GARDENING WITH A GENEROUS NATURE

SOME GROUND RULES

Weeds don’t stand a chance in these ample late-summer borders generously planted with anise hyssop, dahlias, and tall verbena.

A front yard garden tapestry full of self-sowers, spreaders, and keepers.

Whoever said that money doesn’t grow on trees must not have been a gardener, or didn’t yet comprehend just how much nature gives away for free. Gardeners save big when plants grow, especially if they grow quickly, and spread vigorously. I know what you’re thinking! But our thrifty great-grandparents could have taught us the value of those plants far too beautiful, useful, and benign to be dismissed as “weeds.” Nowadays too, it’s the old-school plants, propagation methods, and strategies for extending the season that make the garden wildly interesting and different every year, while still keeping it inexpensive, easy, and more gratifying to perfect. You’ll find that it is possible to grow a garden that looks expensive and like too much work, without spending the earth or giving up your day job, when you rise to the challenge of growing nature’s worthiest opportunists.

It’s easy: simply drop the weight of anxiety and reach for adventurous optimism. Become more interested and invested as your garden grows. As long as you are paying even minimal attention to your garden and the passage of the seasons, plants that self-sow and spread from the roots won’t be able to take over, and those that would die without refuge from winter’s worst can be kept alive for years instead. Take advantage of these plants’ survival mechanisms and use them to hone your garden’s design as well as your skills, by shifting plants in, out, and around by the day or season, whenever inspiration strikes. Such creativity is psychologically so much easier—and more rewarding—when there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.

To start cashing in on nature’s generosity, cultivate a true, mad love for plants and develop an opportunistic streak yourself. The more intrigued you become, and the more thrill you seek in growing, the more you’ll grow. And the more you grow—both in your garden and as a gardener—the more rewarding your garden will be. Arm yourself with a basic understanding of plant’s life cycles, reproductive mechanisms, and their potential liabilities. Then discover the joy in serendipitous design, master the art of editing, share the wealth, and learn for yourself that gardeners do not have to dig deep to grow a lively, rich, and colorful year-round garden.