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How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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Posted by quilt_mommy 5/6 NE Ohio (My Page) on Thu, Jul 2, 09 at 13:45
| I really haven't planned my garden at all. I kind of bought what I liked, and after discovering a few plants didn't suit the others I have pulled them out. I am beginning to learn what I like mixed together. But then I see people post pictures on here with massed plantings of a plant, and then have small bits of other pretty things in among them, and it looks so good and planned, I wonder if I'd do better to plan my garden more!?
Do you make a plan ahead of time or do you just buy what you like and find a place to plunk it? Or do you move things around each year and find that you are never completely satisfied? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| I guess when it comes down to it I did formulate a plan in my head. The space I had to work with is roughly 50'x 100' I guess I have it divided up into garden rooms of a sort. How I managed to create all these different spaces never ceases to amaze me. I have about 8 different areas all planted up differently, these include a lath house, a greenhouse (empty of anything significant at present), a long garden shed, an enclosed garden (this I'm determined into turning into my cottage garden, still a work in progress), another enclosed garden with roof (secret garden :o)), a small holding area (two narrow planters), the back 40 (40 footsteps from the the back door) all connected with paths of sorts. Also the top of our gravel driveway is fenced off and this has created a little courtyard. The front has a couple of borders but nothing special. I'm a plant collector at heart so I buy whatever suits my fancy and worry about where it fits in after I get it home. I also play musical chairs with a lot of what I buy, once in awhile I can say that works but more than likely I'm saying to myself that would look better over there. There are no set rules in my garden, I plant to please myself. Annette |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| >>>Do you make a plan ahead of time or do you just buy what you like and find a place to plunk it? Or do you move things around each year and find that you are never completely satisfied?<<< Yes on all counts :) I'm in the process of creating a walk-through garden at our new house, and started with a long thin strip of perennials that were already there - and seriously overgrown with weeds - when we moved in. So far the only real planning I've done is to try to put on paper how I hope to achieve the walk-through effect, which I decided was by enlarging the existing bed, adding a few new ones, and making grass paths between/amongst them. As for plants, I do have some thoughts about what will go in each area of the garden, and I have a general idea of what I want it to look like, but I'm pretty impulsive in my plant purchases so I haven't planned the plants in too much detail. I will end up moving things around quite a bit, I'm sure. |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| I made a plan, then threw it away. The only thing that remained constant was the shape and layout of the beds. Those will change this winter too. |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| I drew a plan to scale years ago - nice in theory but not realistic for a "plunker". I need to get back to an informal plan at least and this will happen as we make more new beds. I know better now what grows well here and which plants I like together. I don't move things around a lot, mostly thin out seedlings and plants that have overgrown their space. I admit to making mistakes in thinking a plant won't need as much space as it does. Gonna "try" to plant not so close together in the new beds. I'd never get to the actual gardening part if I planned too much. |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| I attended a lecture/class once and the speaker said that "wandering the garden with a trowel in one hand and a pot in the other *is* legitimate landscape design". Everyone applauded. |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| Because we have a long growing season, I plan by bloom times, which are not the same here as in cooler climates. I keep photo records by months so that I can refer back to see what blooms when.
Many of the beds I see pictured in other climates have flowers blooming together that bloom in succession here. I have a computer file of lists: seeds to plant in November, cuttings to take before fall, plants to take in for the winter,
things to plant in May, perennials we can't grow, Southern Bulb list, Native plants, et al. I designate beds by color, but not every bed has the same colors in each season.
Every flower bed has its own computer page with pictures, lists and intentions. I plan for fragrance as well as color. I plant to attract butterflies, with low, colorful plants
like lantana on the perimeter and abundant nectar plants in season. A little planning at night or on rainy days takes less time than digging up and moving wrong plants, wrong place. Nell |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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I did an extensive plan. Color coded, sun shade, viewing angles and on and on. I researched plants and did an overall color swath plan. The plants did their own thing. They all did just great which was a big surprise to me. They also laughed at my plan. In the end I watch to see what my plants are telling me instead of me telling them.
