What an interesting topic LL!

Since I have the 'plant collector' personality (always wanting to grow plants that are hardy here that I haven't tried before/wanting to try one of each of my favorite plants) I always long for more space. I would love to have acres and acres for both my plant collecting and to start trying out shrubs, grasses, and even trees that are too big to grow here. But with that much garden it would be impossible to keep everything maintained without a whole team of garden assistants!

You said it perfectly LL,
"I think I've reached the place, where too much more garden will mean some area will suffer from neglect..."

I do have a fair amount of lawn (both in the front and back) that could be taken out if I wanted more garden space. BUT some areas don't get enough attention as it is. Think I have reached my limit for garden beds and spaces.

But ask me again in the spring when I get the itch to dig and I may feel differently! LOL!
CMK

My yard is small enough that I can't really have "too much garden", the only way that could happen is if I chose really finicky plants that required too much coddling.

Also, my yard is new, so while I'm running out of room for larger plants, there's always room for a few more poppies and seeds. :)

I felt a bit overwhelmed this summer when I felt like I was killing everything, but now that it's cooler and things seem to be surviving, I'm feeling encouraged.

I did learn that I like plants in groups of at least 5 to have like a larger drift, instead of scattering them throughout the bed singly or in small sets, so I've been rearranging some of my perennials into drifts. :)

Also, I'm trying to amend and raise some of my areas to improve drainage as I'm moving things since that was a major problem this year.

I have a ridiculously small garden that is triangular in shape and dotted with tall pine trees. It is impossible to dig the ground without hitting some pine roots in a sandy soil, so an obvious solution was to build raised beds. So far my plants love them.

I have studied a lot of British gardening books - Brits know quite a lot about gardening in small spaces. I have managed to create several garden rooms with different levels, etc., but it certainly has been a challenge. :)

I tend to repeat the same plants throughout my tiny garden and try to keep to a certain colour scheme (cool colours, with some pale yellow, white and chartreuse thrown in), otherwise it would get too overwhelming...

My main garden is pretty much the way I want it, with the exception of one of the little sunken gardens. I'd like to build up the stone around it more on one side. I'll always be adding perennials here and there, as the older ones die off.

I want to begin the big dream of my life - to have a tiny cottage house in the orchard; so next year I may start taking out the old dwarf pear trees and begin the foundations of a small garden down there. Mainly a hedge and a stone wall. Not too many plants can go in until the building of the house is done. I'm sure I'll have a long time to think about those! There are roses there already, altho they need tending a little better.

Schoolhouse- You're building a cottage? I'm SO jealous! That's going to be wonderful :)

A cottage in an orchard...so romantic. I can't wait to see your progress!

Kiskin- Have you posted pics of your garden? It sounds so nice.

Aimeekitty- Your gardens are looking so nice. You've worked so hard this year (and adjusted to a new climate) but you've really gotten a lot accomplished!

CMK- A whole team of garden assistants! That's what I need, too...where do you find those? :)

We only have 1/4 acre and it's all graden now! I've run out of room to expand. If I want to do something different, it means removing something existing - that's what happended this year when we removed the New Dawn roses to replace them with clematises on the arbour and swag. We aren't getting any younger :-) and I can see a day 5-10 years down the road when we'll want to downsize garden space. That would likely involve a move rather than putting some of this garden back to grass.

Kiskin, your garden does sound very interesting. If you have pictures please show us!

Schoolhouse, do you already have the cottage plans? How big will it be? It sounds just lovely.

LL, this is a good topic!

I'm a glutton for punishment and continue to keep expanding. But, I think I have been expandning in a fairly logical, and reasonable way. We first planted the cottage area and the slope. The slope now pretty much takes care of itself since it is filled with roses, shrubs and easy perennials. I have them packed in, so not too many weeds can compete. The cottage garden is actually the most time-consuming but well worth it.

