OK, got your theme yet? Here's a few suggestions with a little help from the Associated Press, to get you started.

A Colonial garden: modeled after old-style New England. Divide a small patch of ground into squares separated by walkways and inter-planted with vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers.

Or divide with shrubs, instead of or in addition to walkways, and form a more traditional English Cottage garden with a fountain, bird bath or statue in the center as a focal point.

Make a special perfumed garden near a bedroom window or anywhere you spend time outdoors. Go heavy on the lavender, lilacs, heritage roses, sage, or any other fragrant plant that you wish.

How about a Tea Garden using an herbal brew of plants that can be converted into enjoyable teas. That includes the flowers and foliage from basil, peppermint, rose hips, chamomile, lavender and lemon thyme, to suggest a few.

With the Fourth of July just around the corner (yes, it is ...) plant an explosive mix of the old red, white and blue with flowers patterned as a flag for a Patriotic Garden. The red, white and blue is a color combination I like to use in my garden each year.

Why not construct an Alphabet garden, a good learning tool for the whole family. Start with alyssum and work your way through the letters to zinnias.

A Friendship or Hand-Me-Down Garden can easily be created using clippings, seeds or divided perennials given to you by friends and family. Each plant becomes a reminder of that person. Keep a book with the date and name of each plant to share with your loved ones.

A Roof garden (for the more ambitious gardeners) can be put atop a sturdy outbuilding with a layer of sod sown liberally with wildflowers. Or use succulents, cactus and other drought resistant plants on the roof. Which reminds me ... how about a Southwest Garden? Use the aforementioned drought resistant plants, covered with gravel and maybe a coyote, gecko or sombrero statue to complete the look.

And there's also a growing trend in Bible gardens. Yes, Bible gardens. Although a Bible garden is not a theme recommended for the casual hobbyist. Cultivating every flower, shrub, food crop or fruit mentioned in the Scriptures is a daunting objective, especially if you're trying to be exacting about plant choice. Some suggestions for plants are grapevines, date palms, dill, olive trees, and apples (you remember the story of Adam & Eve).
I don't have a Bible garden, but I do admit to owning two statues of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animalsm birds and the environment (according to wikipedia). I think it's good luck to have him watching over my garden and the wildlife that comes to visit. I have one out front and one in the back yard.
So go ahead and have fun with whatever theme you come up with. Gardens are meant to be enjoyed, a labor of love, for everyone lucky enough to spend some time there.

Up next, time for a little maintenance ... Stake those lillies! Trim those mums! And tie up those grasses!