Wow, there are so many mistakes I've made and will continue to make, most likely.

In a weeding frenzy, I ripped off the top-growth of a clematis 3 years in a row. Then I got a little smart and tied an orange ribbon to it to give the poor thing a fighting chance against me.

I planted a row of peonies against the back of my house and couldn't figure out why I had so many ants all the time.

I rinsed dirt off my plant roots in preparation to mail them in trades in my kitchen sink. The plumber had to rent some special tool to unclog it at the end of the summer.

I pruned a tree barefoot in a sleeveless tee and shorts only to discover the next day that the tree (and now I) was covered in poison ivy.

I've planted things in the fall and yanked them back out in the spring, only realizing they were "something" when the black potting soil and vermiculite plug was in my hand.

I guess it's a testament to nature that my gardens look as good as they do, in spite of my efforts.

My mistakes, however, are NOTHING compared to what damage my husband has done around here. But that's a thread for another time.

Mistakes...well, every year I plant seeds directly into the garden and then rip out the seedlings because I think they are weeds. This year I did just the opposite...I was encouraging a weed to grow between the stones in my patio because it looked similar to the ground cover I planted last year. It wasn't until the ground cover really started to spread that I realized my mistake. By that time the weeds were huge! My mother has had problems too with her gardens too. Her husband doesn't like to use the weed wacker, so he tries to get as close to all her plants, bushes, etc. with the ride on mower. You wouldn't believe the number of things he's run over!

I dug a ten foot by three foot hole, 18 inches deep, for my three peony roots, in late August when my clay-ey soil was bone dry and hard as a rock. I didn't know you were supposed to water it first, or wait until it was the correct degree of dampness to dig. I remember thinking to myself, "Geez, this hole-digging stuff is HARD! I wonder how so many older folks manage..." Needless to say it took me a l-o-o-n-g time to dig that hole!

Planting a forsythia shrub too close to the house. It looked so small and frail when I planted it. It keeps growing up over the gutters on the house and that is after a hard pruning mid summer. I have read that I should be able to cut it back very hard (6") and that way I can move it to a spot in the yard where it can grow all it wants. I know this will not allow a bloom next spring, but gladly sacrafice one year to get it moved!!!!

Forsythia is like horseradish -- Once it's there, it's there forever! Like Forgiven, I planted a small, frail (oh yeah!) forsythia sprig in a flower bed close to house and path. In spite of strict, then aggressive, then barbarian pruning, that shrub developed into a behemoth, both above and below the ground. We finally cut it down to the ground and have spent the ENTIRE summer digging the roots and cutting the sprouts and digging the roots and cutting the sprouts and.....well, you get the picture!