Once I felt like the front of the house was "done" (well, we just ripped out lawn and are in the process of putting in 2 more small borders) we moved into the backyard. We spent 10 years on the front and I dabbled in the backyard. Last year we went full-force and planted a large area. I will now spend a number of years working on that space to get it as low maintenance as possible. Again, I have planted shrubs that will fill in with easy perennials and hope there won't be too many weeds in the long run.

My next big dream is to move to the open space to the right of my house/driveway. I plan to have a hidden English-style garden over there. The wheels in my head are turning but I know I must continue to work my yard in a phased approach so it doesn't become too overwhelming. So far so good, but I have to say I have an incredible husband who is always willing to help with anything I need. There is no way I could possibly get all this done without his help.

thanks, LL! I hope so! I'm trying to learn a lot! I think I have like 6 books out from the library right now. Actually, a few photos from them looked kinda like your yard to me, I'll have to scan them for you later.

Aimeekitty- Thanks, that would be great :)

Thyme- Sounds like you have a great plan. While it's sometimes hard to be patient, I think it's going to look amazing!

Woodyoak- How are the clematis on the swag? No thorns...that's got to be a nice change. I hope you don't have to move, your gardens are so pretty.

LL, in my experience when one lives on an acreage weeds are a given! They blow in from the forest and pastures here and there's not anything I can do about it. Just have to use every available technique to keep them at bay in the garden areas. I know as my soil improves they are much easier to pull and with cardboard and mulch they don't establish as easily.

As I've mentioned in other threads we expanded our garden area in 2009. Got a lot done this year on the 5 year plan but I expect it will take the full time to finish. I want as low maintenance as possible so there will be lots of 'wild' areas with self seeders. If there are weeds as well that's OK, hopefully they'll be mostly hidden by the flowers and grasses. The areas adjacent to the house will be more manicured altho I'm also going as low maintenance as possible there.

So, to answer your question, yes it's daunting at the moment and seems too large but in time will be just right. However, it would have been easier and faster 20-30 years ago! LOL There will be some paid help to get it done which we wouldn't have thought of doing back then.

I feel like my garden is too small, but its as large as i can take from our backyard. If i didnt have a plant munching bulldog i could have a totally different garden. But he will eat anything! So i have my enclosed space all to myself. I plan on mainly roses and some perennials.

Someday, id love to have property surrounded by beautiful evergreens and interesting shrubs. Then inside a rose courtyard, a separate herb garden ,some way to grow all the vines i want, a pond with tropical feel to it...

i also feel our front yard garden is too small, but dh needs convinced. I say rip out all the lawn... and make it a cutting garden. I think it would be nice to share flowers with neighbors that way. So many people walk our neighborhood with their dogs or babies, and i could have a sign inviting people to help themselves. One day my husband called me to look out our window. A little boy had pulled his red wagon into our yard and was picking flowers! His mom was chasing after him shortly after, but it was too cute.

Well, as a proverbial plant addict....it will never be large enough!!
I like one of everything but have to concede to mother nature and am planting mostly easy to care for perennials & shrubs. As space is maxed out, I'm only able to 'rearrange the furniture'.
A firm believer in newspaper, bark mulch and soaker/drip water lines, weeding & watering are minimal chores in the areas I keep mulched.
Just a few of many......
Walkway
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Front
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Back

In the somewhat near future a 5 acre parcel may quell my quest for more, but til then I have to bide my time.
Flora

Beautiful, fora.

No, no, not building a cottage! - only in my head for the last 30yrs; but I still plan on one someday so I can at least start prepping the area for it.

Beautiful, flora - what are the lilies in the front of the last picture and the clematis on the trellis panel in the background? They make a great combination.

