I'd Like A Garden, Please

I've always dreamed of having my own garden.  I'm not sure why, since I am certainly not an outdoorsy person.  However, having my own haven full of flowers and potted plants to escape to when I need some fresh air is enticing.  My fixation and fascination with the French countryside makes me dream of having a reclaimed antique French garden gate and lanterns at the entrance.  Something like this:

As Sam and I begin searching for a future place to call home here in Houston, I have been on the look out for a pretty yard.  Since the city is so populated, most of what is on the market is vertical: multi-floor town homes (what I live in right now) or condominiums.  The single-family homes with yards are usually more pricey.  Even so, I have this picture of a cute little cottage with a pretty yard I can landscape.

I'd also love to have a cute doorstep with window boxes full of flowers, like this one:

Garden seating would be nice and perfect for early morning coffee and magazine-perusing:

I'd love to plant several rose bushes....

Ah!  It would be a dream.  I guess for this dream to become a reality I'll need to learn to garden?  My only experience thus far was during my senior year of college. My roommates and I lived next door to a cute elderly lady who loved to have us over and talk to us about her "life lessons" while we did her gardening.  Although she repeated herself every day, none of us had the heart to stand her up!  She got a lot of free labor out of us that year.

So anyone want to volunteer to be my gardening mentor?! 

{all images via Lonny Magazine}