I 've always enjoyed perennials' stems and pods for their winter form, better than bare ground in my view. I like the way they look mounded with snow, outlined with frost, or dripping with icicles. However, recently I discovered another aspect. With much delight my daughter and I watched a flock of small birds "play" in the perennial garden. They were hopping from stem to seed pod to ground and back. Some lingered on the ground, eating seed scattered from the pods on the snow covered ground. We couldn't tell exactly what the party was about from our window view. But we shared a few minutes of astonishment and simple joy beholding frolicking birds.

That's how I like gardens to be-- places to behold a series of delightful moments. Observing birds, watching a butterfly land and flutter away, discovering an emerging stem from the ground, a leaf or flower coming into bloom, or enjoying the contrast of textures and colors --leaves against leaves, foliage against bark or stone.

Because we enter and exit from our homes often several times each day, entry gardens present some of the best places to observe nature unfolding. And if that process of observing engages fascination, then we have the experience researcher Rachel Kaplan ("The Role of Nature in the Urban Context") characterizes as a "mini-restorative experience". In other words, a relaxing moment that just might make life easier to cope with.

I define three kinds of entry areas ripe for gardens: the street, the driveway, and the door yard garden. The street garden is important because it not only indicates where you enter your property by car or on foot, or the path you take to get the newspaper or mail, but establishes what real estates agents might call "curb appeal" or what I call "welcome". A street garden marks your property's edge and begins to establish an outdoor room that beckons you to enjoy it. (Put a bench there and sit there a few minutes with your mail or newspaper on nice days. Let yourself linger a few minutes and look around you.) If a grassy swath extends from the street to the house without visual interruption, then psychologically the land belongs to the street not to you. Which is fine if you've got several acres. But it you don't, you won't use your front yard much except if you get your exercise from mowing it.

A stone wall planted with perennials, a fence (low or high) covered with vines, a mixed border planted with perennials and shrubs, a copse of trees, or a woodland wildlife corridor catches the eye from the street. Street gardens can be two-way gardens-- enjoyed and seen one way from the street and a second way from the house. An example would be a perennial garden, a mixed border with perennials planted on either side of a flowering shrub border or hedge. The reverse side of these gardens creates a sense of enclosure, space, or an outdoor room. An one-way garden seen from the street would include a perennial, or dwarf woody shrub garden backed by a privacy screen of tall conifers, high fence, or thick woodland.

Mailbox plantings might be incorporated into either a two way or a one way street entry garden. Street entry gardens often use architectural elements like post lamps, paving changes, granite blocks to mark gates and primary driveways, or number posts of wood or stone. Street entry gardens can be designed and planted to fit your lifestyle, personality, and neighborhood.

Any of these kinds of street gardens, no matter how simple or complicated, create a sense of welcome. Best of all the gardens provide opportunities to observe nature and experience "mini restorative experiences" every time you get the mail or drive to wherever.

Action Items for Busy Gardeners

Shade gardeners: Order this great catalogue from Underwood Shade Nursery Box 1386, North Attleboro, MA 02763 . www.underwoodshadenursery.com They've an extended plant list (260 varieties of perennials) for shady gardens. The plant descriptions are accurate and comprehensive.

You can cut Forsythia branches anytime now to force into flower. The closer to April, the shorter time you have wait for the yellow flowers to appear. But if you have some tall vases or oriental jars and space for tall branches, this can be fun. When cutting for indoor stems, I'll pick a branch that needs pruning and cut it off close to the ground. Trim off what I want for forcing and recycle to the wood pile the rest. Before putting into a container filled with water, smash the stems with a hammer against a wooden cutting board, or cut "x's" into stem bases with clippers.pull.

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