Plan a lot, plant a little.

I constantly review photos from previous months and years back to 2003.

My hardest lesson was figuring out that I must plant according to what blooms together in my garden, not what looked pretty in zone 6. I look at a lot of pictures and read and save many articles. The first thing I look for is where does the gardener live: Birmingham or Bismarck? If it's North Dakota I may as well pass.

It was just as hard to learn that if I had a list of 'pink plants' for my area, they will not all bloom together and my design might have big holes.

Nell

P.S. I still tend to plant too close together, so I just make a second plan for where the extras will move.

THAT totally depends on the day... At times, I plan and plan and plan..but am ALWAYS subject to last minute total changes. And often that plan is total trashed... :) I am a go with what feels good kind of girl. I more or less plan what end result I want....then I build as I go many times. Some days..I just drop and plant...no previous ideas..I also buy that way often. I like this, I like that, I will find a place for it...and I do...

Where I do plan, is afterwards... :) When it doesnt work out, or when I want more umph..or change..I LOVE change..then I move, plan, move some more, tweek..I then plan next years moves.. :) Which are always subject to change! :)

Ditto to what Keesha does :o).
Annette

I also tend to plant to close together and just this past week I walked around and made a list of plants that need to be moved since they are hidden or lacked enough space. I was just thinking while reading this that I should somehow mark those plants so come fall when I want to move them I can further remember which ones need to be moved. When you need to move plants to you do it in the fall, spring, ...or summer? wig

My approach to gardening styles have always changed over time. Recently, I've been very much interested by meadow gardening or something called wave gardening - a trend coming out of northern Europe. However, instead of discarding my love of cottage gardening, I decided to merge both ideas. So this quest has led me to continue to make plans to adapt to this new concept. I do make plans all the time. On the way to work, when I return home, etc.. I take photographs. I try to understand why say the spring garden worked, why the early summer garden turned up all blue, why the late summer garden turned up too mishmashy and what to do with an early fall garden and late fall garden (in following the Wave Garden movement- brown can also be interesting, especially when snow arrives)

So bottomline, I do a heck of a lot of planning, using photos, ideas from others, and plotting things down on paper.

I have no plan really.

I know what types of plants I want. I go to the store and I buy what I see that I like and lots of it. sometimes I look for certain plants I want to add.

I now want to add bee balm, more coneflower, more catmint, lots more creeping thyme all varities....

the fun for me is when I get home arranging where I want everything. that is the best part. I have only planned the size of the bed and I buy the amount of plants I can afford at the time.
Karen

This morning while doing my yoga, I "planned" the bed outside my fence to be full of larkspur and Shirley poppies. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it! I guess I need to know/plan how many POUNDS of seed that will take! LOL

I can see visions of pink and purple tulips inside my fence in the narrow streamside bed... to complement the Spanish lavender and cottage pinks next April. I won't draw that one out either.

I am dreaming of enough Dutch irises to use as cut flowers so all those annual tithonia in the butterfly garden will switch over to Dutch iris bulbs this fall.

I do have a small bed that isn't working well for me and I'm going to meticulously measure it out and repeat my top performers in that harsh, full sun spot...that can also be a zone warmer in the winter and that gives me a bit more leeway. I will probably draw that one out in the next month or so. Dare I mix in a few dahlias?

Cameron

Like the others, I plan, review photos from seasons past, learn what will bloom when, what will compliment what is blooming, what's the average height for my area, plan more, shop, plan, review plans, tweak plans and finalize plans.Then I go outside and do whatever pops into my head.

I never plan since I never know where my self seeded flowers will appear.

Libby

After 13 years of gardening at this house, I tend to look for the open areas, plant something there, water it in, and then tell it "grow or I'll plant something else here."

I tend to plan big-time, then go with the flow for the volunteers. I have a vision of what I want to see, but I can't always source the plants that I want, so have to substitute. I am very bad at the nursery - like a kid in a candy store. LOL.

I take lots of photos, too, and this spring started printing some and putting them in a notebook with notes to myself about holes, and when plants have come up, and whatever would help me in making changes. A year or two ago, my dh got a new computer, so we switched the one I had with his old one, and in the process of setting things up, my iphoto library with about 7,000 (not just garden) photos got trashed. I was heartbroken, because I did refer to old garden photos to help me figure out what and where to plant.

I knew I was going for more plants today, so I went around the yard with paper and pencil, and wrote the areas down, with what size or color plant I wanted for the holes I was seeing. Next year, I will need to see what blooms at the same time, because when you get a plant, it may or may not bloom at the exact same time the next year due to conditions before buying it, and the season in its new space.

The fact that people are coming here for a garden tour Saturday made me just want to get spots filled. I put 3 daylilies bought from a yard sale, 2 pinks, a dwarf monarda, a tall gailardia (sp), a Coronation Gold yarrow, and little pink geranium in a corner that was 50 cents. In my mostly yellow, blue, and purple bed, I planted a Gold Rush Leucanthemum, which I had never seen before. I also was please to find another perennial blue centaria, which I put toward the back and under my bed frame, as it can get sprawly, and after blooming usually needs to be cut back. The one I had toward the front of the bed died out after a few years.

After I planted, I thought that the colors of some plants may not look so good together, so I may need to make changes next year. I also mentally move things around and think of what I'd like to grow in spots as I'm watering or deadheading.

I still will always find a spot for a plant I decide I want to grow. I have been to almost every place in town that sells flowers this season, and I don't think I've ever left one without several plants. :o)
Sue

I "plan" on planting whatever I love. I can always find a place for something new - or make a place. But I really like an informal cottage look. I do find myself thinking a lot about what I'm going to do and dreaming about different flowers. I am trying to plan out my backyard as it is yet undone. I think that you should really plan the hardscape or shape of your beds and where they will be, and then just go for it with the flowers. In a cottage style garden, all colors look good together.

I plan a little, then plant, then move everything that didn't do what it said it would on the label. Those labels are NOT written for Texas sun!! I think I spend more time re-planting than planting!! This is the first summer I have had something blooming the whole time so, guess the little planning I did is paying off. I think I just thrive on the challenge of "what can I move this year to make it even better?" and "WOW, it's on clearance for 25 cents, I know I can find just the spot for it!"

I plan and plan and plan some more. That's what Minnesota winters are for! Then I try to stick to my plan, but sometimes deviate slightly. I move things around if they don't work quite as I expected.

For example, my pink Frontenac shrub roses which were supposed to complete my pink bed turned out to be more orange than pink. I'm probably going to have to give them away because I have no area where orange will work.