it's more my father than my mother. i am a teenager who is interested in nature A LOT. and i have done lots of research on the plants i want, plants that work, what is good, ect. i even made a to scale diagram WITH colored photos of my proposed garden. what did i get after 3 months of research? i was told i couldn't because i wasn't responsible enough.

i've taken to doing some of the odd jobs around the yard that my dad won't get to in the near future, if at all. yesterday, for example, i pulled out the three inch thick carpet of rampant lily of the valley and planted two more well behaved varieties of flowers. i even installed a makeshift border ( thin strips of leftover concrete) and inserted a makeshift block for the LOTV. (this was a piece of shale hammered into the ground. it's all i had, and we'll have to see). i am the one who waters all of the new plants introduced this season so far (container plantings and such) and i have been assigned an out of the way shaded area blocked by the pool. this is pretty much our equivalent of the 'lost cause' area because nobody sees it unless they walk over to that part of the yard, and is on a hill, so you can't really see the plants. from the house it isn't viewable, neither from the deck, because of the pool. it is also located next to the wood pile, where all of the 'beloved' creatures in our yard take up residence.

i don't know if this is my dad's attempt to get me out of his hair for a while or him trying to see if i am really serious about this. i'm really not sure.

what do you think is the best course of action?

First I would adopt that shaded area and make it shine. You could consider this your secret garden. When all done, you can take visitors out to your very own secret garden to show them what you have done. Pick up some shade loving plants and garden art to make it beautiful. You can then use this as an example later to prove you are willing and capable of the upkeep. You could make cute kritter homes in this area as garden art. Since it is shady, don't forget to add some sparkle with old mirrors, CD's hung on strings twirling in the wind add sparkle also.

Also, what about buying your own containers and making a couple container gardens of your own. You could do some creative recycling with things you find around the yard, garage sales, old work boots etc. Ask neighbors if you can help clean out flower beds in exchange for some of the plants. One of my favorite planters was an apple shaped basket with a wire front, I filled with soil and placed hens & chicks through the mesh. It filled in nicely and now sits on my porch. I also found some wooden shoes at a flea market and filled with soil and put in hens&chicks, also very cute.

Good luck, I know if it is something you really want you will be able to accomplish it. Kim

last week i planted some new flowers, but i think i might have to do a little rearranging. the bleeding hearts get a little wild, and i don't know where they'll spring up next.

in this garden i have

prexisting -
hosta
bleeding heart
'autumn joy' sedum
a lily variety (i don't know what kind, they were planted a long time ago)

new -
brunnera 'jack frost'
coral bells

and some other varieties i can't name at this point.