I love planning the garden each year.
The winners,
the losers,
deciding on what to keep,
and what to never EVER try again.
Are you excited when you plan your garden?
I wonder how many other gardeners are like me....I keep ALL my plant tags.
To plan a garden, I divide the tags into three categories:
PLANTS that I should KEEP or enthusiastically try again,
PLANTS I should perhaps try again ONE MORE TIME,
and
LOSERS! (I'll bet we all have a stack of losers)
Next I go through all the garden photos from the past Spring and early Summer.
This is always such a pleasant activity on a winter's day.
I look for parts of the garden I REALLY like and that don't need any changes at all.
If you're like me, you're never completely happy, but 99% happy will do! LOL
Then I start looking through my photo files for 'WHOA, WHAT IS THAT PLANT'
images from other gardens we've visited.
This is a Homestead verbena from the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas.
It doesn't DIE or get powdery mildew. It's the stuff dreams are made of.
After finding some WHOA plants, I start looking for some WOW garden ideas.
I have lots of agaves, but what I like about these from Castroville, Texas is the
step down pattern of largest in the back flowing down to the smallest in the front.
I need to redo my agaves to make them FLOW like this nice planting at the Alsatian Inn.
Finally, I pretend to be Simon*, the former judge on American Idol and look for the problems in my garden schemes.
The plants in the front of the wall have a nice pattern and they carry a theme, whereas the plants behind the wall need some changes. Also, the pottery is distracting so it has to go.
This is a better use of pottery and a pleasant display.
*****
So what's next?
Today I'm dividing my winner and loser tags.
I'll share my plans for the winners in my next post along with
a down-sized color scheme. I'm very excited about these tags and finding these plants at the local nurseries.
In the meantime, enjoy dreaming about your garden!
David/:0)
Salvias....are in my winner's stack!
*Would you like to see the ULTIMATE UNDERDOG shock Simon?
One of the most heartwarming moments I've ever seen on a video!
The lesson: Don't judge a book by its cover.
I love to plan new garden areas! Although, I'm not nearly as organized as you. I have plant tags - somewhere. I have tried to organize them, really I have, but for some reason, they seem to sprout legs and walk all over the house! I like your idea of separating them into winner, losers, and Whoas!
ReplyDeleteWow! that's a nice way to do gardening - I am always learning something as I visit each blog; I never thought of dividing the tags and going through photos and choosing. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I admire your organizational skills. I can never seem to settle upon a central location for my tags so they are scattered all around Wit's End. Which means I am frequently at my wits' end searching for them ...
ReplyDeleteI have 11 years of plant tags, in a shoe box, not lost one single! My garden is very small so I know where everything is, but should I forget I can always consult my online drawing and corresponding plant list (you can see both on my blog). I love to come up with new ideas for my garden, unfortunately my garden is so full now that if something a bit substantial is going in, something needs to come out too!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a garden your size, I have a very long wish list of plants I would like to add :-)
I too got a collection of "loser" seeds and "going to try one more time" Just that I'm just not in the mood to do it at the moment and currently do not have any new space in my garden.
ReplyDeleteLove your agave collection - "The stuff the dream are made of" truly remarkable how you mentioned it.
I'm sure you make many go drooling with jealousy... hahahaaaa...