A German Garden: the inside scoop

Even a quick glimpse is a pleasure.

A little serendipity always helps.

A carelessly beautiful arrangement.

Germans, like the English, are wonderful gardeners.  Don’t believe it?  Drive through any German village, town, or city and see that every nook and cranny is bursting with flowers.  Must have been women who did those.  Window boxes.  Front yards.  Back yards. Along driveways.  Flowerpots by the door. Bicycle baskets still on the handlebars. Yes, I have seen these.  Inspiring. 

I am not a gardener, but I have friends who are and some are even German men.  For a bier and a wurst, they’ll willingly share the secrets they’ve gleaned from their years of playing in the dirt; which is a polite way of saying, put a beer in their hand and they’ll spill their gardening guts.  But, after a few hours of pils, who’s equipped to remember Latin names, or the best time to plant rhubarb, and why slugs don’t make good escargot? 

Well, I remember a few secrets, such as:  plant flowers in the sunshine, except for impatiens, which apparently adore some shade, as I do.  Details fade.  Beauty lingers.

Which brings me to the expression ‘nook and cranny.’  Anybody know what that means?  Nooks are small, out of the way spots only women know about, and crannies are small crevices even more difficult to find.  All of them are evil.  Would I use the phrase in a sentence?  Of course.  My wife finds nooks and crannies to be great organizational tools, which is why I’m developing a nook and cranny eradicator.

In fact, men are born hating nooks and also express great distain for crannies, preferring to place eyes-only items, such as the receipts for the new shotgun and full surround sound media center, in more secret places.  Twice locked strong boxes, labeled ‘Only to be opened in the case of my death,’ for example.

But, back to my friend’s garden, which is a delight and shows great foresight in avoiding the use of nooks. Also, back to two of his best secrets.  Secret one:  When you have a bare spot in your lawn, lightly till in some dark earth.  Next, put grass seeds in a watering can and fill it with water.  Then water the patch and the grass seeds will spread evenly.  Secret two:  To figure out where best to plant flowers in your garden, take twenty years of trial and error, and never give up hope. 

You can tell if you have a really good garden.  It’s like a living painting you can sit and stare at for hours.  A place to enjoy your morning cup, or to relax with a sherry at dusk.  The question is, what makes a garden good?  What takes a little greenery and a few bursts of color out of the realm of mere plantings and into the world of living art?  One thing I’ve noticed is that pockets of single color anchor a well planted garden. Diaspora of types and colors is great, but only if balanced by strong monochromatic patches that draw the eye.  There must also be a balance of differing heights and backgrounds of various shades of green.

If none of this comes naturally to your eye and imagination, visit some professional gardens, check out internet photos, or diligently spy on your neighbors, while ignoring their habit of nude sunbathing.  Careless balance, of form, size, and color is the key.  Yep, takes a lot of time and work to achieve carelessness.

Time for another beer, while you lovingly gaze at some photos of a wonderful backyard garden.  Meanwhile, I’m taking a fly swatter to those beastly crannies.

See how the heights, colors and shades of green come together!

A wonderful unbalanced arrangement compliments a well trimmed hedge

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