AN IDEAL MARRIAGE & A CANTINA GARDEN

Well, it's taken me a while to find the perfect man - for the job - but I think we're finally on our way to having that Mexican Courtyard Cantina Kitchen Garden! The problem, you see, was that I know a good bit about plants and design, and I'm pretty good about creating atmosphere, but I'm lousy at supervising crews and subcontractors, and I don't know beans about construction. So, I definitely needed some help if I was going to bring this baby to life.

The first person I contacted knows quite a bit about plants, and has a wonderful flair for design, using lots of the dramatic, sculptural plants that I love. Unfortunately, she has no interest in supervising crews or managing a construction project, so she sent me to someone else.

This person had plenty of experience supervising construction and crews, and knows a ton about native plants, but her specialty is restoring prairies and attracting wildlife. She came out to look around, and had great ideas for reseeding our fields with grasses and wildflowers, but just never seemed to get on board with the idea of planting a dramatic little kitchen garden in the middle of all that. I almost hired her anyway, taking that "Oh, I suppose it will do" attitude that I am usually preaching against. Fortunately, John brought me to my senses, saying "We are not going to spend all this money unless you are peeing in your pants from excitement." Well, maybe those weren't his exact words, but you get the idea.

That left me right back where I started, with no clue how to pull this off. I stewed and mulled for several days, then I had brain fart. Turns out I knew just the guy - one who knew absolutely nothing about plants. He didn't need to, because that's something I'm perfectly capable of handling on my own. He does, however, know plenty about construction and supervising crews, since he's the architect who designed this house for it's original owners, and then designed and supervised our subsequent remodeling project. Most importantly, I have been to his wonderful house, and there's no doubt in my mind that, if anyone would understand my desire for a little drama, or my craving for color, it would be him. In fact, I'd say we're a marriage made in heaven, with just the right balance of strengths and weaknesses, but also a matching core of basic values. There's just one tiny snag. He's retired.

So, how to tempt him out of retirement? I started off by sending him a little email, explaining what we were trying to accomplish. I also included a link to that original blog posting, where I first described my crazy concept. Then I told him about the previous landscaper, who just hadn't understood my need for flair and drama. I closed with "I know you are trying to be retired, and probably wouldn't be interested in a project like this, but could you perhaps suggest someone else who might be a good match for the job?" His reply was, "Oh, I don't mind taking on a little project every now and then. Maybe we should get together and talk a bit more."

He and his wife came to dinner weekend before last. I let him look out the dining porch windows, to see the bird's-eye view of the garden that we would get from up here. Then I took him downstairs, to see it up close and personal. Within about five minutes he was tossing out ideas that had me squealing "Yes! Yes! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Then I excused myself, to go change my underwear.