I spent my winter evenings planning and planning....analysis paralysis...I know it well. Finally, I had to just do it! If it doesn't work well, I'll move things around next time to tweak it.

What colors do you like? Start there.

I have planted one bed that is all pale yellows and creams. Since the plants are all the same harmonious color scheme, I just randomly planted them -- shasta 'Broadway Lights', King Edward yarrow, 'Joan Senior' daylily, Four O'clocks, stock, gerbera daisy, 'Happy Returns' daylily. I will see if this works -- it's all newly planted.

In the new large butterfly/bird garden, I've gone bold with big masses of orange coneflowers 'Sunset' and 'Sundown', agastache 'Blue Fortune', yellow coneflowers 'Sunrise', crocosmia in both red and orange, milkweed in yellow, red and orange, variegated miscanthus 'cosmopolitan', carex 'Evergold', chaste tree, saliva 'Navajo Red', tall verbena, verbena 'Homestead Purple', salvia 'Marcus', nepeta, hypericum x hidcote, bronze fennel. Again, it's new. I told my husband today that it will either look great or it will look gaudy!

I use an old piece of advice from Southern Living magazine -- use a combination of plants that are frilly, spikey, and round. For example, a yarrow is frilly, an agastache is spikey, and a coneflower is round. Does that help?

I also like the advice from Fine Gardening regarding container plantings and it also works well in small areas in the garden -- use a thriller (plants tall and dramatic), a filler (plants that are mounding) and a trailer (a groundcovering/trailing plant).

I'm sure lots of other folks can advise you on their experiences -- the gallery has some stunning examples.

Have fun with it!
Cameron

I never planned my garden. I bought perennials and planted them. Colours didn't matter. Height didn't matter. I just checked the sun/shade thingy and the width. Mixed in some annuals. I did plant some lower growning stuff along the paths.

here's the result

Here is a link that might be useful: my cottage garden

libby,
WOW! what a stunning series of gardens!

One solution for paralysis is to plant lots of annual seeds. Having REAL plants in your garden will then let you see whether the colors/sizes/shapes are what you wanted, at little cost.

The next year, plant perennials that you've decided on. Larkspur this year -- delphinium next. Pink annual daisy shapes this year -- echinacea next. Big pink poppies this year -- peonies next. Lettuce this year -- next year Hosta. It's all fun.

Nell

I think the biggest cause of plant paralysis is the fear of failure or judgement. Those are two negatives that don't belong in your garden. Ignore them and start planting. If you've paid proper attention to your soil and amended it, things will grow. And grow. And grow and grow and grow. This is where gardening gets to be fun. Move things around that don't work. Plant to please your own eye. Put in something incongruous in a bed just because you want to see what happens...that's great fun. Look at what Libby has done. Her garden is one of the most beautiful examples of happenstance I think I've ever seen.

Bottom line, your garden shouldn't be a source of angst. It should give you pleasure and be a journey of discovery. I know that's a bit sappy, but that's how I feel.

lulu,

I agree with the responses you've gotten. Obviously, Libby's got it going, beautiful flower beds, and Steven (has a beautiful garden too) is so right on about just having fun. You do just have yourself to please and you're learning what you like.

That's why you'll read over and over again that a garden is a work in progress and a garden is never "done". Your experience and tastes change and evolve.

I've had the same paralysis and just had to end up doing something - it's always ultimately been good and fun. There are so many variables in gardening - the weather, the soil, the available sunshine, and don't forget that whatever you chose to plant could end up being one of your all time favorites.

There is a Fine Gardening Magazine, "Plant Combinations", that's available right now that may help you narrow your choices. It's got examples of colors used in contrasting and harmonious combinations. You don't have to use the specific plants they show but it has gotten me excited to try some color groupings I wouldn't have thought of. Just leaf through the pages and see what "speaks" to you in terms of colors.

AND you can ask folks here what they plant with a specific perennial and get all kinds of great responses and some lovely photos to look at too.

Have fun!

bloominganne

Wow! Got up this morning and am overwhelmed with your comments. Thank you so much. Libby, your garden is beautiful! Cameron, Nell and Anne, thanks so much for the suggestions. Your aproaches are very helpful to hear. Steve, I think you're right in that I worry too much about if it'll be "okay." We're about to hit annual seed planting season ... maybe I'll just put in a ton of seeds and add perennials throughout the summer as the mood strikes. :)

-luluz5 (Laura-Madison, WI)

Hi Laura, you've already received great advice so I won't repeat it other than to echo that gardening should not be stressful, especially cottage gardening. There are no hard and fast rules, which is why so many of us love this style.

So give yourself a break from the angst and plant something in your favorite color. Try a hardy rose for your area and maybe some inexpensive annuals at its feet. Soon you'll get the hang of it and feel confident to try more permanent plants, like perennials. And do ask questions here and do go look at the pics in the gallery, especially Steven's blue thread.

But mostly, relax and have fun! : )

Diana

Oh Libby your garden is just stunning. What an inspiration.

Lulu: the folks on this forum have it right...just plant something. If it is right for you then it is a keeper. I am finding my way slowly but surely. Trying to do hardscape and soft at the same time. It is a daunting prospect . This is the place for overwhelming acceptance of all things that you do and great advise . Caroline

Libby, if there were ever an advertisement for NOT planning...you would be IT. WOW. Gorgeous. THAT'S what I'm talkin' about.

I moved from a pretty well established garden (took a few years...was lookin' good) to a really difficult patch - pure sand rather than dirt, HOT and humid in summer - freezing in winter, and last summer our well went dry and I despaired of all my perennials. But they have come back. So...

I wintersowed a LOT of things - perennials and annuals (gotta have some color while things percolate). The perennials are going into whatever beds are available...one big one, for example, I know will contain shrubs eventually. But I need to enrich it more and in the meantime it will do nicely for the perennials to get up to speed. I'll move 'em next year. Green will do fine this summer.

The nice thing is that you get to keep changing things around. You can put things in spaces you know won't be permanent (like I'm doing) or you can try out what you think may be nice...knowing that if you don't like it you can always move it. Who knows? Maybe next year they will come out with a plant that you will just HAVE to put in the place your current favorite occupies? O.K. That's fun!

Until they actually schedule the photo team for the gardening magazine to come out and shoot my garden...I'm going to be over here playing in the dirt. :)

I bet I've moved most of my plants at least once in the 4 years I've had my garden. Seems I never get it right on the first try but that's what makes it special to me. You will be amazed at how beautiful it will turn out.

Libby....your garden is a magazine spread!!!
Vikki

As mentioned earlier, just relax and enjoy. We can plot and chart to our hearts content, but as gardeners we all contend with unseasonable heat, cold, drought, flood, insect attacks and a million other variables that are beyond our control

Plus, I think we all have flowers that both over perform and under perform, and of course, just outright die despite our best efforts.

Find out what grows well in your area by observing other well-established gardens, and then pick your favorites.
Everytime we plant something, its a major leap of faith, isn't it? :-)

Enjoy the journey!

Marilyn