If you constantly drill into your brain that what you do in your gardens and landscape is “work” maybe you can fall in love simply by calling it play!
How do adults play? We dance, sing, tell stories, embrace silence. Don’t we have all of these elements in our gardens? Maybe the blossoms dance on the tips of their stems. Sometimes there’s a singing in our hearts as we calm down.

Especially this time of year, I so enjoy sipping on a cup of coffee and surveying the landscape outside my home. I see the stalwart evergreens, manning their posts while their perennial pals are resting for the winter.
There’s plenty of room for change in my landscape and some areas are awaiting any planting while work is done on the house. It’s all very interesting. Compelling.
So often I hear someone say they are “working” on their garden. What about Play? As adults, we are bombarded by the responsibilities and stresses of our world. We need away time–playtime. I want to develop a love affair with my gardens. I am intent on thinking of my landscape more as a playground and less as a worksite.
In my garden playground, I use my vision like an etch-a-sketch—moving this, inserting that, playing with colors, light. fragrance. How much fun is this? There’ll be plenty of time for work later. Today I will fall in love with my garden. I CAN grow this. And I will embrace this chance to play!