Beginner Gardening: DJ"S SHARING GARDEN DESIGNS "WHAT TO GROW WHERE ???, 4 by Pfg

Pfg wrote:
Kathy, it's amazing what you've managed to do! You're really taking over the prairie! As for the grasses... For at least 3 of the 6 years I've been working on this garden, I killed more than I planted, went through a lot of Roundup. This year for the first time I only did a little here and there. In 2009 I took no garden pictures at all, too depressing. Too many bare spots in some beds, too many weeds in others, dead and dying plants in the rest, certainly not photogenic! Didn't even realize how I felt about it until I started organizing the pictures I had into years, seasons and areas so I could keep track of what I'd been doing, and found there were none at all from that year. Of course now I wish I had a more complete record, like you have. You are really documenting every step of the way.

When I was just getting hooked on gardening in the early 80's and reading all the English gardening gurus, I went to see Christopher Lloyd at the NY Botanical Garden on his first trip to the US. This is the most important thing I took away with me:
He said if a plant bothers you in the garden for any reason- sickly, clashes, or you'd like something else better there, you shouldn't feel guilty about getting rid of it. Every time you look at it you'll hope it dies, maybe you'll forget to water or feed it or weed around it and hate yourself for not being a good gardener. But if you just pull it out and put what you want in that spot, the other plant will be completely forgotten and you'll be happy every time you look on the pretty picture you made. In my case it's more about re- arranging than tossing, but it amounts to the same thing.

Pic 1 is the way it looked when I left it this fall. The little platys have no foliage left on them at all. Last year I thought I killed one moving it but stuck it in the ground anyway, and it was gorgeous. Amazing.
Pic 2 is the only one I didn't delete, showing the red and blue. The whites in font of the roses haven't kicked in yet.

That Veronica is beeeeyuutiful! And yes, I have room for it. There's tons of room on the upper level, it can seed itself all it wants, and a haze of that color up there would be perfect to marry all my other blues and purples.

I just love Veronicas! I have another couple of beauties for you, V incana Pure Silver H:12-15" W 12," and V longifolia Evelyn, H: 20". W: 12-16"

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Edited for clarity

This message was edited Dec 14, 2012 1:12 AM