Van Bourgondien

Gardens That Say "I Love You"

Ask the typical person about flowers and love and they will start talking about roses. And yet when you think about it, you have to wonder why. Roses have thorns (at least most of them – and almost all of the long stemmed ones associated with romantic gifts.) There has to be a less painful way to show your love with flowers, isn't there?

And there is. Why go to the florists and plunk down a bundle for a bouquet when you can say it with flowers that grow in your own yard and will come back, season after season. Why settle for a temporary and perishable method of showing your love?

There are many ways to create a loving message in the garden, and all are more personal than the ubiquitous Valentine's Day bouquet. Plant your own message and you can tailor it exactly to the taste of the person to whom you are sending a message.

For instance, perhaps that person has a favorite flower. I know many, many people who are completely hooked on hostas or dazzled by daylilies. Why not create a special garden area devoted specifically to their favorite plant? With daylilies (and many other perennials and bulbs) you can even create a message within that.

In fact, that could be a great theme for someone you love who is on a perpetual diet. An edible bed. Instead of a mouthful of feathers and mattress stuffing they will get sweet-sounding but non-fattening edible plants like Dahlias 'Pink Parfait' and 'Café au Lait' - Dinner plate dahlias, which makes them especially suitable (edible tubers and petals), Dwarf Canna 'Candy Festival' (the tubers can be roasted and eaten) 'Sorbet' Double Peony (edible petals, and lots of them!) plus daylilies and lavender (try some lavender lemonade!) And while Chocolate Cosmos isn't really edible, it smells enough like the candy for which it is named to substitute for the real thing. Tuck in some lilies, which are often used in Chinese stir fries, as well. You might want to toss in a Karma Dahlia 'Sangria' if you both enjoy a little wine with dinner, or even a groundcover of edible strawberries.

There are many ways to send a message of love. You could plant a nice bed of the golden yellow Calla 'Pillow Talk', mixed with Calla 'Plum Pretty' which is a sweet compliment. In fact, toss in a drift of Calla Hot Flashes in hot pink with a white throat – not because you suffer from them but because that beloved person gives them to you (in a very positive way.) Back the bed with some spectacular Angel Trumpets, because that's what you hear when they are near. If they love to sit in the garden in the evening (or don't get home early enough to enjoy it at any other time) plant them a moon garden full of white flowers. Be sure to include Dinner Plate Dahlia 'Fleur' with it's gigantic white blooms, as well as a white Angel Trumpet both for its color and its fragrance, and Oriental Lily 'Casa Blanca' for the same reason. Fragrance is especially important in an evening garden, especially on nights when the moon isn't very full.

Even simpler is to create a garden using that person's favorite color or colors. Traditionally a love garden would be done in shades of pink, red and white. Why not construct a small arbor or trellis entwined with the gorgeous pink and white Clematis 'Josephine' and pure white 'Hyde Hall'? Add the very free flowering pink groundcover rose The Fairy along with some white Veronica 'White Jolanda' and the bright red and white Dahlia 'Fire and Ice' for flowers that will give you a long season of bloom.

Maybe what you would really like to do is whisk your beloved off to some exotic part of the world for a getaway – except that the budget won't quite stretch to reach it. Do the next best thing and create an exotic garden where the two of you can go and pretend. Use plants with huge foliage like Elephant Ears and Caladium as well as other Plants with a Tropical Flavor. Or – if the budget will stretch, but not quite yet, make your garden gift a promise. If the intended destination is New Orleans, plant Dahlia 'Blue Bayou'; a mountain climbing trek might be represented with the giant Himalayan Lily (also known as Cardiocrinum giganteum. A winter trip down south might be hinted at with Fancy leafed Caladium 'Florida Fantasy'. In fact – let the name be only a hint and make it a double gift as you can spend endless hours playing guessing games. And here is another loving guessing game.

If you plant a bit of Tradescantia 'Blushing Bride' will she realize that it's a proposal? Then there are name gardens. I often get questions from people who are creating exactly that - a garden composed of plants that bear the names of family members. This can be tough unless you happen to have family members named Veronica, Rose, Iris or Amaryllis, so you may have to get a bit creative. Maybe you can't find a flower named just plain Frieda, but you can compromise with Caladium 'Freida Hemple', Nothing called 'Susan'? You can plant Black Eyed Susans instead. But check the catalog – there are several plants with single names in it. There are Dahlias 'Fleurel', 'Naomi', 'Amanda' and 'Serena'; Violet 'Rebecca'; Leucanthemum 'Becky' (Rebeccas seem to be in luck in the world of flowers); Double Oriental Lily 'Miss Lucy' and Louisiana Iris 'Laura Louise' on the feminine side (to list only a few.) Verbascum 'Jackie' could suit either a male of female. Some plants with male names include Fancy leafed Caladium 'Aaron', Giant Hardy Phlox 'David' and the purple coneflower 'Magnus'.

So you see, there are many ways to say I love you in the garden. With a bit of thought I'm sure you can come up with a few of your own. Why not write and tell us about your own planted love messages? Perhaps they will inspire someone else.