Boxes with Air Holes and Ready-made Gardens

Even before I opened the door, I could hear their pitiful cries coming from the front porch. There, tossed casually on my doorstep, was a box. Around the sides of the box were air holes. Coming through the air holes were squeaky voices crying "Plant me!" "No, ME!" "No, I'm thirstier than you because I have NO dirt!" "I'm DYING, PLANT ME FIRST!"

I carried the box inside and inspected the contents - one white plastic bag labeled Mixed Oriental Poppies and two white plastic bags of Echinops Ritro. All looked dead, typical and I suppose perfectly normal.

The Echinops bag lists:
QTY: 3
Height 30"-38"
Spacing: 12-24"
Depth: Crown at soil line
Full Sun to Partial Shade.

I don't know what "crown at soil line" means. The Mixed Oriental Poppies bag lists:
QTY: 3
Height: 24"-48"
Spacing 18-24"
Depth: Crown slightly below soil line.
Full Sun to Partial Shade.
May Contain: Brilliant, Q Alexander, Royal Wedding, Prince of Orange.

I'm feeling more and more royal every day, now that I've declared myself Princess, I'm planning a moat, "crowning" plants and planting "princes". Alas, I just don't feel confident I'll do these flowers justice. That's probably why princesses hire gardeners and landscapers.

When I bought the Echinops, I had visions of my mom's gardens. Her Echinops and Poppies stand exquisite and stately between the arbor and the water garden. My backyard has no picturesque places to fill. I'm starting from scratch. I'm trying to oasify a dessert, a parched, arid plain where the unmentionable animals reign defiantly.

Today I decided to study landscaping books to help me figure out where to put the poppies and thistle. The other day a friend and I sat at lunch and she said "So, where is your garden? In the backyard?"
"No," I replied, "it's all over the front and backyard."
She laughed and said "What do you mean, 'it's all over'? You told me you were gardening, so where is the garden?"
After I told her about the roses in the front yard, by the mailbox, around the house, on the deck and in the backyard, she said "That's not gardening, that's landscaping!"

Landscaping? Landscaping? Is that what I'm doing? sigh. So now I'm studying landscaping books and pre-designed gardens. I discovered a number of nurseries online that sell entire, ready-made, gardens. Ripe for the planting. I should have just gone with one of those instead of trying to do it on my own. These ready-made gardens come complete with little sketches labeled "Plant Bulbs A in this spot and Flowers B in spots m and q."

Wayside Gardens has a Tuscany Garden ready to plant on your Mediterranean deck.
Spring Hill has a complete Three Season Garden plan that keeps on blooming and blooming.
Audubon Workshop has gardens to attract birds and butterflies.

And then there is a book called The Garden Planner. It looks good. I just ordered it and hope there are treatments for my yard. I need something like Deer-Resistent, Soil-less, Poor Drainage Garden.

The BBC website on Gardening has a great feature to let you plan a garden virtually. You download and install the program and then design a garden according to the area you want to cover. I had fun designing a garden in a distorted horseshoe shape and stuck random plants and trees all over it. I can see that I need more guidance. I'll have to study their design contest winners. That's new to me that people actually compete for gardening design. Wow. I'm hoping to explore the program further and see if they have a custom moat feature.

My optimism has me believing I can build and install two arbors and a pergola, plant numerous flowers of varying heights and sun needs, and keep deer away from expensive roses. My optimism makes me believe the world is my garden and moats are a feasible landscaping option. My optimism has me convinced anyone can grow roses. You just have to listen to them and give them what they need. "Plant me!" "I'm thirsty!" "Ah, more sun." "Watch out! Deer!" "Woops, there goes Sceptre'd Isle's crown..."