Insomnia

Insomnia. A strange topic for a gardening column, I know, but bear with me and I will explain the relevance of insomnia to gardening.

I belong to an exercise group through the OSU Extension Service called Strong Women. We meet twice a week and work on increasing our bone mass and strength through weight-bearing exercises. Of course, there is a social aspect as well, and we discuss a wide range of topics. A couple of weeks ago the topic for discussion was insomnia.

Many of the women shared their suggestions for sleeping through the night. From warm milk to over-the-counter sleeping aids, we all weighed in on the pros and cons of everything we had tried. One of my exercise friends, Sherry, was adamant about not taking any kind of medicinal aids. Instead, she offered her suggestion of imagining yourself in a lovely spot and picturing yourself being there until you fall asleep.

For Sherry, a child of Southern California, her spot was on a warm beach with palm trees and waves crashing on the ocean. This sounded pretty tempting to all of us on a cold, rainy afternoon.

So a few nights ago when I found myself wide awake at 2 in the morning, I decided I would try Sherry’s idea. Not being much of a beach person, I didn’t have any luck thinking of a beach and palm trees. The ocean portion was nice, but then my mind drifted to how easily I sunburn and how much I hate sand in my bathing suit. Besides, I visit the beach every day with the dog. That's when I decided Sherry’s dream spot didn’t have to be mine.

So, I reviewed some of my favorite vacation places. First stop was seeing myself curled up with a good book by a raging fire in a cabin on the coast of Nova Scotia, a place we spent many lovely late summer and fall vacations. I soon decided I was too cold and even the “fire” wasn’t helping. My imaginary journey then took me to Guatemala, Yosemite, and Alaska before I remembered our lovely hotel room in Lisbon, Portugal. Our window overlooked the twinkling lights of this beautiful city and I was content with that being my refuge until I came to the realization that my “Dream Spot of the Entire World” shouldn’t be in a hotel room in some far-off land. That’s when I had the “ah-ha” moment: my happiest moments are in a garden.

Then my imagination searched my memories for my favorite gardens. I found myself on a bench in the Princes’ Street gardens in Edinburgh, Scotland… a favorite bench where I spent many happy moments enjoying the daffodils in the early spring and watching the people pass by. But Scotland tends to be too cold even in spring, so my imagination moved on to Australia when we toured the botanical gardens in Adelaide. They were lovely and peaceful, as was the park in Melbourne. But if I was going to include parks, that would open up even more choices. So I must also include Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. And if I was going to Golden Gate Park, I must stop by the Japanese Gardens there. If I was including the San Francisco Japanese Garden, I must also include one I think an even better example of Japan: the Portland Japanese Garden. And being in Portland, how can I exclude the Lan Su Chinese Garden from my list? Since I am in Portland, I should add Peninsula Park where I enjoy taking our grandchildren Daisy and Charlie to see the roses. So there I was… back to parks. That suggested I should add The Tulleries in Paris and Hyde Park in London to my list.

Of course Hyde Park reminded me of all the beautiful gardens I had seen in England. When we were there in 2004, we visited Hestercombe House, designed by my hero Gertrude Jekyll in the early 1900’s, and the famous Chelsea Flower Show. And the gardens of friends outside of Cheddar had to be included on my dream list, too. Small, but lovely, they served as the peaceful site for our last visit over a cup of tea. They also served as the inspiration for my gardens in Barview at Munstead Cottage.

By this time, it was 3:00 AM and I was no further in my quest for sleep. And here I was back in Oregon, by the beach. That’s when my silly, tired little brain came to its final conclusion.

My favorite place in all the world isn’t in Australia, or England, or even Portland. My Dream Spot is right here in my own garden, on my own bench, looking at my own flowers. To quote a wise man, “Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.”

And then I slept.