To Plan or Not To Plan...

I've read with interest over the past week or the virtues of having a garden plan and the question, "Do REAL gardeners PLAN?". I tried to photograph the professional garden plan done for my backyard last fall, but was unsuccessful. So I snagged this copy from BH&G. Here's the link in case you want to plan yours.

http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/bhg/story/data/planagardenhome_03022002.xml

The reason I write about this is that the beautiful, well done, professional, expensive plan has left me cold and uninspired. I think I could get a little more excited had I done the plan, but I'm really not sold on this "planning" concept. I think I fall into the spontaneous, seredipitous group. To me, the thrill is in the hunt. Of course I consider the zone, light and water requirements, but when those area fall into line, most plants are fair game.

I will never have a formal garden thinking like this, I know, and that's okay with me. I think I could do the garden plan thing if I could add plants to the plan as I obtain them.

So, I ask you wonderful gardeners in blogland, do you plan and then get plants according to that plan or not?

Hollyhocks

What a beautiful day it is today! The sun is shining and a lot of things that were impacted in Great Ice Storm of 2007 are on the rebound. Yep, the ice did come, but it really wasn't a storm. We've had lots of rain this month...over 5 1/2 inches in just over 2 weeks. Last year at this time we just has a trace. Since we're still in a drought, this is a good thing and I'll refrain from griping about all the mud and dirty floors. :) I brought several of these hollyhocks over from the other house. This thing is huge!!! At the other house, it died down to the ground in the winter. Tells you a lot about microclimates, huh? That's a big wagon wheel behind it. The hollyhock was all droopy and looked like it was a goner 3 days ago. When it perked back up, it made my heart sing...Spring is Coming!!!

Your Favorite Garden Tools?

Your Favorite Tools?

If you were limited to only a few of your "tried & true" garden tools, what would they be? They say we only wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. I'm thinking this is true with all of our gardening tools, as well. What will the "well dressed" gardener be gardening with this Spring?

A Tree Question...

A Tree Question


I have a question for all you gardeners out there. As I have lamented in previous posts, I am in a new home with NADA in the back yard! Not one tree!!! It''s a shallow, but fairly wide back yard. The houses are on top of each other! I am looking for a multi trunked tree with character to plant in the corner in the back yard. I have a crape myrtle in front yard that's pretty, but I'm wondering if there's something else out there that I can't think of... several trunks, character, color, somewhat fast growing, but doesn't have to get huge.

Am I A Gardener???

Am I A Gardener???

These are questions brought up on the May Garden blog. I garden, therefore I am...

So, what makes a gardener? I think that a gardener someone who likes to grow something (anything) in the dirt.

Do you consider yourself a gardener? Yup!

How did you decide you were a gardener? Whenever I get near a garden center (or plants at the grocery store, for that matter!), my heart beats a little faster and I start imagining where "that plant" could find a new home in my landscape!

When is the first time you referred to yourself as a gardener? I can't remember...I've always thought of myself that way.

Where and how did you learn to be a gardener? Two people were instrumental in my garden rearing. As a very young girl, my grandpa used to let me help him in his vegetable garden. It was a honor and something he took very seriously. Aunt Doris was a huge encouragement in my young adult years. What a gracious lady!

Has anyone ever introduced you to someone else as a gardener? Always! My friend, Lynn, says, "This is my friend, the one who gardens"! :)

When someone tells you they are a gardener, what image of them does it bring to mind? Somebody like me!

What do you expect of them? I expect to hear about their newest acquisition or the latest hunt they're on...or maybe their last gardening trial.

Can a gardener live where there is no place to plant anything, and still remain a gardener? Absolutely! Gardening is a frame of mind! Is there room for a clay pot and some dirt???

What about horticulturalists? Are they a subset of “gardeners” or a whole different group? I think that the gardener is a subset to the horticulturalist. They're the "Big Kahuna"!!

Potting Shed

After reading the "Garden Shed Hall of Fame", I was inspired to blog for the first time since November! Christmas is over and the gardening catalogs are arriving. Here in Dallas, we are bracing for the Ice Storm of the Century (grin) that isn't materializing and I am immersed in my catalogs. Wish I could've brought along my old potting shed, but I couldn't, so I guess I'll start planning my new one. This spring, I hope to get the patio screened in and a good start on the backyard. I hope to plant a multi trunked crepe myrtle and some plants I couldn't bring to the new house with me. I hope to snag another Bridal Wreath Bush (my old one is in the first photo) and a couple of Forsythia. I have a couple of wonderful gardening friends who I know will help me whip this yard in shape. C'mom Spring...you can do it!!!