It's July, but what to plant next year?

I need more lilies! Fragrant ones all over!
I need more shade plants!
I need more xeriscape plants!
I need more daylilies! (No I don't.)
I need more long bloomers!

You ALWAYS need more daylilies! LOL

I know! Luckily they are so small when they come they fit anywhere!

More daylilies? Ah, no.

Actually, I need more annuals. My perennials are all doing very well (even the daylilies that I inherited from the former owner), but there are always those inevitable spaces that could use some color just for the season. I also need to redo my junglely herb bed (can we say CATNIP?) and add some new varieties.

Oh, and I NEED LESS GOLDENROD. People are actually selling it, for money! I'd be glad to share. I believe I have twelve different varieties in the yard.

I can say catnip. My cats say it too!

Annuals for me too! I always kick myself when I see someone else's colorful yard and it's zinnias or cosmos!

I didn't know there were that many goldenrods.

How about more MONEY to buy more plants?!

Victor

I'm thinking about next year's beds now, too. I have to rotate the vegetable crops, which means more raised beds. Yet more raised beds for the bulbs I intend to plant. I've ordered five iris bulbs from Irisgreen. I also want to order tulips, daffodils, crocuses, and lily of the valley.

For my veggies I'm going to add garlic, spinach, tomatoes, and maybe those pocket size watermelons.

Next year I'll be able to start in early spring. I couldn't this year because I was still in the process of buying the house.

I have a whole list of things I want for next year. Only thing is I've got to either put in more garden beds are enlarge the ones I've already got. ;) I definitely want some Asiatic lilies, more daylilies, Orienpets, Coleus, Agastache, more kinds of Salvia, more colors of Oleanders, Abelia shrubs, different colors of Wave Petunias. The list goes on and on. lol

Lin

Both front and back yard need a LOT of work. Everything sat fallow for at least a year or two. There's no grass. A lot of the soil probably blew away. What's left is anchored by weeds. I have these visions in my mind of what it could be, but I think I'm going to have to get a professional landscaper or garden designer here to at least prep it. Reworking this place is gonna be a full-time job, and I already have a job.

It's a bit overwhelming for someone who's used to windowboxes and philodendrons.

I have thousands of annuals sitting here going to waste! I need more perennials! Lots more perennials. I need more perennials for sun and more perennials for shade! Did I mention I need more perennials?????

I saw an awesome bed of zinnias today at a gas station! I never remember to plant those...

I see a lot of things you guys are doing that I want to do too!

Victor, I hear ya!

Hydrangea, Sometimes I'd love to start over, or be able to buy the next lot over!

Dancy, I do both! I'm already sneaking more yard in last years new Half Moon bed and the Hosta bed got a little bigger when I put the black edging in, snicker!

Badseed, I'm sitting here laughing!

anything that goes with roses.

And roses.

I have started a "before and after" project. My hubby is building us a new outdoor kitchen and my project is of course, the flower beds! Right now, it is this ugly, barron, weed disaster. Hopefully by this time next year................it will be gorgeous! I have this certain problem ~ too much to do and not enough time to get it all done! Wouldn't it be great to have a house cleaner, dish do-er, laundry finisher, errand runner and oh-yea.......full time worker bee? I bet I could get my gardens in "tip top" shape then! lolololol
Belinda :-)

I am definitely going to enlarge my rock garden to accomodate more salvias and agastache. I have two garden beds that are fairly close to each other. Thinking about ripping out the grass and just making one BIG bed. Yes! I could plant a lot of pretties in one that big. ;) It's in an ideal spot. Good morningand midday sun with shade the rest of the time. The plants in those beds do so well because they get some relief from the hot evening sun.
Lin

My project is to build some raised beds. But in order to do that I have to take down an old fence and put a new one back up, before I build the beds where I want them. I need to do a lot of reworking of past mistakes. Mine and the previous owners.
I need to get rid of more agapanthas. The previous owner must have had a truckload.
I want to plant more Dahlias, I want to try my hand with tall bearded Iris again, and I want to add something to my rose garden. I love the double lord leuitient aneneme. He is so royal and stately looking.

I'm just starting with the Agastache. I love them. I've gotten all from High Prairie Gardens. I love the salvias, and am looking for one that doesn't ''fall.'' Right now I have Caradonna and like it!

I'll bet everyones projects turn out great! Isn't it fun to have something to do? (Said with tongue in cheek.)

I love roses, but have no room nor time to treat them right. I've given up on teas and have gone to small David Austins.

White_Hydrangea Don't let it overwhelm you. Taking small bites it will amaze you that you are capable of doing much.
I wanted a brick patio, it wasn't in the budget. A friends Moms' house was damaged in a storm. We were given all the bricks we wanted. We hauled them and I personally cleaned the mortar one by one. Determination! I now have a brick patio in back, a brick sidewalk in front and a brick side walk around the side of the house. Determination? You bet! and Dreams!

Next year, I'm done planting bricks, haven't decided what plants yet....

Podster, I have the determination too.

As for overwhelming jobs, I just start small, and with what seems fun, or show the most improvement and keep at it. It will get done!

Start small, have fun and keep doing what works, you said a mouth-full right there, Billy!

I'm determined to get rid of most all the tall ugly weeds growing around our pond. No Koi Japanese pond here, rather , an old fashion catfish, bass and bream pond that's got its share of skeeters, bullfrogs and snakes. Im taking manageable sections at a time, amending the soil for "no dig beds" and planting mini-gardens with paths to the pond on each side. I want the bullfrogs to have a home so I want some naturalization.

I'm making my wish list of drought tolerate plants for one side of the pond where the water hose won't reach! And another wish for color and combinations. I want lots of coneflowers, and wild flowers instead of wild weeds!

Keep planning ya'll! Great thread!
Deborah

Wow Deborah, what a neat project, and one that will be so different when done! Hope to see more photos as you go. I love regular old ponds full of bullfrogs. The snakes I could do without even tho I like to look at them.

I need a chicken tractor and some chickens, so "next year" will be phenomenal.

you let chickens drive your tractor? LOL.

No, it's for ploughing the chickens under when they're ripe. ;}

ROTFL at both answers!!! Seriously, what is a chicken tractor? Something to move the chicken house to another location? Seem's like I've heard of it on another thread.

I'm curious too.........what is a chicken tractor? Never heard of this.

Cordeledawg Say, when you are done, I have this little pond? What a neat plan you have. I have planted a few La Iris but not much else yet.

Brigidlily, how much land do you have? I used to have chickens and loved them, called them my ladies. Am not sure when or why I quit.

The visual image of a chicken driving my tractor made me grin! Thank you!

Chicken tractor: http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~nfantasi/Chicken%20Tractors.htm

I have one of these on my future plans too. :)

Podster, I do have lots of bricks, left by the previous owners. I figure I can use them to make raised beds, or at least line beds with them.

I bought some more stuff. Somebody stop me before I spend again! So far, I've ordered some tulips, irises, and daffodils. I want to get crocuses, and lily of the valley, and I'm eyeing peonies and clematis.

My yard's actually a lot bigger than I think it is. Trouble is, a lot of it is overgrown with tree suckers, weeds, overwhelming evergreen shrubs, and weeds, weeds, weeds! I have a nice area around one side, but it's lava rock covered by weeds. I am not going to pull each lava rock out and put it somewhere else, so I think that's where I'm going to put some raised beds. Around the other side, it's either dead or overgrown, but they did some terracing, so there are a couple good places for peonies. They'll get sun, yet they'll be protected from the wind and elements by the house.

Roses. I want to get some climbing roses. I'm envisioning an arbor in front of my patio with roses climbing all over it. I'm thinking New Dawn and Double Delight. I think those are the names. Or there's a rose with Blush in the name. I have roses now, but they're all yellow, orange, or fire engine red. I'd love to get a white rose with pink blush in the center.

A lawn would be nice, too....

All the soil has to be amended, of course, if I want anything to grow.

WH ~ I fell into the trap of buying plants before I prepared beds. Now I have plants in the ground struggling and I am facing the task of uprooting all and amending the soil, then replanting. I am a 'plantaholic incurablis' so am still buying plants. I have quit putting in the ground. They are now going in pots till....! I can keep them watered and use better soil. I am also digging and potting up plants I dearly love and don't want to lose. Maybe someday I will have both time and money to do what I want with them but for now, I think I'll go plant shopping...

I want to do everything at once, of course. :-) But I'm really trying to restrain myself from overbuying. Small steps.

I really wish I could snag/borrow/bribe a gardening expert for an afternoon and take him through my yard and just take notes on his advice. This place is so overgrown and weedchoked, I'm only using about a quarter of the yard space I own. There are a lot of bushes, but I don't know what kind they are, and whether I want to keep them. And I was looking at the huge tree next to my patio. Whatever kind it is, there are some dead limbs that need to be taken down before the next bad storm or heavy snowfall sends them crashing through my roof!

Do the difficult first, the impossible next... Apparently you are new to that area? I would find an agreeable native to take on the tour. They can tell you more than you want to know.

I spent the hottest days inside with my catalogs and have decided what seeds I need to get for winter sowing and realized it is time to start saving those gallon milk jugs now.

Also which beds I will extend and an thinking about which new ones to put in. Friday I put down black plastic to kill out some sod grass and will plant an experimental area of no mow grass in mid to late September.

What is it with us will we ever just sit back and enjoy or is the enjoyment in the doing?

Zen I think it's both! Enjoying sitting back and admiring our handywork. But the 'doing' is a big part of it too. ;) The work/pleasure gives such nice self satisfaction and admiration. It's so rewarding!

Thanks for the Chicken Tractor link Badseed! That's a good solution for those who can't let them run free. DD is picking up her butchered chickens Thursday. I can't wait to taste fresh farm chicken!

A chicken driving a tractor makes me smile too, then reminds me of the movie Chicken Run.

I too buy plants before I have any plans for them. I'm determined to get beds ready this fall. Determined I say!

Zen, it is both!

Lost track of this thread! I only have a 40 x 75' back yard, pod. But I'm using every inch of it for garden. D@m^ the St. Augustine, full speed ahead!

lin.....my want list is almost like yours....with the exception of the first two items....i will have to research those 2....great minds think alike!!!

Yep! We sure do! lol I've made so many mistakes over the years with plants that were not suited to our climate. I've had to learn the hard way. I used to really believe the captions in the nursery magazines when they said plant in full sun. I followed their directions to a T and lost a lot of plants because of it. But I've learned a lot along the way. ;)
I want more drought tolerant plants and plants that are not 'picky and finicky'.
Lin

Dittos Dancey!

I've invested in a lot of gardening books and have passed on a lot of plants I wanted because of hardiness, thugs etc! I too have lost more plants than I want to admit.