Do you plan your garden or does it just happen?

I've been thinking and wondering how many of you have comprehensive plans for your garden?
How many of you wing it and just plant and then move things around?
How many of you do something in between?

I'm probably in the last category. I do have a general idea of what I want to do with my garden, but I rarely make comprehensive plans ahead of time and I get waylaid when I go plant shopping and see things I hadn't even though of using.

What about you?

Ann

The hardscape is definitely, um, planned. Let's see, I think it went something like, "What would you think of moving some of those big rocks up here and making two beds under the evergreens?" Then the trees fell over, so instead of shade gardens we did partial shade gardens, and then I bought some roses that really needed a little more tender care than just being stuck out on the fence and one became a rose garden with alpine strawberries and the other one was supposed to be a wildflower garden, but I put the lavender in one corner and the fern leaved peony and then we added a third bed and I started a bed behind the house for herbs and kitchen stuff, but that didn't work real well, so now . .

I do have some diagrams, drawn after the fact. I guess you could say that we tend toward spontenaity, in a conservative manner.

I'm also notorius for moving plants and then trying to figure out how they came to be whereever it is that they turn up. Spring is always an adventure!

oh, i am completely anal. i draw a sketch of the area and measure it off and then i start looking thru books, websites. i have to have just about a complete picture in my head before i ever start. of course, you have to have a backup plan in case what you planted dies or hates the spot or you get something you like better. i wish i could be more cavalier and carefree, but it's not my nature. i too am well known for moving plants! but i move everything, furniture, etc. debi

I started out with a plan of sorts. Every year the beds grew as I moved plants around and when something struck my fancy at a garden center or from a trade.

Total chaos and I love(d) it. Hve to say past tense because I moved. Not much of a garden area here at my apartment.

I grab & growl.... dig and move. Try it here and if it works, great! If it doesn't.... try it over there! I'm trying to be a little more 'in sync' since we just bought a new house and are moving to N. GA in a few months. I've lived my entire life in Central FL where I didn't have to think much about where plants were and if they were protected. With new house winters in 20's and teens... I'm having to rethink my entire plan. All my tropicals have to be house plants and I don't do well with house plants. If I can stick it in the ground, it does just fine... but anything in a pot just seems to give up the ghost immediately. (??) I haven't figured it out yet! For the first time in my life, I have a graph paper plan for new flower gardens and it's been a real challenge for me.

teateacher, where in N. GA? I'm just above the line in NC... above Hiawassee.

I sort of look at a spot and think that if I clean it up I can probably plant something there. I clean it up and look at it nekkid and start creating areas to plant with hardscape and then I amend the soil. Then I look around at local nurseries and see what strikes my fancy and then I fill in with special "must haves" from online nurseries after I do an exhaustive search for who knows what. Things just sort of happen around here. I have noticed that I seem to make many more poor choices than most of the other folk here because I am always expanding something or adding more plant material or looking at a spot that I created and thinking, "I can't believe I picked those non complimentary plants to plant right next to each other like that". One of these days I will get organized and start writing down what I planted where. Maybe one day I will even do it right and save myself a lot of time and aggravation and measure the area, pull out the graph paper, draw a sketch, and determine which plants I want before I go shopping. That would be the intelligent thing to do given how many doofus mistakes I've made. I have a few areas that look nice, many areas here that look so so, some that look sort of eh, and some that are big thumbs down.

I'd post some photos of some of my out of body gardening botch/hack jobs but they are still evolving I guess.

teateacher, I'm the same way. I really fear for my passion flower that I bought this year. I can grow just about anything outside, but inside? Give me a couple of weeks and I will have killed it. I have one inside plant that I've had for over 30 years. It's the one exception, and if I kill it, I'll cry my eyes out, because it was a wedding gift from the guy that did our wedding flowers. It's a philodendron, thank goodness, or I'm sure I would have killed it long ago. It's gotten to looking very bad at times, but right now, it's doing well again. I probably should repot it for the winter again.

But as for the OP's question..........no, I don't plan ahead of time. Well, maybe a little. 5% planned, 95% whatever I feel like at the moment and whatever I've brought home to plant. I went to the nursery today with my mom and came home with some really neat stuff, and I just came in from moving current things around and making room for the new stuff. Tomorrow's plans are to dig up more garden space to accommodate the new stuff. I guess you could say I'm very spontaneous. Almost no planning. I have things I want to buy. I buy them. I make room for them wherever. If they don't work in one place, I move them. It's worked for me so far!

Equilibrium, don't you think it would be awfully dull to have everything done right the first time? lol

Glad to hear that I seem to be normal the way I do my garden - probably mostly it just happens.

Ann

Spontaneous, that's what I must be! Sounds much better than having out of body plant experiences.

