I am a huge The Golden Girls fan, like watch it every day huge fan. It is the ultimate comfort show for me. I am also the proud owner of all of the DVDs (does anyone else watch DVDs anymore? Just me? Ok.) & 2 sets of Golden Girls Funkos. When I first started gardening seriously, I came up with the idea of making Golden Girls flower containers, with each container representing one girl. However, it just didn’t fit into my budget at the time. So, instead, I designated a section of my garden to each girl to create a Golden Girls themed garden. My plan worked out perfectly because each section already had established plants, therefore I didn’t have to buy any new ones. I was able to pair my love of gardening & the Golden Girls together, plus naming each section of my garden just makes it easier from a conversational standpoint. Enough intro, here’s my Golden Girls garden, starring my Golden Girls Funkos!
Dorothy Zbornak Garden
Dorothy is represented by my cinder block garden. I chose this space for her because the cinder blocks are tall, strong, grey & resilient just like their namesake. This is also probably the most unique section of my garden since cinder block gardens are not a common structure. We originally planned on making it an all succulent garden, but due to budget constraints, we ended up mixing in some random vincas we found at our local garden center because they were the only multipack of flowers left. As it turns out, those random vincas thrived more than the succulents. Last year we tried a mix of leftover marigolds & vincas. Once again the vincas proved beastly. Needless to say, I wised up a bit & decided to go all vincas all the time this year. I feel like these sweet little vinca flowers represent Dorothy well because just like her, they are resilient & thrive even in tough conditions.
This year a toad has taken up residence in Dorothy’s garden. We usually have one resident toad a year, but I have spotted 3 so far this year. Naturally, I decided to name this toad, “Stan” after Dorothy’s ex-husband. Stan kept popping into Dorothy’s life with a, “hi, it’s me. Stan” & this toad keeps popping into my life every time I water Dorothy’s garden. He’s a sneaky guy & one time even touched my boot with his hand when I almost stepped on him accidentally. Sorry, Stan!
Blanche Deveroux Garden
Ah, Blanche the girl that I identify most with, how I adore you. Blanche’s garden consists of two hydrangeas, Incrediball & Vanilla Strawberry & a dwarf spruce as far as perennials are concerned. I chose this flowerbed for her because both hydrangeas are white for a time & the French word for white is blanche. Plus, once the Vanilla Strawberry hydrangea starts to strawberry it looks as showstopping as the Southern belle herself! The pure white flowers slowly age to pink & if you catch them at the right time, the flowers sport a stunning white to pink ombre. “Gorgeous, gorgeous, simply gorgeous!” The dwarf spruce fits her to a tee because of her natural petite frame, or so she says.
I have also included a few more plants to this bed, including a few evergreen tree seedlings & snowbird peas, which have the sweetest little white flowers. I also plan to add a dwarf peach tree in the future because the ultimate Georgia peach needs a peach tree to be a complete Blanche garden.
Sophia Petrillo Garden
My raised bed victory veggie garden is my Sophia garden because what other section of my garden could represent the master cook of the pack better than one full of garlic, tomatoes & basil? I plant heavily with tomatoes because I love making tomato sauce (check out my tomato sauce recipe here). I know I can’t make sauce, as well as a Sicilian like Sophia can but I strive to one day get close. I also one day hope to throw the “may your marinara sauce never cling to your pasta!” line at someone. Growing my own also garlic & basil is a must for me too because there is just no comparison taste-wise. I never seem to grow enough of them. Is there such a thing as planting too much garlic & basil?
Sophia’s garden is rounded out this year with cucumbers both grown by seed & from starters & snowbird peas grown from seed. I ringed the bed with marigold seeds that are finally starting to pop up. I highly recommend planting marigolds around the perimeter of your veggie gardens. Not only do they add nice pops of color in an otherwise green heavy space, but they also attract pollinators & deter pests.
Rose Nylund Garden
Finally, Rose is represented by my rose garden, of course. Beyond the obvious name match, the rose garden depicts Rose nicely with it’s sweet & colorful flowers. The St. Olaf gal always wears a lot of cheery pastels & my roses stay on theme with a lot of baby pink & soft yellow flowers. My Elina rose even matches her hair! Rose is by far the sweetheart of the group, but she can get a bit prickly when pushed. “I think she’s a gerchominochen! … Literally, it’s the precise moment when dog doo turns white! But in general, it refers to the kind of person you don’t want to share your hoodencoggles with”. Roses do have thorns after all!
My goal is to create a traditional rose garden with all sorts of colors & varieties. I am well on my way, but I need a few more rose bushes including a peach-colored rose & a climbing rose to complete the garden. Right now I have 16 rose bushes with most of them just starting to bloom. I have been fertilizing them with epsom salt & they are doing really great so far. I might have just found a new favorite rose fertilizer! & my wallet thanks me for it.
Well, that’s my Golden Girls garden! I hope it gave you a little inspiration to either create your own Golden Girls garden or use another tv show/movie as a garden theme. That’s one of the best things about gardening, it’s all your own creation. You can make it as whimsical or as formal as you want. Combine your gardening interests with other interests of yours to make your garden as unique as you are. But do me a favor & watch a little Golden Girls yourself. You won’t regret it! Happy gardening, everyone!
The Plantiful Gardener 