The Impulse Garden

The Impulse Garden is a long strip of flowers with no rhyme or reason. Whenever I see something I can't live without, it gets planted here.

I'm a big fan of Lauren Springer. That gal has life all figured out. Not only did she marry someone who shares a passion for gardening, she earns a living as a gardener, too. If that's not enough to make me green with envy, she also possesses something I always wished I could cultivate: discipline.

I saw her on a television special a couple of years ago, during my TV Winter. I'd broken my ankle in a skiing accident and that was the first time I'd been forced to sit still for as long as I can remember. I spent months on the couch watching Home & Garden TV.

The tour of the Springer's garden was, of course, magnificent but what really knocked my socks off was when she claimed she didn't plant a single flower during that first year. Instead, she used the entire growing season to lay stone pathways and plan what would ultimately be blooming there.

Wow, I thought, to myself. I was so amazed by her discipline that I actually sat upright on the couch for a little while.

What a novel idea! Planning out a garden so once it reaches maturity there is still some rhyme and reason to the design.

Lauren would be extremely disappointed in my haphazard gardening plan. I started at the bottom of the hill. I dug a hole, stuck a flower in it, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. When that one didn't die, I marched back to the nursery and did it all over again.

You can time my life in this house by the impulsive collection of perennials rapidly moving toward the back end of this narrow property.

While I was diligently weeding this mess last night, I stumbled upon a Butterfly Bush - in bloom! - pushing it's way up through the red Hollyhocks.

I don't remember planting red Hollyhocks. I thought that Butterfly Bush died 2 summers ago. Same goes for the Rudbeckia. Suffice to say things are getting a little out of control.

So, I may admire her but I didn't learn a thing - though I will credit Lauren for these... She turned me onto the Catmint and Jupiter's Beard that keep the Impulse Garden brightly blooming all summer long: