I go to yoga classes and enjoy them very much. In a life that is occasionally subjected to too much stress, my yoga classes never fail to soothe something in me. One thing I’m going to miss terribly once I move are these classes because I think the instructor is very important and the lady who teaches us yoga is simply wonderful. (Thank you Kelly) I credit her with fixing my back which was a source of periodic misery to me for about 20 years. No wonder I love this woman.

As soon as I realized that my attendance might be terminated by moving, I started to think about a place to continue my practice and while I need a spot inside, the simple truth is that my happy place will always be somewhere surrounded by plants and trees, complete with weeds and bugs. And so a part of my new garden will be my yoga garden. It will be built to surround a small patch of grass sized for one person lying down, but able to accomodate two sitting up. It will be, to some extent my secret corner. I’ll use shrubs and maybe a small tree to separate it from the rest of the yard and it’s occupants.

My first vision, given the idea of yoga, which says calm and quiet was a shaded retreat in mutued tones with lots of foliage, probably an oriental influence – which will work well because I can also integrate some of my bonsai into the space. Then I realized that the shady idea might not be the best. If I’m going to lie on the ground and practice my breathing, I’d rather be warm than cold.

As I understood that sun and warmth would be important – for at least part of the day, I realized that the muted Vita Sackville-West “white garden” appeal was really more of my intellectual concept of yoga and was not necessarily what I would choose in a retreat to make me feel deliciously happy. And that’s what I really want.

I’m going to hope for morning sun and afternoon shade. I still want my shrubs to help define the space and give me some privacy. It wont be a slam the door in your face, no one can see in and I can’t see out type of privacy. Afterall, this is going into my back yard and not the middle of a school yard. It will just be the kind of privacy that says to anyone who can see me “she wants to be alone”. Very Greta Garbo.

I’m going to add some colour for sure. I’ve no idea which plants will make the cut and much of that will depend on just how the sun will hit the space and if I can put some of the garden in enough light to support a few annuals, which pack the biggest bang for the flowering buck. That means I can look at some different salvias, some calendulas or zinnias and perhaps some of the newer gazania hybrids ( I might have spelled that wrong) I can run a rose or more likely a clematis over an arbour to create an entrance. Siberian irises, peonies and lavender might show up- just because they are among my favorite plants. I feel the arrival of a big blue hydrangea. Something that might attract hummingbirds would be cool too. If I can’t figure out the plant, I might just cheat and put in a feeder.

But it won’t be the cool, shady and sophisticated retreat I had first imagined. No. first I think I’d better make it honest.