Stand and Stare...Constructive staring in my case LOL.
Annette

Here's an example of a bit of constructive staring, how did I get my golden hops to climb up the cherry tree. Answer, crazy glue and twine :o).
Annette

{{gwi:689766}}

Annette ~ I think I do plenty of constructive staring also. :-)

To me things just sort of happen. I can go out to do one thing and end up doing something entirely different. Or I get a burst of enthusiasm after seeing all the wonderful gardens shown here.

Nell, sometimes looking and thinking can last for days, or longer.

This forum keeps our minds thinking and our bodies working.

FlowerLady

I do constructive staring and staring.
I moved into my new home in August 2006.
That year with the help of a landscaper
we removed everything.I left some sycamores
and native azaleas,the azalea I lost in the drought
last year.
I have put in two temp gardens to please my needs.
I stare and stare at the vast openings and bare
gardens.

Blueangel

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
W.H. Davies

So true!! I have mentioned it before, but with my new (this winter) home, I am going forward more carefully than in the past. And yes, I wander and stare, looking for holes that need filling, or can be left as is, as a punctuation mark.

If I can't plant, I stand and stare. :-)

Cameron

My standing and staring is generally because I'm problem solving. Trying to figure out what has caused something I'm not happy about.

Lorna

Yup, I'm glad the neighbors can't see me. They'd think I was a space cadet, just wandering around, staring, thinking, gazing off into space. Sometimes I think I spend as much time just staring as I do weeding!

I need to stand and stare at my front foundation garden!! I am having a mental block about what to do next. May do a complete redesign and need to do it before what I have planted gets too entrenched.

I also find that it helps to take a picture and look at it that way. Sometimes something that I think looks great doesn't and something that I hate looks better when seen through a camera's lens.

Mary

Gottagarden said - "Yup, I'm glad the neighbors can't see me. They'd think I was a space cadet, just wandering around, staring, thinking, gazing off into space. Sometimes I think I spend as much time just staring as I do weeding!"

OMG - that describes me to a "T" - I do it from every prospective in my garden too - the mind is always working. I have looked at pictures on these forums - gotten up and stood on the back porch and gotten a mental image of where I could improve my gardens - even if it is just a simple plant placement or yard art. I prefer to not use the actual word 'stare' but absorb and drink in - my gardens are what renews me and fills me with a zest for life. My husband has a different prospective however, he sees me just standing and gazing off and says - "UH OH - what job do you have planned for me now" - lol.......

Lynne

I love to stand and stare at my gardens. Sometimes I am looking for ways to improve an area or figure out why a particular plant doesn't seem happy where it is. Sometimes I am just enjoying the view and the work that I have done. I really love my gardens, working in them, adding to them, looking at them. I have three garden areas. One is right in front of our home and is the oldest. The second is under the pine trees that we planted almost 20 years ago and is my shade garden. I have two benches in this garden that gives me a good view of the other two. My newest bed is only about 5 years old and was a rescue of my mother in laws garden after she passed away. This is my favorite because being in it and seeing her plants thrive makes me feel close to her. I am going to try to attach a picture of my kitchen garden and will hopefully be able to add more pics later. Have a lovely day everyone. Bonny

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:398094}}

Well Bonny...from your picture it's easy to see why you'd love to stand and stare! Very, very nice indeed!

Yes, I love to stand and stare. When I look at my garden though, I think I see the promise of things to come. I actually envision the garden in a few years, looking all lush and full. :)

Now...when I want a true picture...a critical eye for improving my garden, I use my digital camera. There's something about clicking a picture and then looking at it for a bit. I begin to see things like...not enough color in my shade garden or large gaps that need filling in.

Isn't that odd? Hmmmm. I wonder what that says about me!

Sometimes you have to stop and smell roses, both literally and figuratively!

I often walk in the garden to center myself. Other times it's to gauge what's doing well and what needs to be shovel-pruned. But always I think to myself "Breathe...Just Breathe".

Marilyn

A staring word of caution...

I have been in the process of a major overhaul moving, replacing and adding to all the beds in my front yard over the last month. Nearly everything that is part of this year's plan is now done. I was standing on the sidewalk just staring up at the house surveying the progress and deciding if I am happy with everything and the police pulled up and asked if they could "help me." Apparently the combination of my garden sheik apparel and the fact that I was just standing there staring at the house made me "suspicious."

I told them they could help me pull a few more bags of mulch from my garage and help me spread them if they'd like. Apparently that wasn't funny (to them, I was pleased with my response).

LOL! Too funny, Diana (and great name, don'tcha think ; )

I think I need to stare more. Maybe then I wouldn't have stepped into the rather large #%&$! hole that I left while moving a mum.

Diana

Bonnielynn,

What type of daisy is that in your picture posted above? Is it Becky Shasta Daisy? If it is, that is what I have been looking for and have planted for the first time this year. Mine is not blooming yet but yours is just beautiful.

faye

I find I'm often standing and staring when I've just dug up a plant that didn't work in a particular spot. The staring starts when I suddenly realize it isn't going to work in the new location I had planned for it. Can't imagine what the neighbors must think when they see me with a shovel in one hand and an uprooted plant clutched in the other, loose soil dribbling down my sleeve, furrowed brow, staring intensely, determined to find just the right spot. They probably think it's just as silly as my wandering out there in the rain with my digital camera or walking around staring just for the joy of it. Then I relax and tell myself the neighbors probably have better things to do than stare at me while I stare.

LOL I am glad I am not the only one who does the staring thing. I don't always stand and stare though...I have some of those red resin chairs situated around the yard and I pull one up, grab my smokes, my drink and stare up and down my beds...I usually do this after a long day of gardening moving plants, weeding, and sometimes, just to sit back and actually SEE the individual plants instead of always planning like I usually do.

I do it.

My new husband just gave me a garden this year.

30x30 fenced in, (because we have tuns of deer).

All winter I thought and though. Made lists. Looked at pictures. Made orders. Thought and thought. Now my tiny little plants are carefully placed all over the place and I am so pleased because when I stare, I see it all filled in. Others are so slow to understand when I show them all my babies.

1 Magnolia Tree
1 Double Mock Orange Shrub
1 Iceberg Rose White
1 Frosted Cherry Hydrangea
5 Blue Berry Plants
4 Baby Poppies White
12 Hollyhock White
16 Fox Glove White
2 Peony

There are more but I just wanted to give you an idea of it. I guess that is enough for now. Only thank you all for all your info. This is my first post. The Moon Garden Girl is because I have gone white. Also the picture is only one 9th of the garden.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:689764}}

Hi Faye, I have been away and didn't see your question until tonight. The daisies in my garden are simply weeds. They self seed every year and some I just let grow because I love daisies.

Bonny

I feel the same too. I always wonder what my neighbors think of me as I'm zoning out in my yard or when I take tons of photo's of the same thing, but at different angles. Staring, for me, it's not really planning ahead though, most of the time I just get so relaxed because of the sun and hearing the birds around me, so I zone right out. I also wonder if my hubby thinks, I'm a little nuts, because I could look at my tomato bed forever before heading in.

Melissa