What’s the lure of gardening? What do you need to know to minimize frustration? And what’s garden design?

I think most gardeners get a lot of satisfaction from contact with the soil, getting our hands dirty and feeling the sun on our backs. Watching things grow is a kick too. And putting plants together to create a beautiful scene gives an outlet for creative urges. You can lose yourself in thought while you’re pulling weeds or planting annuals. Lots of us have memories of childhood homes where our parents grew tomatoes or prize roses, and although we didn’t think much about those gardens when we were kids, they stayed in our minds as images of peace and pleasure.

To me, gardening involves negotiating with nature. I know I’m not in control, but I can get nature to cooperate if I’m careful, and I learn a lot about respect. I can’t make it rain, or cool down, and I can’t make plants grow. I think the worlds we live in — the commercial world, the world of our social and civic lives, the world that enters our homes through television and movies — value being in control. They conspire to give us the illusion that if we just say the right thing or make the right move or buy the right product, we’ll finally be in control. We’ll have power.

Of course, that’s a fantasy. We’re not in control: we’re in relationship. With nature, we can’t control storms, droughts, and floods any more than we can control sadness, hair loss, or arthritis.

But in a garden…in a garden we can make a deal with Nature. If I plant a coneflower in the sun and don’t let the soil get too soggy, the chances are excellent that it will bloom from June through August, attract butterflies, look good in bouquets, and come back year after year from New Orleans to North Dakota (Zones 3 – 8). If I put it with some Black Eyed Susans, they’ll bloom together, complement each other, and make a tiny prairie in my city yard. They’ll bring butterflies and birds to my garden, and with minimal attention, they’ll prosper for a long time.

So that’s the sort of thing I’m going to blog about: what do you need to know, how do you combine plants, and what are the satisfactions and frustrations of dealing with Mom (nature). I garden in Chicago. It’s Zone 5 here, and because it’s a city, there’s a lot of shade from buildings as well as trees. You’ll have to educate me about gardening in other conditions. Lots of information translates from one zone to another, and the design principles are the same, but the plants themselves are different. It’ll be fun to learn from each other.

Finally, gardening over 50 means some stress on your joints. I use naproxen or ibuprofen before I go out, and I do some yoga stretches to gain flexibility for all that kneeling. I take care of my back. We can talk about those issues too.

By Rinda West