LL - the clematis on the swag are going to take a couple of years to get big enough to make much of a show. But they all seem to be getting off to a good start. Some are more vigorous than others of course. And I already seem to be dealing with the clematis curse that dogs me always... mislabelled clematis! Wherever possible I buy them in bloom because they so often turn out to be something other than the label says. This is one of the new clematises - on the trellis panel around the south gate:
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I'm not sure what it is but it's definitely neither Rouge Cardinal or Rosemoor which are the ones I planted there! It does look like it might be a Jackmanii Superba, which is what was growing on the other side of the gate. That one got cut back hard in order to get access to the rose on that side to remove it. The clematis is regrowing but it hasn't bloomed since being cut back. Perhaps this is a seedling from it but I wouldn't expect a seedling to be as big or as floriferous as this is. Whatever it is, it's pretty - but not the color I planned for that area! It also got mildew when the area dried out a fair bit and we forgot to water. I'm sure there will be a few more surprises/unexpected color combinations as the rest of the clematises get big enough and bloom....

flora, that row of arborvitae is exactly how id love to enclose my dream property! I love it. just stunning!

-flora, your mixed border in the front is incredible. What is that lovely golden foliage I see there? And the short blue aster-like flowers just beyond? Are the tall blue flowers Camassia?
Wonderful space...
CMK

I will not be adding more garden areas, as I've really enough to take care of these days, sometimes it almost feels like too much. Gardens are a continual work in progress as we all know.

Flora ~ You have such beautiful flowers and foliage.

Happy Gardening ~ FlowerLady

Pretty much just right. But the older I get the smaller I want......with in reason. I would just hate to be in a condo with a 1 foot strip of dirt (?) along a patio.

I love this topic. I have 1.42 acres that I bought 2 years ago. 2/3rds is forrested and I plan to deal with the scrub, make paths, add a stream, and then add loads of shade loving plants. Right now the scrub keeps ahead of me.

The foundations beds are in good shape and I'm working on taking out the purple plants and adding the red, orange, yellow plants that are more to my liking against the white house.

The sidewalk bed that I added I'm doing in the same theme with reds, oranges, and yellows.

In the middle of the front yard are 4 shade trees that I'm underplanting with partial shade plants including a large section of peonies. I love peonies.

This year I began select cutting the driveway bed and moving the purple plants up there. I'm also keeping a mature cypress and adding a baby birds nest spruce. Next year I'll be transplanting a red japanese lacy maple to the middle front of that bed.

The ditch bed is getting aggressive plants that will run the grass out of that area and keep the front of the yard looking good.

Along the side of the driveway is the veggie bed. That will be a terraced affair but it's taking much longer to get going than I planned for. Something about slope, clay and rocks lol.

On the other side of the driveway I have dwarf mixed fruit trees and beside the shed are the blueberries.

Is it to much to have weed free at mid summer...yes. Am I likely to stop? Probably not.

I love talking about my garden thanks for this topic.

Flora- Your gardens are beautiful!

Woodyoak- I think the clematis is very pretty and will be much easier to deal with than the roses :)

Luckygal- Hiring it done. I know, isn't that depressing? I have to get my nephews to do any heavy work that my husband doesn't have time to finish. I can do the small stuff, but the heavy stuff always does me in. Easier to get the kids to do it and $20 goes a long way! LOL

Tkhooper- Your garden areas sound very nice. Do you have any pictures? Did I miss them?

Plantmaven and Flowerlady- I know what you mean. When I get busy with work, or it's over 90 degrees, I think, do I really want to have this much garden? Then, it cools off and slows down at work...then I think I just need to get more organized and this will be great!

Schoolhouse- No cottage! At least not yet. How about one of those little garden sheds that we could turn into a tea house? Do they ever put those on e-bay? I would love to find one for me, too :)

lavender_lass. What a fun topic. I am at the same point...about enough. The butterfly and rose gardens I added this year are enough. I guess the garden is half again as big as it was. I will doubtlessly make changes, but it should involve replacing, not adding more.

But I do want a few more rose bushes...aimekitty, have you finished adding roses?

