Seeds and life

Regardless of your choice, once you're down on your hands and knees, digging into the earth, don't be surprised if you're inspired to plant seeds in other areas of your life. Gardening isn't just fun. It's therapeutic.

Aries:

(March 21 - April 19)
Patience has never been one of your most famous traits, so if a project doesn't show results quickly, chances are good that it may not get finished.

Garden ideas

When deciding what to plant in your garden, forget about seeds. Get yourself some seedlings or mature plants of the fast-growing, hardy variety. Don't waste your time on anything that's not perennial, and don't be surprised if your favorite part of gardening is doing battle with the enemy: weeds.

Taurus:

(April 20 - May 20)
You, Taurus, don't ever start a project unless you fully intend to finish it. That goes double for projects that involve living things.

Garden ideas

You love good food and have quite the green thumb, so growing veggies, fruit, and herbs is a must. Yet your fondness for sweet sights and scents means you'll need a colorful, aromatic flowerbed, too. Oh, and trees - don't forget the trees. Sure, they'll take years to grow, but you won't mind. Patience is your middle name.

Gemini:

(May 21 - June 21)
You're perpetually busy, so free time isn't just rare; it's priceless and absolutely must be spent on fascinating activities. For gardening to fit into that category, a virtual buffet of brightly colored flowers is the only option.

Garden ideas

Choose fast-growing blossoms, and start with plants, not seeds. Then, you might want to just skip all the work and buy the flowers at your local outdoor market.

Cancer:

(June 22 - July 22)
A garden is a required part of your nesting process. It's part of what makes a house a home. You won't settle for one type of greenery, either.

Garden ideas

You want flowers, herbs, veggies, and fruit - a little bit of everything. If you don't have a yard, you'll manage to create your own little Eden on your deck or patio. Getting your hands dirty in good, rich earth is the point. It's healing to your soul, your mind, and your heart.

Leo:

(July 23 - August 22)
Showy, extravagant, colorful and impressive - that's a garden worthy of regal Leo. Better still if it's chock-full of rare blooms in imaginative displays. You'll only be satisfied if the end result is something you're proud enough to submit for the cover of Town and Country. In your mind, that's a garden.

Garden ideas

Be sure you have qualified help with new plants and seedlings and with rearranging and pruning your "permanent residents." If you opt to go it alone, prepare yourself to do two full-time jobs.

Virgo:

(August 23 - September 22)
You have a famous connection with leaf-creatures, so strong that they can't help but flourish under your care. That applies equally to the finicky African violets on the windowsill to your hardy vegetable garden, regularly producing enough to feed a family of four for the year.

Garden ideas

Warn your friends not to worry if they don't hear from you for a while. 'Tis the season to ignore your two-legged friends in favor of your green-legged "buds."

Libra:

(September 23 - October 22)
Creating and maintaining balance, harmony and beauty - that's your job. It's not easy, but during growing season you have an excuse to indulge yourself in one of the more pleasant aspects of your astrological work: planting and tending to flowers.

Garden ideas

You have a knack for arranging a garden - from seeds, mind you - so that the heights, colors, and even the size and shape of the blooms are perfectly symmetrical. It's magical, and the final result is equally enchanting.

Scorpio:

(October 23 - November 21)
As a lover of secrets, you prefer what's behind the scenes and beneath the surface, and you absolutely must be in control of any project you take on.When it's time to plant a garden, then, anything that's already growing just won't work.

Garden ideas

You want to start from scratch. Planting seeds is terrific, but your all-time favorite is bulbs. Seeing them sprout from the earth you've personally turned, worked, and fertilized is the ultimate in satisfaction.You have zero tolerance for weeds.

Sagittarius:

(November 22 - December 21)
Anything with fur, feathers, or leaves is automatically a member of your extended family, and you treat them all with love and respect.

Garden ideas

Since bigger is always better in your book, your favorite leaf-creatures are trees or plants that are capable of becoming trees. If your garden is potted, start with avocado pits or apple or orange seeds. If you've got acres, go for broke. Start an orchard - and maybe a business.

Capricorn:

(December 22 - January 19)
Before you invest your valuable time and energy into a garden, you'll map it out on a grid, read up on the expected growth demographics in several books, and then, finally, when all conditions are right, plant your seeds.

Garden ideas

There will be no need to thin out rows of seedlings, as some guides suggest. You'll plant exactly what you want to grow and tend to every seed until it's a mature plant.

Aquarius:

(January 20 - February 18)
Being different and making sure everyone notices that fact is what you live for. So when you decide to start a garden, you'll spend more time finding unusual plants and flowers than you will putting them in.

Garden ideas

Another alternative is to buy a seed mix, scatter it in your yard, and wait to be surprised by what comes up. Your garden tends to be weedy, though. To you, "weed" is just a label. Every living thing has an equal right to survive.

Pisces:

(February 19 - March 20)
Your yard is probably full of lovely greenery - an assortment of plants, flowers, and trees that you're sentimentally attached to. Your grandmother's rosebush may be next to the mailbox, your Mom's African violets in your window box, and that tree out front has probably been there since you were in grammar school (aren't those your initials on the trunk?).

Garden ideas

Tending to these precious creatures comes naturally, but when you choose something new, it's with your own children - and grandchildren - in mind.