I have a lot of big ideas, which would be fine if I weren’t too distracted to think them through.
Most recently, I talked two of my favorite gardens onto the June 16 Old Town Lafayette garden tour. One is a tiny dab of outdoors at the back of a townhouse, thick with food and flowers. The other is a saucy cottage garden that gives way to a very private, very cool lounge area.
People will love to see what my friends have done with small spaces, I thought, not considering that those same people might stroll through the rest of the neighborhood.
My neighbor Jennifer and I have been in a complete panic, sprucing, pruning and planting as though our own yards are on the tour. But no amount of mulch can mask the fact that my garden raises a lot of questions:
“What’s with the alfalfa?” Early-season food for bees.
“Milkweed in the border, really?” Gorgeous flowers and monarchs dig ’em.
” Isn’t there too much oregano?” I blame the book “A Year in Provence.”
“Have you no shame?” Not about the garden. It’s eclectic, evolving and open to everyone and everything, a place to try out good ideas and make good from the bad. It’s my place. Love it or don’t let me know about it.
Dana Coffield: 303-954-1954 dcoffield@denverpost.com or
