Reading Nook

I sent my husband's frustration with my flights of fancy quite nearly into the upper limits yesterday when he came home and saw that I had been, um, playing in the dirt all day. By the way, if you're stopping in from the germinatrix, welcome! Stay awhile!

What you're seeing is the beginnings of what I like to refer to as the "reading nook." On the East side of our house we have a long stretch of shady nothingness where pretty much nothing grows and nothing gets done except Jake running the fence and the composting. So, naturally, I want to overhaul it. This past weekend while spending quality face-to-face time with my sweet sister I pitched the idea to her and we came up with ideas and she threw all kinds of plant names at me to find and plant.

The basic idea is this: I want to have a space where someone can go to sit, relax, have a glass of tea, and read or listen to music. I'm a therapist, and I want a happy place. I have this idea in my head that I really really want to come to fruition, so yesterday I pulled out the gardening tools and went to town. There's a LOT of dirt to be moved, people. I'm planning to paint the fence a funky shade, probably a soothing blue-ish green or maybe even a lively reddish orange. It's going to be covered over in passion flower vines. There will be a long walkway that will open up into the nook, which will have a deck and be a little reminiscent of Casa De Luz in Austin.

I'll post pictures as I slog through this mess - there's a bunch of bamboo and did I mention a MOUNTAIN of dirt that needs to be moved around, but I'm really excited. The idea is to have the side of the house double as reading nook and built-in entertaining. So far I need to focus right now on the end of the path, but the rest will have a graded wall with all kinds of fun grasses, flowers, and low-growing groundcover like moss rose and moneywort.

So yeah, if you want to get a little sweaty and a little dirty, I need help in my garden! ;)