Visiting other gardens, as I did at the GWA conference recently, makes me dream of adding certain plant combinations or structures to my gardens. “I want that on my property,” I find myself thinking, or “Oh! I have to make an arbor like that.” Yet as I look around Poison Ivy Acres, those structures or arrangements of plants may not fit here.

Each property has intrinsic characteristics, and it’s the wise gardener that works with those distinctive qualities. This is not to say that we can’t make changes, but we need to work with the lay of the land.

Poison Ivy Acres is a thin piece of property that slopes down to the lake. The house, large deck and stonewalls were already here when we bought the property. It made good visual sense to wrap a perennial garden around that large deck, so that we could see the flowers and hummingbirds but they wouldn’t obscure the view down to the water.

As gardeners, we need to use what we’ve got. We should plant according to the amount of sun and shade each area receives, and clearly see how the land relates to our house and other garden structures.

It strikes me that expressions such as “once I get the lay of the land” are very sensible. Gardeners or not, we need to work with what we are given in all areas of life. Once we are thoroughly familiar with what we’re starting with, we can build on that and make changes from there. The enduring advice about starting a spiritual journey is wise in gardens and elsewhere: start where you are.

The stone walls are perfect for stepping down the slope, and as I plan where plants will be placed, I work with the slant and orientation of the land.

What I'm starting with is a big deck near a steep stone wall, and a view from the lake. And the knowledge that dear friends may want to get married here, so I need a large enough lawn (to the left of this photo) to accommodate a tent.