I have to say though that having that plan has helped a lot. It tells me what the light is like when and what the drainage is like and what happens in winter. Like Nell, I have a pictoral reference and that helps a lot too. Having a plan is a good thing to have but it is just a tool because plants don't know how to read plans. |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| There are some here, like Libby, who can just scatter some seeds and tweak a little and you know what her June garden looks like! Some of us read Tracy Disabato-Aust and struggle to get the colors right with contrasting textures and a balanced composition despite the notions of unruly plants and the vagaries of weather, yes. Sometimes it works. Fortunately we only have to please ourselves. Do you show the plants that 'clash beautifully' as my mother used to say? Nell |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| How about the ones that clash horribly? Like the rudbeckia that came out brown next to pink zinnias and what was supposed to be an orange rose? Can you tell I'm still bitter about that? The picture is a lie. The flower is the color of dirt. My camera seems to want to make things more orange/red than they really are. Don't get me wrong, I love this flower. The blooms will last til fall with a little deadheading. But sheesh...pink and brown? What is this, 1977? 
How can one make a plan when growing from collected or traded seed? You can't plan for color, bloom time, size, or anything. You can only plunk and run hoping what you planted comes out close to what you want. Next year, the seeds from these plants will give me something entirely different. There's just no sense even trying to plan when you're a seed gardener. |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| Nell, I thought my garden records were fairly organized but I don't hold a candle to you. :) A wonderful book that you might like is The Southern Gardener's Book of Lists by Lois Chaplin (if you don't already have it!). Of course, personal garden records are best, but there are lots of ideas in this book. Some examples are:
Shrubs That Bloom in Shade
Roses Often Found in Old Southern Gardens
Annuals That Bloom Unaided from Spring to Frost
Top 20 Perennials for Southern Shade
Trees With Many Surface Roots
Annuals With Seeds for Bird Food
...and they go on and on. Pam |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| I think it's best to have large garden beds or borders rather than spotty planting here and there. It's also important to have healthy plants with interesting foliage if possible. Pick plants that will thrive in your conditions. It's hard to plan something that will turn out perfect the first time. Your garden will evolve and get better and better as you gain experience and keep tweaking it. I try to stick with a color scheme and I repeat plants often throughout my garden. I also try to plant in large drifts. Any plant that ends up clashing too badly or becomes disease ridden is removed. If you can plant for spring/summer/fall interest that's good too. |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| It isn't that I'm so wonderfully organized, Pam, I require some help in remembering what I want to do. Sometimes I come inside and remember that I had a wonderful thought about adding something to a certain spot, but I've already forgotten what it was. I can't remember what bloomed in April as compared with May. Sometimes when I read my notes, if there isn't a photo with them, I am not sure what they mean. Today I looked at a file with nicotiana and lilies together and a note about purple nicotiana that I don't remember at all, and it is only a month old. If there isn't a note with the plants I'm about to plant, they'll go in the wrong places when I get distracted. You all can feel free to worry about me at any time. If I kept all my plans 'in my head' they would rapidly leak out. There's just too much to remember it all. Nell |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| I'm the same way, Nell...I forget why I go from room to room sometimes and have to backtrack and start all over again. Join the club! :) |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| I make elaborate plans every year, certain that the current one will finally and at last produce my "perfect" garden, with no need to ever move plants around again. But every July/August, as regular as the seasons, I'm out there staring, pacing, muttering and pointing. Plants that somehow still ended up in a completely wrong location (either what was I thinking? or the plant grew bigger/smaller than expected) and are suffering/dying because of it need to be moved immediately (but too hot/dry - at this time of year, would I save them or speed their demise?). And healthy plants that are blooming magnificently are in the way or need a better location need to be moved. Again, too hot - for me, for the plants. So this is my annual frustrating mid-summer dilemma (again!) |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| I love planning. It's my fix in winter, ;-) Only one has stuck for 25 years: the layout & shape of beds. View from windows, curves when walking through which hide, yet promise, something just around the corner, and whether the mower can navigate the pathways. As for buying plants (or seeds to start them), I started out dabbling in everything that caught my eye as budget allowed & added a nursery bed when I made the veg garden. Yanked what didn't thrive as things filled in and had a place to coddle divisions of those I loved. Took about 5 years before I had enough to do mass plantings of perennials & learned which annuals love me. Lots of cutting flowers from those which didn't before they got composted. |
RE: How do you plan your gardens? Or do you at all?
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| this is timely... I want to create an island bed out in front of the front deer resistant garden. I sent the HOA photos of the area with lines drawn in where the bed will go. I gave them a "rough list" of perennials that I want to use there. They came back and asked for a detailed, drawn plan that shows where each perennial, bulb, etc. will go. I replied back that it will take a week or so and that gardening isn't like landscaping! The garden will evolve, not be instantly dropped into the space. Geez. Makes me want to forget about it! Cameron |
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