You can take that one step further when you think of the great landscape gardeners of the past who have left their work for us to admire.
Consider the yew tree. Some specimens have been known to live some three to five thousand years.

Imagine planting something that will still be growing after so much time. My 15-year-old son found a yew seedling near the fence which he is going to plant out. Ten years later it is still only a metre in height.
The seed must have been dropped by birds . Its potential is quite thought provoking . What will it be like in 100, 200 or 500 years time?
Many of us don't have the opportunity to leave lasting reminders of our lives, but a well planted garden or a single tree can last for years and that's just one aspect of gardening.

If you like looking around gardens for ideas for your own, think about a trip down to Enfield. Just at the Junction of the M25 on the A10 you will find Capel Manor, a horticultural college which was turned into a charity, in order to continue its work and the place is full of examples of small gardens.

A leading gardening magazine has 20 or so different ideas of small garden layouts with more ideas laid out for individual features.
The college has its own areas laid out by students and you can also see the gardens of the original manor house. Well worth a visit if you haven't been and the college teaches some animal husbandry so there are animals to look at too.
Occasionally I delve into a book full of old wives' tales and one I discovered describes how some are said to plant seeds in the altogether!
There would, it is suggested, be a reason for this in that a gardener would want to wait until the weather warmed up a little, tempering the urge to sow too early with the risk of inclement weather destroying crops.

To back up this idea, the book goes on to hint that Lincolnshire farmers have been known in older days – as far as we know – to lower their trousers and sit on the ground, to determine whether the soil is warm enough for sowing.
I would have thought that the old method of testing the temperature of babies' bath water with the elbow would have been quite adequate, but at least the old technique doesn't have to be used as the farmers harvest, plough and then sow their winter wheat crops into warm autumn soil.

I often hear the lament about lack of colour in the garden at this time of year. Annual bedding plants will certainly be adding colour but for many who want a little more colour, there is a solution.
Visit your local garden centre or nursery, or even make a point of visiting one of the many gardens that open their doors to the public.
Make a note of those plants that are performing at the moment and then you can include them in your plans.

A gardener may only visit a nursery to buy plants in the spring, and autumn. Tempted by all that is on flower at the time, the garden contains many spring flowering plants.
If you think your garden needs a little extra colour, set aside time and add a little extra zing to your borders.
The mixed weather we are having may not suit all, but it is good planting weather!