions for a raised bed that will fit a twin-sized head- and footboard.
For this 2’ x 3’ x 6’ raised bed you will need:
• One 4’ x 4’ x 8’ post for corners
• Two 2’ x 12’ x 12’ boards
• Two 2’ x 12’ x 8’ boards
• One 1-pound box of 16d (3½ in.) galvanized nails
To make the corner posts, measure and cut the 8-foot 4 x 4 into four 24-inch lengths. To make the long sides of the bed, cut the 2 x 2 x 12 boards in half, and nail boards one at a time to two corner posts. Repeat this step to form the second long side. Cut the remaining 2 x 12 x 8 boards in half so you have four 4-foot 2 x 12 boards for the ends. Trim each board to measure 3 feet.
Stand the two lengths with posts up, parallel to each other, approximately 3 feet apart. Nail the 2 x 12 end pieces to the corner posts. They should be aligned flush with the posts. The raised bed form is complete.
Fill with approximately 15 cubic feet of a good soil mix. A good rule of thumb is 60 percent topsoil, 30 percent compost, and 10 percent soilless growing mix that contains peat moss, perlite, and/or vermiculite. Now attach your head- and footboards to the ends, and you have a garden bed!
As for the planting, it’s up to you. If you plan on using your bed for the occasional afternoon catnap, I would suggest planting it with creeping thyme, Irish moss, or blue star creeper—something that doesn’t mind a little abuse.
If you’re using it to just add a touch of whimsy to your dream garden, create a patchwork of your favorite annuals or trailing plants. Your plants may include petunias, alyssum, or pansies. Complete your bed by growing trellising plants at the head and footboard. How about sweet peas or moonflowers, perhaps?
To Ensure Pleasant Dreams
You have planted your garden and created your bed. Why not make a dream pillow? These simple, aromatic pillows have been used for centuries to induce peaceful sleep, enhance dreams, and encourage dream memory.
To make your own pillow, simply cut two squares, rectangles, or whatever shape pleases you from scrap material (try using cotton or another natural fiber). With the right sides together, stitch along the edges, leaving a 1⁄4-inch seam allowance, and make sure to leave an open space along one side. Flip the pillow through the open space and fill with your herbal blend. Finish the pillow by stitching the open area shut.
Take it out to your garden hideaway and let the herbal blend induce wonderful dreams. Or better yet, make a blend from the herbs growing in your own dream garden to induce pleasant dreams all night long.
Whether you want to enhance your dreams or dispel nightmares, blend any of the following:
Lavender: Helps to promote a soothing, relaxing state.
Mugwort: Enhances vivid, lucid, and prophetic dreams. Helps with remembering dreams.
Anise: With its licoricelike fragrance, this plant is used in dream pillows to keep nightmares away.
Clove: Brings warmth and an exotic feel to dreams.
Sage: Leaves can be used to bring more peacefulness and healing to your dreams. Helps to make dreams come true.
Mullein: Used to help ward off nightmares and have pleasant dreams.
Jasmine: Known to enhance erotic and romantic dreams.
Lemongrass: This plant can boost your boring dreams by adding color and exotic elements.
Rose petals: Add a few rose petals to bring a loving sense of warmth to dreams.
Clary sage: Ready for a nocturnal adventure? This herb’s super-fragrant scent can provide you with some vivid and strange dreams.
Yarrow: Induces prophetic dreams.
Dreamy Me
My grandmother died over a decade ago, and though her property remains in the family, her greenhouse and gardens are gone. But it’s okay—I made my own dream garden and planted lots of lemon balm in her honor. It’s just a tiny nook for me to go and lie in the grass surrounded by the lush and lovely sights and sounds of nature. It’s where I take my journals and write my stories.
And yes, sometimes under a dreamy sun, when the bees are humming and the wind chimes sing, I have been known to drift off into quiet slumber. Once, a few years ago, I dreamt my grandmother was talking to me.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” she said, “before your family starts to worry about you.”
As I groggily made way back to my house, my son, Josh, approached me, hands on his hips. “Where were you? I’ve been calling for you,” he scolded.
“I’m sorry, honey,” I replied. “I fell asleep in the garden.” I smiled. “But it’s okay. Grandma woke me up.” Josh was very confused.
Sources
Myers-Cooke, Brodee. Gardens for Pleasure, Angus & Robertson, 1996.
Monica Crosson is a master gardener who lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, happily digging in the dirt and tending her raspberries with her husband, three kids, two goats, two dogs, three cats, a dozen chickens, and Rosetta the donkey. She is the author of Summer Sage, a novel for tweens. Visit her at www.monicacrosson.com.