Some people like to garden. You know, with a lovely plot of soil outside where you can grow anything from string beans and tomatoes to flowers and whatnot. The idea is lovely, and conjures up images for me of Beatrix Potter watercolor illustrations. Well, maybe it’s not so romantic in real life, but it’s nice to imagine it is.
I’ve never had a garden like that, though. We live in a city, and the extent of our garden is limited by how many pots we can fit around our apartment. Add to that the fact that I have a very, very gray thumb, and, well, let’s just say that we have a lot of pots around the apartment with a varying number of plants inhabiting them.
The fact that our garden is always dictated by the circumference of the pot opening perhaps explains my fascination with antique illustration of people in gardens. Or perhaps that falls more under my love of antique illustrations in general, where my mind immediately begins to imagine whole walls of framed botanical prints when I come across them on Pinterest.
But gardens keep coming up in things I do. I unintentionally joined our building’s garden committee and took part in clearing out the small plot of land that has been dubbed, “The Garden” (no flowers, just shrubbery) and have also gotten begun occasionally helping the building’s gardener. I have so far learned how to deadhead flowers (absolutely horrible name) and prune rose bushes, something which made me very happy.
But even though I am not anywhere near being the sort of person who has a proper garden (I’d have a whole section devoted to Queen Anne’s Lace), I adore finding illustrations of them. I compiled a few and wanted to include them here, because pretty flowers and antique illustrations are always a good thing.
From My Tree Branch 
Well, now I want detailed plans of what your ideal garden would be! Mine, I know, would have a good deal of peonies (which we sadly can’t grow too many of–my garden lives under a roughly 200-year-old oak, making it a decidedly shady one), as well as a generous amount of roses and lily of the valley.
And yes, pruning roses is just the most satisfying thing. I’ve had a bush since childhood, but I only started paying attention to it a few years ago – and it’s rewarded me for the attention with the loveliest pale pink blooms 🙂
But I commiserate with you on the gray thumb. I grew up with two enthusiastic gardeners, and I am sadly not on their level…
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Oh dear, yes, this is relatable. I was so giddy that we have plants *outside* here that just this afternoon I filled up a watering can I found next to the house, headed toward the plants, felt that the dirt was still definitely wet with my hands, but continued to water them just because I never get to water anything outside and it felt so *real* this way…hopefully I didn’t kill them. I enjoyed your collection of illustrations very much, everyone in them looks like they know exactly what they’re doing! 🙂
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