photo by thedailygreen,com
Last week I was sick with some unknown cold or flu bug, and so this week I have had a lot of catch-up design work to do. It’s been good weather for designing: cold and rainy, and we actually had sleet yesterday. But, I know that after a few days of staying inside, this gardener starts to go stir crazy and my creativity begins to dwindle, so even though I have a design due tomorrow, I did what any creatively challenged designer would do on a cold rainy Thursday–I went to a rock yard with my foreman!
We saw some huge cut limestone that would be good for the design I’m working on, but we also saw some oversized Colorado basket boulders that looked like river rock on steroids, and wound up buying some for his front yard garden. I spent more time out than I had intended, with this design deadline looming tomorrow, but I returned home with a clearer head and some visual inspiration. So next time it’s rainy, you’ve been inside too long, and you’ve done all the armchair gardening you can do, get yourself outside and take a trip to one of these places:
- Landscape supply yard: Huge piles of soil and mulch, all sorts of rock and boulders! These places are treasure troves for projects you didn’t even know you needed to do.
- Nurseries: This one’s a no-brainer, yet so many of us leave our nursery-visiting days for when the sun is out. When it’s rainy, hardly anyone else will be there, so you’ll have your run of the place and the staff as well!
- Public gardens: Bring your lunch and sit in a gazebo while you study the plants and how they’re combined, or take out your umbrella and stroll the pathways while you listen to the rain falling. If you’re visiting a botanical center, they often have gift shops where you can look at small plants, new tools and other garden-related goodies.
- Libraries or Book Stores: Get a stack of new garden books, curl up in a chair in the corner and let the pictures and projects inspire your next botanical masterpiece! Yes, I know you’ve got books at home, but there’s so many more out there just waiting for you to pour over!
Whether you’re a designer or simply an avid gardener, we all need to recharge our batteries and literally move outside to get re-inspired and invigorated. So save the cozy couch for when there’s thunder and lightening–rainy days and Thursdays are wonderful opportunities to clear out the fogginess and make room for new ideas and fresh perspective!