No risk of me ever doing anything right the first time so I guess it will never be dull around here but it would be nice to do something right the first time around even if it did only occur in a blue moon. Seriously, if I would take the time to think things through as opposed to buying on impulse based on what tickles my fancy, I'd probably save a lot of time having to re-work my botch/hack jobs. Don't get me wrong, I have some nice areas that ended up surprising me but they are far and few between. We'll just suffice to say I have made more than my fair share of poor choice when it comes to landscape design around here. I keep thinking that if I had a master plan of some sort, it would look considerably more attractive around here. .

I make endless rough sketches, plant lists and timing details/growing requirements of the plants I envisage growing in the spot. Rarely comes to anything since by the time I come to actually doing the job the idea chosen is no longer new or exciting. The spur of the moment idea that is implimented sometimes works and sometimes doesn't but then it's pretty much the same with planned spaces, they don't always look or perform as expected. I usually have the plants already, many grown from seed and I tend to work around their needs as much as I do anything else.

I'm not going to win any garden design awards of course but then I don't set out to either :)

Yes but you Brits ALWAYS seem to pull things off. I look at the gardens over there and think, "why can't my garden ever look close to one of theirs". There's something about the way plants are packed on your side of the pond that works incredibly well. Countless gardens look as if every last detail was included in the planning process. Obvioulsly not haphazard even if you don't win any garden design awards.

There's a gardener here named Doss and she has that knack of the Brits to make every last inch of her garden look remarkably beautiful and as if every plant had been there for a hundred years. Bet if we saw your gardens they'd look like they could win garden design awards.

i'm with E. on this one. i would bet that Baa's garden is a sight to behold. that cottage garden effect is so charming. when i try that here in florida, everything ends up looking strangled. tropicals and subtropicals can be so unruly and smothering. it takes effort to keep "everyone in line". this is my first year here in central fl. and i can't get used to the idea that some of my stuff is going to die down. since nothing is actually in the ground yet, i get to see a preview in the pots of what will be. i have a sketch of every spot, but i am dying to "get dirty". debi

edited to say, Viola, thanks for starting this thread-it's a good one!

This message was edited Sep 21, 2005 8:59 AM

I spend all winter planning my summer gardening, complete with plans and measurments and color coded beds. Then spring arrives. Plant boxes start arriving and I find that I ordered too much stuff, and the wrong colors, and I visit the nursery and I just gotta have that, and things get planted 'temporarily' and . . . and. . . pretty soon the garden looks NOTHING like my carefully created plans. Even the bed sizes and shapes have changed and I've got tropicals where I was going to have veggies and veggies where I was going to have perennials and. . . and. . !
So yes, I plan every bit of my gardening, but then the plans fly out the window!

I wish I was a planner, Im just lucky that things work out. I dont think anything in my life has been planned and I mean anything..marriage, kids, garden, what colors to paint the walls, LOL. I have to say I do like the hodge-podge look to my gardens and that even to me there are some very pleasant surprises so until I feel otherwise my gardens will go unplanned with a little shaping here and there as the thought accurs.

Darius, Our official 'house address' is Carnesville, GA just south of 85 and near Lavonia, Hartwell & Anderson, S.C. We actually will be living only 1.5 miles from the adorable little town of Franklin Springs.

I'm sending pic of my soon to be new house. Speaking of my planning.... this granite planter in the front has GOT to have some work. I've ordered 50 Iris rhizomes and thought I would put them around the rim inside but I definately need something to go in the middle besides the overwhelming elephant ear looking plant. It gets full sun... anybody got an idea for a no maintenance plant that will get viewed from all sides and gets full sun? I only want it to be about 30" tall. sr

Boy, that EE (or whatever) is HUGE! Great looking house. : )

I'm a big fan or iris. I love them and would plant thousands if I could. I once asked for help with what to plant with iris and got a lot of really great advice. I ended up deciding to plant Salvia azurea and Dianthus alpinus but never quite got around to doing much but expanding the bed that had the iris in it. Your granite planter in the front of your house is awesome.

Darius, Thanks. The best part of the house is out the back door! (the view) The elephant ear is definately too big for the locale, and being from FL, I think of EE's as nuisance plants.... so it is going. Previous owner also has a row of them along the back yard that is going too! You can see them in this picture.

Thanks Equilibrium. I think the planter will be fun and I think I'm stuck with it, because it is solid granite and would be a bear to remove. I just don't like the way it covers the front of the house but once the 'ears' are gone, hopefully it will look better. We 'think' it has water running to it, but apparently it isn't working correctly now. There is a shutoff valve just to the right of the planter but when dear hubby turned the knob, water bubbled up around his hand. He thinks we should put a fountain there but I'm not sure. He has always wanted a water feature and this might be his chance. BUT.... I know that me, myself and "I" will be the one maintaining it, so I'm a little hesitant. He has huge ideas and small ambitions.

Wonderful view out the back!

I think many non-gardeners plant EE's because they are easy and need no care.

