If you don't live in the tropics, the latter can be pretty work-intensive as you dig up and haul in the tender plants every fall, struggle to keep them alive through winter and replant in spring. Then there are romantic gardens. Roses are often associated with romance, and so a rose garden might do the trick - although you may want to be selective about which roses you choose. Or make your romantic message poignant with old fashioned flowers like Cupid's Dart and Love Lies Bleeding. Animal gardens are fun, especially for kids.
Colors also create a theme, from the infamous all white garden to purple and black gardens .
The only limits are your imagination and the amount of work you are willing to do to create a healthy, flourishing theme garden. Suggest a few and we'll see if, over the coming weeks we can't come up with some plants to fit the themes. I tend to obsess on a genus and collect many species of that particular genus. If you have a theme in mind we can explore the plants that might be used in it as well as other design possibilities. For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Carol Wallace's Virtually Gardening topic, please visit the Discussions page .