An English Garden in the Rocky Mountains

Have I mentioned that I love gardens? One of the challenges of living in the rough and wild Rocky Mountains is dealing with long winters and a short growing season, especially when an English garden is your idea of heaven! Just imagine the surprised looks when I've wandered into my local nursery and asked if they have English boxwoods, Sweet Williams or perhaps some David Austin roses? When I first came to town, the guys would just shake their heads and offer me cinquefoil, chokecherries or red-twig dogwoods. "Those boxwoods will never make it through the winter!", they'd said. Ah, but make it they did and so did the wisteria, the Hidcote lavender, the pinks and the cranesbill and the David Austin roses. I've even managed to keep a magnolia alive and had gorgeous pink blossoms the following spring! Yes, I mulch like a fiend, yes, I've lost too many tree-roses to count, but for all of my hard work and all of the losses, the reward of seeing that first rosebud open, seeing the explosion of colors as my sleepy garden pops back to life and smelling the glorious scents that waft through my windows makes it all worthwhile...and then some.

So, while old man winter is still stomping through my garden, I'll take my garden moments "sugar-coated" and wait for my hardy, little plants to wake up and put on a show.