Trackinsand, where did you move from? Umatilla & Eustis are nice little places and you should be able to grow almost anything there as long as it doesn't need to have cold dormant time, like tulips or iris. I tried both in that warm humidity and they'd rot in the ground but ....... I'm not disciplined enough to dig them up every year and put them in cold storage. I grew Amarilla's like crazy..... never did anything to them except water in early spring until they bloomed. We moved to Amelia Island 2+ years ago after a lifetime in Polk County. (Glad we moved just before (3) hurricanes went through there last year) Disney traffic was knocking on our door and it was time to bolt.

Judging from the rest of the yard, it appears they were in fact 'non gardeners'. The back of the property drops "rapidly" & steep down to the Broad River and we are trying to pick some ground covers for there. Hubby says he will clear it and make a path, with some steps.... (aahhhh) ending with a cozy little gazebo on the water.... but I'm not holding my breath. Anybody got suggestions for ground cover when watering & maintenance isn't very practical. It get full morning sun but is mostly shaded in the afternoon. I've thought of juniper & some wildflowers. ???

That will be a LOT of steps, LOL. Looks like it had recently rained as the Broad looks muddy.

I agree that it must have rained before the picture. When we were there 2 weeks ago... it was MUCH clearer, to our pleasant surprise. Being from FL, I am not used to the clay so the muddy water looked dirty to me. Most people say FL lakes and river water looks 'black' .... so it's all about what you are used to. I'm going to be in Bulldog County... so do as the Bulldog does! huh?

Dravencat, I can definately relate to the unplanned garden (and life.....) been there and bought the t-shirt! You are probably still young... but once I got 50+ behind me.... I started thinking through the consequences a little more. Just makes life a little easier.

teateacher, looks like you'll have lots of room to start planning (or not) once you get rid of those EE's. Good luck.

Ann

i have to say that i am practically in tears that you would remove those beautiful ears. they are so dramatic and such a focal point. not only that, they are providing much needed shade to the front of your home. i think i would just start a few more beds and leave them be, please, i'm 'abeggin' ya! LOL we moved from Tavernier in the Keys. debi

Oh oh oh! Got an idea! What about sealing that granite and making a pond? If it didn't work for you, you could always convert it back to a planter.

Regarding your backyard, wow. That's sort of personal preference. Do you want it wild and au naturelle or do you want it more of a traditional back yard?

Putting a pond liner would work.

Debi, maybe she can send the EE's to you.

Gosh... you guys are great and what wonderful ideas! The EE's from the planter are definately going but I just don't know where.......one of the neighbors said she would like to have it and my daughter's in-laws who live there have expressed an interest in taking them out too, so hopefully SOMEBODY will take them. Debi, I'm sorry to make you sad..... but if you want some, I'll see what I can do, even though I KNOW you can find them growing out of any ol' ditch on the side of the road in Umatilla! Actually, I know which ditch they are growing in there!

I hadn't thought about making the planter a pond but I'm SURE a liner would simplify putting a water feature there! What great minds you have! That is certainly something to check into.

Equilibrium & Ann... regarding the plan for the backyard, I really haven't thought that far yet. Behind the garage are several black walnut trees and a shaded area.... I've already potted some ivy from my yard here and will try to start it there. I don't want to mow anything I can get out of and a traditional backyard isn't necessary or really even desired. Grandkids have their own yard & when they're with us, we play in the street! LOL. I've picked out an area for a small greenhouse and back (not including the slope to the river) is about 50/50 divided between shade/ full sun, so it should be fun to work with. I'm trying very hard to PLAN, going back to this wonderful forum TOPIC, but since I'm also new to clay soil, I know I'm going to hit some brick walls (no pun intended) for awhile. Entire property is only 1 acre... so I really won't have a lot of room to plant since about 1/2 acre is 'a down hill slide' to the river. I hope to eventually have only walking paths through gardens in the actually yard..... but I expect to start small. Maybe by the house, the planter, and then possibly one isolated bed in the front (full sun). That sounds like a lot for this tired ol' back!

One acre is a lot of land. If you have Black Walnut and shade, that is something I deal with here. I've made a few mistakes and lost a few plants but I think I have "working with walnuts" down pat now. Check this out-

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/218640/

Please ignore the chatter back and forth but there is a decent list up toward the top of the thread that lists species that will do quite fine in and around Black Walnut which might be of help to you.

As far as clay, there are plants out there that are called "Clay Busters". You can do a search and I believe Prairie Nursery has an extensive list. If it isn't Prairie Nursery it is one of those nurseries with Prairie in the name of maybe it was Bluestone. Gosh, too long for me to remember but if you can't find the clay busters list, let me know and I will dig through a pile here for you this weekend.

Regarding the rest of the property, you might want to get some help identifying what you have back there. Determine what you want to keep and maybe pull a "Lauren" and just have at it from there.

Thanks for the information and the link. I will definately follow through on it and do my 'homework' ( buzz word for teachers..) I really appreciate your help. sr