Ok, why has nobody bothered to clue me in to the idea of a chocolate garden? The whole idea is basing a garden around the colors and aromas of chocolate. And I think it's a lovely idea, especially now that I've seen some of the plants that people are planting in their chocolate gardens. I've never really considered a garden with lots of shades of brown (and other colors), but the more I look around the web the more appealing the idea is to me. Some of these plants are gorgeous. And there are ones that actually smell like chocolate. I've been trying to figure out what to do in the way of plants around the condo and didn't want to have the same floods of the same flowers that are so common in my little community. Now I've found something different and wonderful that really rather ties into my interests. I'm not entirely sure yet where/how I would put it (depends largely on size of the plants and what I do with patio design - the patio will probably happen in the spring and I need plants to surround it). But I've got a few months to figure things out (like what I can grow that I won't kill).

Anyway, I love the idea and did a little digging around and found some good articles and pages about chocolate gardens.

This article at the Visalia Times-Delta documents a stroll through a chocolate garden and is the one that clued me in to the idea. A nice read. Pictures would help (my opinion - it helps to see what she's talking about) but she communicates the ideas and experience well enough.

Next is Chocolate Flower Farm, a great place to see some of the cool plants that are finding their way into chocolate gardens. They have a great looking business going with more in the way of chocolate than just their plants. And their "In The News" page has links to some more great articles.

Last up are a couple of major outlet articles from eHow (who I really like) and HGTV. They're just here for more fun.

So, yeah, take a look around and see if you might not be a candidate for a chocolate garden.