And flora, that garden is to died for! I love the welcome sign and the border is fabulous! I hope to add drip emitter watering this year. I'm glad it works well for you, that is encouraging.
kay

Think I've reached just right. Definitely will have fewer containers next year. I find myself cramming more plants into existing gardens instead of expanding. I really only want to water stuff once a week in the summer, but it turns out to be watering every night because there are so many gardens in different places.

Flora, that middle shot took my breath away. If you have time, could you just create a list of what is there? I'm working on my wish list for seed swaps and may have to add some of them.

I still have plenty of grass, but don't want to expand anymore until the current gardens are filled in better. I've promised DH no new gardens until I know I can take care of them. Of course, when I edge it is possible that all the beds are growing slightly. HeHeHe

Too small in the summer when in bloom, and too big in the fall when it's time to clean up.

i'm sorry no pictures. I have yet to master the art of photography. And I don't have any friends that can get a decent picture either. Anyway it will be years before it all fills in.

Tk- Well, that's okay. It took me a long time to get pictures, too. If you do take some, we can help you post them, thanks to all the help I got, I finally know how! LOL

Squire- Isn't that the truth! Except mine if too small in spring, when it's raining and too big in the summer, when it's 95 degrees and the weeds start taking over :)

Bev- LOL! The ever expanding beds! That's one way to get rid of extra grass.

Lois- How many containers did you have? Do you have a lot of annual flowers or veggies? It was so hot this summer, it did seem like we watered every night, some weeks.

Kay- I'm so excited to see your new rose bed, next summer. It's going to be so beautiful :)

Thanks for the lovely compliments.
This is truly the power of plant addiction.......for me anyways!

woodyoak - in the last pic the lily is 'Fangio' & clematis 'MME Julia Correvon'

CMK - the golden foliage behind the pink Astilbe is dicentra 'goldheart', and the short blue flowers about middle of pic are hosta 'Francee'.

bev2009 and for those interested, I will post a new message with a list of plants in that bed, so as not to change the content of this wonderful post. I'll title it flora's front bed.

I have to agree with others that I don't do alot of annual pots because it is too time consuming to water.....geez if I only didn't have to work to eat!!

Thanks again,
Flora

Flora,your gardens are gorgeous,they'd make nice wall art once blown up.TFS
Kathi

Thanks for that info, flora - I think I'm going to have to try that lily and clematis combination somewhere here....

Lavender Lass ~ I've already answered here, but want to say that this post really got me to thinking more about how I have more than enough, and don't want any more.

Below is a link to my blog post on this subject with pictures.

May we all enjoy what we have and be thankful.

FlowerLady

Here is a link that might be useful: More than enough

Wonderful topic!

I have never done so much yard work in my LIFE, as I have done since I moved into this house 4 yrs ago. I 'm the 3rd owner. The first people must have been real gardeners, with complicated ideas...the next people did just about nothing.
These first 3 pictures show how the back yard looked when I first moved in.

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During the next 3 years, I was really feeling like it was way more than I could handle. Just trying to get it to where it was manageable, seemed like years away. Weeds everywhere, grass lost, ant hills all over...just seemed like a huge weight on my shoulders.

But gradually, it has grown on me! And now, it seems like it was all worthwhile, because it's gorgeous, and just right.

The next 3 pictures were taken this summer, in the same view as the 1st 3 pictures:

LL, I had about 12 containers, which was about 9 containers too many, LOL. Part of the reason is that I'm trying to figure out how to get some flowers happening between/in front of the foundation shrubbery in the front. Right now, it's mostly just a hedge of green there. When I plant perennials in front of or between the shrubs, the shrubs grow over the flowers in a year or so. So I tried annuals in pots this year, but they still did not bloom very much (cosmos) and needed a lot of watering. I don't have any pictures of those pots, but here is a picture of 2 larger pots that I did not mind watering. I grew cantaloupe in one and tomatoes in the other. And attracted a masked marauder one morning, too.

