When we purchased our property the focus was on preparing the land for water, power, septic, road access and the trials off dealing with the county. Looking ahead to the day I could start working on the gardens kept me sane through the process.

I found myself drawn to two places on the property where I could shed the stress from my body and mind. One area was above the year- round creek that flows through the bottom of our land. We put one of our garden swings up on a small knoll overlooking a fork in the creek that created a circle of dry land covered with moss covered rocks, ferns and understory trees. My grand kids later named it Mount St Nana, a parody of our Northwest volcano Mount St Helens.

The other spot was at the top of the property looking down at the area that would be cleared for the house. There underneath a canopy of big leaf maples and pine trees the sun would filter through leaves creating a lace patchwork quilt on the forest floor. I loved it. Stress would melt away and in my dreamy state I would envision roses draped over the hillside and flower and vegetable gardens swathing the landscape. If I had known then that it would be two and a half years later before the house would be built and another year before the gardens could be laid out I would have probably curled up in a cocoon and hibernated in my garden swings in the woods.

Instead, I founded a garden club, tended my potted plants at our rental home and began taming the wild woodlands.