With cold weather upon on, we begin to remember spring, warmth and sunshine longingly.  And with thoughts of spring inevitably come thoughts of gardening.

Nothing is more soothing and more guaranteed to relieve the day’s stress than walking through your fragrant garden, watching the butterflies flit from flower to flower and listening to the whir of hummingbirds. In gardens, we meditate, restore our spirit, create and envision the future. There are many gardens to choose from.   A few are mentioned below. For more information on other gardens, aromatherapy, flower pressing and edible flowers Flower Power is available at www.jupitergardenspress.com.

Annual Garden

Annuals are flowers that die back at the end of the season. However, several annuals do reseed themselves. Annuals make beautiful summer gardens. A lot of folks like them because they bloom and re-bloom all summer long.

The list of annuals is endless but here are a few favorites with gardeners.

Coleus plants are more popular for their brilliant leaves than for their flowers. Coleus leaves come in green, pink, red and white and have several different shapes. Some are as lacy as old-fashioned women’s handkerchiefs.

Impatiens are a very popular summer flower. They come in a wide range of colors and like shade and deep watering. Some people mulch to hold the moisture.

Marigolds are bright yellow and bronze and are extremely hardy. These feisty little flowers have a pungent aroma that insects don’t care for. They also reseed themselves.

Is there anything prettier than a purple or pink peppermint petunia? These umbrella-shaped flowers look like a floral waterfall when they are in full bloom.

The delicate, beautiful snapdragon comes in a variety of colors. They are quite hardy and will reseed themselves. Their beauty adds to any garden.

Apartment Garden

Just because you live in an apartment doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a garden. If you have a balcony, patio or even a useable roof, you can build your own small garden with containers and pots of different sizes and shapes. Fill some with bright colored perennials and others with season-long blooming annuals. What could be prettier than a waterfall of white, with purple-centered petunias, draped over your balcony? If your apartment doesn’t have a balcony, patio or useable roof, hopefully there is a communal garden you can take part in.

Cottage Garden

One of my favorite gardens is the cottage garden because it has such a wonderful conglomeration of textures, colors and scents. You can find perennials, annuals, herbs, vegetables and wildflowers, all growing side by side in a cozy garden.

My cottage garden has rosemary, lavender, roses, lamb’s ear, coleus, day lilies, coneflowers, brown-eyed Susans, irises and green peppers. I intersperse the plants with stepping-stones and ceramic fairies.

You can buy FLOWER POWER at Jupiter Gardens Press (http://www.jupitergardens.com/) in both print and electronic formats.

Just for fun: This week I’ll be having a daily drawing to give away a handmade bookmark by artist Meghan Cox. To enter: all you have to do is send an email to sandracox1@gmail.com and put bookmark in the subject line.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 4:58 am and is filed under guest blog, new books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.