Why a Kingdom! Why Hosta plants!

It wasn't long after my divorce that I realized that I needed an outlet to escape the emotional burden and scars that going through a divorce has on the soul. What better way to escape than to tackle 40 acres of a jungle like woodlands? In essence to get back to my roots and allow the magical healing power of mother nature to take over. That is when I first discovered the magic of having my very own kingdom. The freedom to escape the trial and tribulations that life has to offer and a place to promote the inner child that is within all of us. As I cleared the brush piles and saw light for the first time peak through the tall lumbering trees, it was then I started to think of the secret gardens that I could produce.

My first garden was just off the bank of the stream (pictured above) that runs through my kingdom. It was here that I wanted to build my first garden. The problem with the area was that it was filled with poison ivy and other unknown weeds. My friends Ruthie and Dave helped out by making a fire pit out of the river stone, and later to be used for cooking purposes, and burned the debris so that I could begin my quest to build my first garden. Funny lesson to me, not to them...never get in the line of smoke when burning poison ivy. David informed me a week later that he was finally getting over the poison ivy that hit him in places on his body that he never knew could get poison ivy.

After a few weeks, the debris was finally cleared and it was time to build my first garden in my kingdom. My chosen location was amongst some very tall ash, maple, elm and cherry trees.

Needless to say, my perennial garden wasn't going to get a whole lot of sun. I had to choose some perennials plants that could be grown in shade. After consulting with my mother, who has a lot of knowledge on plants, she recommended hosta plants. So my quest for hosta began! It was through a lot of trial and error, but my garden looks like this today!