B O T A N I C B L E U B E G I N N I N G S
A backyard unfinished plywood garden shed was transformed into a garden house to be a home for annual French Country Christmas Events.
My maternal grandmother had flower gardens both around her house and in her vegetable garden in north Alabama. I can never remember a time when she did not have flowers. Her flower gardens were modest, overshadowed by the vegetables and crop plants necessary for food and a living, but they were always well-maintained, grown from cuttings and seeds shared from family, friends, and neighbors. I don't think she ever bought a flower seed or plant in her life.
My life has been blessed with flowers beginning with my grandmother, then with my mother, aunts, uncles, paternal grandfather, and now with my sister who is a professional florist. My husband sent flowers for every birthday, Valentine's day, wedding anniversary, and other special times. For years we planned for a garden shed so I could have flowers year round.
When I traveled to France each summer with students, the flower gardens, parks, garden houses, and verdant countryside of France always refreshed my spirit and renewed my desire for beautiful gardens and a garden house of my own. The north Texas heat, cold, and lack of rain limit what I can grow. Budgets, energy, and time limit what I can build. When I drew the first garden shed plans on graph paper, my family quickly dubbed it a "jardin chateau." The shed is not really a chateau, but my traveling-to-France friend, Dewayna, said she laughs when I call it a shed.
February 14, 2004 --- No garden shed, just an open area east of the deck at my house
