From This Dirt Forward

If a genie showed up in your garden to grant you your three top garden wishes–what would they be and why?

This question was thrown my way by Fine Gardening magazine. 

The challenging task of narrowing my hoards of garden wishes down to just three inspired a long sentimental journey through all of the intoxicating garden aromas, flavors, touches, romances and beauty that I’ve experienced in my life and dreamed of being able to recreate, relive, or prolong.  I’m such a romantic.

My pragmatic husband pondered this same question for about 1.4 seconds and responded, “1. No more weeds.  2.  No more pests.  3. A 36 horsepower Kubota L-Series tractor.” He gave me a smug glance, as if to say, “That was easy.  What’s your problem?”

“Well, when I do find and articulate my wishes,” I replied, “at least I know they’re going to make for a better story than yours.”

You be the judge.  You can now read my garden wishes, along with the wishes of six other garden bloggers, in the December issue of Fine Gardening out on newsstands now.

Here on my blog, I thought that instead of wining about things I want and don’t have, I’d gush about a few of my garden-related wishes that have come true over the past year.  To allow for the detail that they deserve,  I will share one at a time over the coming weeks.

#1 GARDEN WISH GRANTED: A tropical garden wedding.

It should be of no surprise that my biggest garden-related dream come true was my warm, flowery, flavorful wedding adventure in the South Pacific.  Ten months ago, when Indiana was drooping with a thick layer of ice, I absconded with my Knight-in-Shining-Armor to the warm waters and lush tropical forests of Fiji. 

Forgoing a big traditional wedding allowed us the time, money, and sanity to enjoy two weeks of intimate bliss on Taveuni, the “Garden Isle of Fiji”. 

We made our home at Nakia Resort & Dive, a small eco-resort with ten acres of tropical gardens and an organic farm. It’s a place so wonderful that I actually hesitate to share my secret for fear it becomes too well-known.

On Christmas Eve, among the gardens, on a cliff overlooking the blue waters of Fiji, my dream of a simple, intimate, graceful wedding came true.  The intoxicating aroma of plumerias and gardenias presided over the ceremony. 

Our wedding at Nakia wasn’t just a girl’s dream come true, but a gardener’s dream come true.  Everyday the staff brought us big bouquets of fresh tropical flowers and dappled our cottage with hibiscus and plumeria flowers.  

We spent hours and hours roaming the gardens, fascinated by the intricacies of growing fruits and vegetables year-round in a tropical climate.

And then there was the food.  Wow.  At every meal we indulged in some of the finest and freshest cuisine we’ve ever had.  Most of the ingredients were grown organically just steps from the kitchen. 

When your garden looks like this:

How could you not sing Hallelujah when you’re sitting on a porch being served an organic and locally grown breakfast that looks like this:

Visiting Taveuni was a dream come true for both the lovebird and the gardener within me.