Only Make-Believe - Gardens for the Winter Weary

filled with trailing plants. We had the sofa reupholstered in an all-over floral print and - for the time being - that was our garden room. My husband started out being fairly conservative, and many of my flights of fancy made him nervous. But over the years I have managed to convert him, by the simple tactic of letting him be the one to fall in love with things that will fall right into my plans.

Don't ask me why two people who can't sew were doing wandering through the fabric stalls in Montmartre - but I'm glad we were - and that I had just enough French and understanding of the metric system to be able to purchase several yards of zebra and leopard velvet. They remained tucked into a cabinet for years - until we were wandering through a home show in New Orleans. That's when my husband fell in love with an 8' tall wooden giraffe. He really fell for it - which was when I reminded him that our décor - thanks to him - was a wee bit conservative for that giraffe to feel at home.

He took a deep breath - and decided to let conservatism go. And from that day on I was able to have as much fun decorating our house as I ever had doing theater sets. There are so many wonderful ways to create a "garden" feeling indoors - and a good garden room can almost help the winter weary gardener feel right at home. It also helps all of the tender plants that I have to haul indoors every fall seem more at home.

Jungle Gardens
Our own garden is a tropical jungle of a garden - because how else does one accommodate an 8' foot tall wooden giraffe? That meant a few tall silk palm trees, and some brightly plumaged wooden birds for the cages. I would have happily used real plants except that we just can't manage the right lighting conditions for them - they usually languish for a year or two, looking weak and wan, before giving up. Not a great look for a tropical jungle room.

I found a wonderful stencil of a monkey and created a line of them marching across the sunroom under swinging vines and tropical plants (also stenciled.) We actually found a wooden zebra to keep the giraffe company, and a perfectly wonderful bronze monkey that looks like he was the model for my stenciled ones. And the zebra and leopard velvet finally came out of storage to upholster the dining room chairs and

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