Chapter 1: My Dream Dark Romantic Fairytale Garden Begins
From Lawn to Legendary Dark Romantic English Fairytale Garden
I’m transforming my seemingly normal south suburban backyard into a Dark Romantic Fairytale Garden and I’m bringing you on this adventure with me.
It’s early in the evening on a long summer day. The sun is deep and setting fast. The last of the day’s strong golden rays of suddenly light burst forward blanketing the garden in a veil of intense golden light. The flower and foliage ignite, bursting into colors of rich pinks and oranges, sultry reds, and deep oceanic blues and purples so dark they’re nearly black. The sun then fully sets, setting the sky into a rage of color. Evening settles in. Tiny pin pricks of fairy lights begin to glow all around the garden, the soft cast of each glowing light teases every leaf and petal it reaches. A cooling breeze rolls softly along the garden path, infusing the surrounding area with the intoxicating scent of jasmine, lilacs, and rich roses. The moody garden comes to life, becoming the perfect setting for a dark romantic fairytale.
Er, rather, that’s what I envision my garden to be: a Dark Romantic English Garden worthy of fantasy romance novels and fairytales.
As someone who truly believes magic isn’t just for storybooks, I’m on a journey to weave Dark Bohemian Fairytale Romance into every aspect of my life, starting right here in my cottage I share with my husband, Max, and our Pomeranians, Aokū (Ow-Koo) and Louie, deep within the southern suburbs of Chicago.
Today I’m sharing my initial phase of transforming my seemingly normal and plain, small suburban back yard into the Dark Romantic English Garden I’ve read about in fantasy romance novels and fairytales. Yes, I have been dreaming of this for years.
During this adventure, I’ll be sharing my inspiration and vision, step-by-step guide for the layout of the garden, and initial challenges I will be facing throughout my backyard transformation.
At this stage in my life, I’ve learned that creating beauty around you is a powerful act of self-care and joy. I’m also old enough to realize that when you dream of something for several years, it’s time to put yourself first and finally take action to make dreams a reality. After coming home from my long 9-5 job, I want to smile as I step into my magical space where I enjoy unleashing my creativity and romanticize everyday living.
From Lawn to Legendary Dark Romantic English Fairytale Garden
The Inspiration and Vision
My vision for my garden begins with inspiration from the climbing roses in Beauty and the Beast, the English gardens in Pride & Prejudice (c. 2004), and the magical gardens in every romance fantasy novel (queue Spring Court vibes from “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sara J. Maas). My goal is to blend the richness of an old formal English garden with lots of roses, a small kitchen garden, and plenty of cozy places to read all within our small suburban backyard to create a Dark Romantic English Fairytale Garden.
A Step-by-Step Guide
Layout of our Land: Our backyard is a good size for our suburban neighborhood and I want to be sure I utilize every bit of space I have to work with. As this will be a full DIY project, I want to do research and map out my plan before I embark on this quest.
To help keep things organized and stay focused, I’ve decided to separate our backyard into three zones: Dining zone, Border Garden zone, and a Kitchen Garden zone. Where the three zones meet, I plan to put a large screened-in gazebo and fire pit section with lounge chairs, all while keeping a good portion of our lawn to allow for our small dogs to run about.
Dining Zone
Main Dining Area: Dining table will stay where it is since it has close proximity to our indoor and outdoor cooking areas. The dining table and chairs work best for our current backyard layout nor do I have plans to replace them at this time.
Bistro Lounge Area: I envision a small area that is extended beyond our dining space for a bistro table and chairs. I want to be able to have a small space where I can journal, work, and enjoy an evening glass of wine or pint of ale. Adding this small section will also allow for additional seating and cooking station space for when we host gatherings, which we often do.
English Border Garden Zone
I absolutely love the appearance of an English Border Garden. The abundance of plants in varying height and colors all while neatly kept within a formal space is my goal of this garden zone.
Kitchen Garden Zone
The size of our back yard is too small to host a full formal kitchen garden and so this area will be one of compromise. We can only grow what we will truly consume and it must be in a raised bed. Previous experience with in-ground planting has not yielded a decent crop of any size and so we will be greatly limiting what we want to try to grow. It is more than likely our “kitchen garden” will be a bountiful herb garden since my husband and I enjoy cooking so much and we seem to always run out of herbs when we need them the most.
Challenges We Face for our Dark Romantic English Fairytale Garden
As with every quest, there’s always a challenge (or five)!
Limitations of Plant Selection
My vision for my fairytale garden came from beautiful garden images on Pinterest and there’s a possibility of not being able to find the exact plants I want without having to special order them. I’ve noticed some plants are only stocked once or twice in a season, so I need to keep a running list of what variety I’m looking for as well as how many of each variety I need at all times. When I see something on my list, I need to get it while I can.
Limitations as to what can be grown from seed.
Our spring is usually very cold and so seeds and tubers must be started indoors annually, then transplanted to the outside beds after the danger of frost has passed. Special ordering seeds is something I’ve done in the past, but find when seeds are acquired from different growing zones, the seedlings may not grow to be a successful mature plant. I also do not have a lot of space to dedicate to seed starting. (Perhaps I need to add a glass house to my transformation list)? Any seed trays I start must be sown in into trays in March. Seedlings can only be grown on our dining room table for a few months since they would take up nearly the entirety of our dining room table, greatly limiting our entertaining opportunities.
Costs and Pricing
I wish I had a king’s treasure trove, I really do. But alas, I’m an average merchant and I still have to stick to a budget. To me, I can only purchase plants I have on my list that are at a reasonable price. This means I’ll be keeping an eye out for special buys at the bigger garden centers, and only going to those specialty garden centers occasionally.
Time Allotted to Work on Garden Transformation
I only have evenings and weekends to work on my garden transformation. My husband and I are taking a 1 week staycation in hopes to dig out garden zones, collect the screen house, and install larger plants in garden zones. It’s already nearing late spring and all perennial ground plants need to be in to allow enough time for them to establish root balls before autumn.
As much as I would like to have my back yard completely transformed in one season, it’s quite possible this will take me the entire year to complete, maybe even longer. All in all, I feel I have a good vision of how I want the backyard to be experienced as well as a plan with practical framework in place for my backyard transformation.
I’m looking forward to setting off on this journey of transforming my seemingly normal south suburban backyard into a Dark Romantic Fairytale Garden and I hope you’ll join me!
Adventure Awaits Us!