I would love to double the size of my garden. I would love to have more room to grow more roses and edibles.
~Melissa

Way too big for me to handle so I'm trying to target one area at a time, nail down the basics, then move on to the next. I don't have a pic of what it looked like when I moved here but I basically started pulling weeds on the northeast corner of the property 5 years ago and kept going until I got almost to the southwest corner of my little green acre. I either created or enhanced whatever's in between. This year I worked on the narrow strip behind my garage. In May, it was nothing but grass, weeds & creeping myrtle/vinca vine with poison ivy everywhere. While it still has some filling in to do, it went from this:

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to this:

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from May to September despite the fact that NO RAIN fell from June-October. With one or two exceptions, everything planted on both sides of the walkway was winter sown this year.

wow, I'm loving the pictures. All the work you all have done motivates me while it also depresses me because I don't think I'll ever get there. But I keep weeding and planting.

B2alicia- Beautiful photos! You've really improved on what you started with and made it so inviting :)

Gardenweed- Wonderful path! It's amazing how old/antique it looks...did you mortar the blocks? I would love to get a path like that for my mom's house. Your fence is so rustic and charming. Was it difficult to install? The fence, path and plants are just a beautiful combination.

Tk- Focus on one area at a time and really do something you love. Sometimes, it's hard to ignore other areas, but mowed grass always looks nice and it gives you more time to focus on a few beds and really make them what you want. I think the hardest thing sometimes is realizing how much we can really take on AND maintain. Look at all my weeds this summer! LOL I have to realize there's only so much I can do and focus on those areas. Remember, you have almost 1 1/2 acres! It's going to take a little time to make it everything you'd like it to be...but I know you're going to get there...eventually :)

Lois- Cute picture! It took me a minute to find your little visitor LOL. Pots can be hard to keep watered. I've had better luck with a few big pots of cosmos than smaller ones. I had a few large containers of petunias and star jasmine, with a really big cosmos container, by the front porch. They could easily go two even three days, before I had to water them again...and that was with 90 degree weather.

Melissa- Have you ever thought of creating a potager? It doesn't have to be a big garden, but it's perfect for mixing roses and vegetables with other edibles. A rose in the middle, or several along the edge of the garden, or even on a couple of sides, will look beautiful with maybe blueberries and a few beds of veggies and herbs. Edible flowers are nice, too and bring in lots of "good" bugs :)

There are a lot of beautiful pictures over on the potager forum, or just google potager.

I'm still definitely adding, but trying to do it gradually so I can manage it! The front still needs a ton of work, but I have had a hard time getting it going. I'm sure the fact that it is the only non-lasagna section doesn't help! We also just added the 6th veggie box, so we now have symmetry. Dh is especially happy about that - it's been bugging him!

Then, we visited the Morton Arboretum a few weeks ago, and the kids put in a request for a stone-edged stream with stepping stones where they make dams, etc. That would be a pretty big project! I sketched out a couple ideas, but not sure if that will ever happen.

Glad you like the path & fence lavender_lass. The reason the path looks so old/antique is the patio bricks are 30 or more years old. My folks bought them back then & used them for edgers along the foundation beds. They mulched with pea gravel. When I moved here, the patio bricks had sunk down about 6-8 inches so every time I tried to dig, I'd hit one. When I finally had them all dug up, there were nearly 300. The workmen set them out in the pattern & cut a few into wedges where the path needed to bend around a corner. The path is set in a deep bed of process gravel & the stones are mortared for stability.
The fence was originally up near the road doing nothing. When I moved here I had my son set it down behind the big, 30 ft. square ornamental flowerbed my brother planted about 20 years ago. It fell down last winter so when the path was finished I asked the workers to set the fence where it is. The slope on the other side is short but very steep so the fence finally serves a purpose rather than just being decorative. My plan is to grow morning glories to climb it next year.