Thinking about problem-solving in gardens and landscapes is interesting. What we bring to the process is gardening ideas, gleaned from memories, experience, and observation melded with the practicalities of light, soil, and climate. A class today had me thinking about this again.
There's no point in dreaming of lush lilacs in Southern climates nor of productive fruit orchards of apples, peaches, nectarines, cherries, or apricots (unless you're willing to do the obligatory weekly spray maintenance, whether organic or not).
We can easily grow blueberries, muscadine and scuppernong grapes, persimmons (native and Asian), paw-paws (a native fruit), and figs (in the right site). Raspberries and strawberries can be productive, too, but require lots of attention.
But creating a garden from a 'yard' is a wonderful process, one of personalizing your landscape, and not only having it reflect what makes you happy, but also creating a garden that's giving something back, not just to you, but to the folks who will live there later, whenever that might be.
Trees are always good, and shrubs, if they're needed. Adding plants to places that need them, that's good too. And gardening, I think, should always be a joyful thing.
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