Your garden renaissance - design like Da Vinci (Part 1)
/You and I can become better at creating amazing garden spaces by thinking like the all-time master of creativity. Leonardo Da Vinci used 7 specific principles to design, develop, and create some of the most enduring works of art, and fascination the world has ever seen. He initiated the renaissance age of enlightenment and rebirth. How appropriate when we consider our garden's rebirth each springtime.
Let's put Da Vinci's enlightenment to work in our garden. I'll examine his thinking principles one at a time in a series of blogs to explore how we can utilize them to become better gardeners this year.
Da Vinci's 1st principle is: Curiosity.
Da Vinci constantly challenged his own assumptions. He crafted questions that represented his curiosity on how things worked. We can do the same to get ourselves off of auto-pilot. For example, "What might you do differently this year to spark a new feeling of excitement in our garden?" The key to curiosity is in the questions we ask ourselves.
We don't have to go out and buy the same tired flat of annuals, the cliche hanging baskets, or plant the same predictable combination of vegetables. Let's do something new that causes us to look forward with anticipation to the outcome. Might that be trying a new bold color combination, planting a vegetable that you thought was hard to grow, or using tropical texture plants mixed into your ole perennial bed? There are so many things to question with curiosity to help us learn and experience something new.
So, what haven't you tried before that you are curious about? Every year I purposefully buy perennials I've never even heard of so I can have a first-hand experience with them. Check out some of the inspiring websites to discover exciting new plants. One of my absolute favorites is PlantDelights.com. They only have new and dramatic plants and cultivars that'll spark curious conversations with your guests. It's so fun to have people ask, "Wow, what is that?".
Look at your garden with new eyes this year and the curiosity of a 5 year old. Kids love secret garden nooks, and paths that disappear around the corner. We all still love those things because it pokes our curiosity! Let's begin our own renaissance and the rebirth of excitement for gardening this year. What questions do you need to ask yourself?