This summer at my home, nestled below the Rimrocks, on a downward slope facing the south horizon of our town, lived a gardening season I’ll cherish forever. This was the first season where I had complete creative freedom and control over the design process. In mid-April, I was busy designing the flower bed spaces with the idea of creating cozy cottage style flower gardens with a southern California vibe, since our climate in South East Montana is rather dry and hot in the summer months. Therefore the flowers selected were drought resistant and heat tolerant. For the spring and early summer months, I curated a color palette of creams, blues, purples, and yellow. As a wedding florist, I was trying to plant flowers of the same color palettes as my season weddings. There is something magical when I’m designing a wedding and I can simply walk outside into my garden beds and clip a little something here and there to add to bouquets and arrangements.

Your garden, your terms.

Design hour garden space in a way that makes sense to you and your style.

In the backyard, I designated a space for my up and coming greenhouse. So there is a blank space waiting for that girl. In front of the greenhouse, I was designing a beautiful cottage feel garden space complete with small floral vignette among raised box beds. The raised boxbeds were intended for my herbs, tomatoes, some vegetables, and my gorgeous Floret cosmos. Which by the way, as I write this, it is October and the cosmos are absolutely stunning. With cosmos, if you give them the space to thrive, they will truly take over - which is a very good thing because they are like happy dancers.

Our back patio is made of cement that was imprinted with a stone design. It lends itself to give off an elevated style vs your more commonly seen cement slab. I describe this to illustrate the design concept I had envisioned for the backyard. To me, landscaping is much more than cutting out some beds, planting some perennials and shrubs then moving on with your life. For me, I want to capture a feeling, a sanctuary, a place I crave after a long day. I want a garden space that is more than just the flowers planted but a space where I can sit among and feel the stresses of the days melt away.

I have wanted nay craved a long gorgeous farm table that was among the backyard garden for years. I just haven’t had the actual space for one. There’s this house where my daughter Audrey and I walk past frequently. The house is nestled in this beautiful neighborhood filled with sweet homes, tree lined streets, and gardens fit for a magazine. This one house, in particular, that we covet is a modern twist on a cottage home. The house has a stone hedge and inside the stone hedge are gardens filled with flowers and shrubs. From the street, you can see their long farm table that rests on their back patio space. The table is worn from years of sunshine, rain, and snow. However, I feel the worn weathered table is more beautiful with each passing season. This is what I have been wanting. Finally, this season, my dream came true.

I extended the back patio with stones that complimented the patio design. I purchased all these stones from Home Depot. I lifted each one carefully into the back bed of the truck, unloaded each stone, and hauled each one to the back yard. Talk about a labor of love! But my goodness does it look beautiful.

During the summer months, my family and I would gather around the table to visit and eat. It was everything I envisioned and hoped for. During the long sun drenched evenings, my sweetheart Mike and I would relax with music and a cold drink while absorbing the tranquility the flowers in the beds provided. The bees and chubby plump bumblebees truly moved in gathering all the pollen the flowers offered. Our yard was a pollinators paradise. Again, as it’s now October, we still have a large population of pollinators. I love when August arrives because that’s when the pollinators sort of take shifts. In August, I notice the arrival of hummingbird moths. These specific pollinators remind me of tiny brown hummingbirds however they are quite actually large moths. They seem to love the summer annuals like petunias, verbena, and coreopsis. When these darlings arrive, I know the season is shifting from summer into deep summer.

Gardening is very exciting and insanely rewarding. It’s not only a deeply loved hobby but something that lives with in me. I garden and design gardens as a place to provide a loving, nurturing and always evolving space to feel connected to your home and family. I know that with all my hard work and dirty hands that I am creating something meaningful. Our neighbors appreciate the garden beds. They often walk by and admire them. One neighbor in particular was inspired to completely renovate their yard. As a thank you for the inspiration, the sweet woman gifted me with a beautiful burgundy mum. I am still so touched by her heart. Another example of the impact of meaningful gardening is that as a florist, our other neighbors offered their gorgeous hydrangeas for me to clip as needed for my weddings. As a florist, I cannot express how much this means to me! Free hydrangeas that are a variety you can never order wholesale or find in a shop. Literally the best gift of generosity!

I hope that this journal entry into my world of flowers and gardening has inspired you in some type of way. Even if you want to start out small (which is very wise and manageable) by filling a flower box with gorgeous in season blooms. I promise, from there, you will be hooked. Thank you for flowering with me and I hope all of you have a wonderful day.

The Love of Keeping Flowers

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