As a young girl, I always enjoyed the children’s story The Country Mouse and the City Mouse. It seems we are all like those two mice enjoying the trip to the “other side” now and then, which makes coming home more worthwhile. In my daily commute to work and while running errands, I love to look at all types of gardens to get ideas and just take in their beauty. In my observation, gardeners are like those two mice with two basic types of gardens: City Gardens and Country Gardens.
All gardeners have a love of plants and the outdoors, yet where you garden influences your landscape persona as much as the plants you choose. Of course, there are many different styles of gardens (such as Japanese and English); however, the square footage you have to work with and the locale do determine your options. In town, for example, city and/or neighborhood covenants usually specify certain rules about what you can and cannot do in your yard, which gives City Gardens a more structured personality. In contrast, the expansive and uninhibited characteristics of Country Gardens afford quite a different atmosphere.My own rural setting provides certain freedoms but
there are times I am guilty of City Garden envy. Having a vast space to work with is wonderful, but it also means there are many more beds to be mulched and tended. At times, driving in town I’ll see a compact, perfectly-manicured City Garden (like the one shown right) and think, “Wouldn’t something like that be so nice.” But then I’ll sit on my front porch after a long day weeding with a glass of iced tea surrounded by the sounds of songbirds echoing through the landscape and I quickly change my opinion. After all, what good is a peaceful garden if the traffic noise drowns out the joys of nature?
