With Gardens, Big Things Can Happen in Small Spaces

Summer is about family and prowling back roads and out-of-the-way corners that we rarely if ever visit. With a blogger’s eye, as a gardener I am learning to stop and marvel at the flower beds that turn ordinary yards into mini-Edens.The term of choice seems to be “pocket gardens”—smaller than a flower bed and bigger than a breadbox—that transform even the tiniest and most unlikely of spaces into eye-popping floral displays.

The linguist in me couldn’t resist wildly googling the origins of that concept. According to Wordorigins.com, the word ‘garden’ itself came into use in the 14th century, from the same roots (the Germanic gardon) as ‘yard’.  As a former lit major, I remembered that an enclosed flowering space or hortus gardinus was important both in Medieval art and religious imagery, a symbol of purity and even the Virgin Mary.  There is also a French expression jardin de poche or ‘pocket garden’ that may suggest the beds have a particular shape. Others insist miniature or dwarf plant species must be used. The influential Texas Garden Clubs encourage mini-gardens offer an opportunity to design a garden around a specific theme.

All I know, is when you come across a pocket garden, you will know it. Tucked against a bed of evergreens or against a wall, there it is. In one show garden as in our daughter’s dry-as-a-bone Arizona backyard, pots became the opportunity and excuse to create living beauty. Even the acidic soil and relentless tree roots of my own northern Michigan retreat permit tiny experiments with green things growing. Point is, when it comes to gardens as so much else in life, sometimes very special things come in very small packages.