By MAUREEN GILMER, DIY Network

A palm seed was found in an Egyptian tomb and planted in the modern-day Holy Land. It grew into the long-extinct Judea palm, resurrecting this species. That seed survived 2,000 years in storage, but your food garden plants are a whole different story.

Two hundred years ago, America's winter holidays were a celebration of nature. There were no imported trinkets, plastic decorations or carol-playing figurines. Our traditions are rooted in the bounty of farm, garden and countryside, where the original symbols of harvest and solstice were first gleaned.

"Food that's beautiful to look at seems to taste better than food that isn't."

Color is a powerful problem-solver. It can overcome a bad location. Vivid hues will insert personality into bland architecture. Color is so potent a tool that even the most problematic landscape can be salvaged with enough of it.

Thousands of years ago, American Indian women grew tired of traipsing off across the countryside to gather sunflower seed. Women coveted the seed because it provided so many uses for the family. The kernel could be made into flour and the extracted oil made black hair shiny. Even the shells yielded a useful purple dye for hides, body and basket.

Being allergic to math, I can't begin to explain the physics of chaos theory, but I think it's happening in the cottage garden. Where else can we find plants randomly thrown together that result in such intrinsic beauty? It brings me to a belief I've held for decades, that there are no ugly cottage gardens.

Divide and conquer your budget problems. That's the gardener's secret to a cheap or free landscape without purchasing a single new plant. The key is perennials, which are herbaceous plants that do not produce any woody stems or twigs. They sprout anew from the roots in spring and then die back to the ground again at the end of fall.

Between work, kids and taking care of a growing family, there isn't much time for flower gardening. But if you can manage a moment here and there, you need not forsake the wonderful world of herbs. Their scent and flavor, beauty and charm touch every woman's heart.

"Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions."Longfellow's words are so true, for more people have abandoned container gardening over impossibly high expectations than any other reason. And unrealistic expectations are the rule, not the exception.