I do something of the same, in a more old-fashioned way. I handwrite the lists, then re-write them as I sort them, compare them, and attempt to whittle them down. I could do this in a spreadsheet program, which would be neater and waste less paper, but my goal is to stall the mad, "must get NOW before they run out of it" purchases. Doing it all by hand takes up quite a bit of time, and I don't let myself buy anything until I've sorted the lists. The whole process calms me a little bit, makes me think - really think - about what I'm buying, and, as a side benefit, greatly amuses my husband. (He's not a gardener.) Last month he announced the official opening of Amanda's Obsessive List season.

I start with the catalogs themselves. I was taught to annotate books in school and have no trouble writing on printed material. So I go through the catalogs and circle everything I want. I place no limits on my plant lust/budget at this point - I can circle anything and everything. I do, however, try to think about where I would put anything that I circle, and then write that down in the margin next to each circled item. As often or not, I end up writing something like "don't know where to put it but WANT." But that's okay. At this point, I'm not constrained by reality.

Then I write out each item. I make a list for each catalog. In the lists, I include the item, a brief description, the price, and, if I can think of it, where I'd put the plant in my garden.

Then, if there are plants I don't know well or haven't grown before on the lists, I research them in books and on-line. This takes up more time, and it's fun to learn about new plants and see how other people use them.

Then I revisit the lists and cross off anything I've researched and found somehow to be not quite as wonderful as I'd originally thought it to be, plus anything that I really know I can't fit into my garden.

Then I look at pictures of gardens I like. This helps me get away from "I want I want I want" and back to "this is how I want my garden to be." After that - you guessed it - revisit the lists and cross off things I might love that aren't really what I want for my garden. For example, I like intensely-colored flowers in the landscape, but always fall for those gorgeous close-ups of pastel blooms. After I look through a few gardening books, I'm able to recall that I've given away most of the pastel-flowered plants I grow. Revisit lists, etc. At this point, they are usually just about illegible from all the crossing-out and scribbling, so I re-write them.

THEN (since the goal is to stall the impulse buying, the more steps in this process, the better) I look at pictures I've taken of my own garden. I try to find the ones from the years in which I had one plant of just about everything that will grow here and the garden was a spotty mess. I look at those pictures, then at more recent ones, to see where I'm at and whether I really want to go back to where I was. I don't want to go back, and that helps me cross off more items.

Then I force myself to go out to the garden with a tape measure and measure the beds, and write down their sizes and what's planted in them. This may not be a problem for others with larger gardens, but my own garden is tiny and I'm always overestimating its size and the amount of room in the beds.

At this point, I usually go a little nuts and start scheming up ways to create new planting areas. Yes! I could build a 3x8' platform out of 2x4s and attach it to the outside frame of the window in the hallway! With that cantilevered out over the porch roof, I could place umpteen large planters on it and...But wait! I could build a raised bed over half of the patio! Or how about that space between the overgrown yew and the front steps? If I pruned up the yew I could... It goes on and on. I quite enjoy this step; I can play mad scientist builder/architect and not worry too much about structural soundness or general common sense.

Then I have to go through the step I like the least: I tell my very practical husband about my new planting area schemes. This is crushing, because, of course, very few of the ideas make any sense at all.

Then I sulk for a few days.

By the time I'm over all that, I can look at the lists a little more calmly, and - usually - accept that I just can't grow everything I want to. Nobody can, because of climate, or space, or any of various other reasons. I cross off more items. I re-write the lists and try very hard to include only the plants that I MUST have this year, and that I know I have a place for.

Then I add up the totals from all the lists. That motivates me to cross off more items!

Then I buy too much, because, as ellen_s said, there is no cure. But at least there are ways to treat some of the symptoms. I buy much less after all that list-making, etc. than I bought when I didn't make the lists, measure, or think through the process.

I may have too much time on my hands, too, but work and other aspects of life help to string this out even further.

Goal = delay impulse buying of plants I can't possibly fit into the garden, or won't like there.

Good luck!

Amanda

Adam - winter sowing is inside a good way to garden in winter but it has certainly worsened my catalogue lust this time of year...before I started winter sowing, I bought very few seeds because it's too complicated to grow seedlings indoors here.

Now that I winter sow outdoors in containers, the sky is the limit and I start ordering seeds from catalogues before Christmas!!

Oh, it's a sickness. But I love it. And so do my friends and family in summer when I give away the hundreds of extra seedlings :-) I don't usually need 24 Mexican Hats or 30 columbine seedlings, REALLY...

BTW, for those interested in native plants, New England Wildflower Society seed ordering starts on January 16th for members - check their website!!

Ellen (who goes to bed with the Johnnys and Select Seed catalogs every night) :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing forum

Make wish list for Bluestone.
Wintersow.
Make wish list for Parks.
Wintersow.
Make wish list for Stokes.
Wintersow.
Do taxes; file for return.
Buy everything on Wish Lists!

Actually, Amanda's route is much like mine...
plan, plan, plan, plan...list, scratch, crumple, rewrite, measure, draw...

...then I trash the plan, go to the nursery, and buy everything that's screaming "BUY ME!"

If I just had one of everything, then I could pick & plant and pull all over the place. Unfortunately, my budget isn't conducive to any of this. Which is why I'm wintersowing.

Amanda, your post cracked me up!!!

I do a little bit of everything above! But I no longer have the delusion that I can really plan the garden "look". Its really all about "want". However, I try to limit the "wants" to high quality plants that sound like they will perform well and not be high-risk. Occasionally I order 2 or 3 of the same plant to help with the "look".

ANother approach is to just set a cap on the number of plants. I enter all my plant purchases on 4x6 index cards. I just finished writing up and filing 2005 purchases. There was a total 159 plants (trees shrubs and perennials). For 2006 I'm trying to come up with a "reasonable" number to limit myself to this year. But I can't figure out what the number should be. Less than last year? 158 sounds good. LOL

I think you all are right, dragging it out is the only way to survive without going broke.My problem this year is I had decided to start a new rose garden and stuff it full of Austins.Well you know how it is when you have a clean slate to fill.The perrenial beds are full, so naturally the only solution is to dig up more of the lawn.Then all the fun planing, researching, list making,and ordering.However I did this all way too early and now the select seed catalog is here...I'm a grownup, rational, logical,reasonable person.I can handle this.....Is it spring yet?

I have ordered now! Not to worry, only my seeds have been ordered.
But, I had a seed list of 'must haves' that was quite long...now I will be winter sowing in my spare time. What a fun thing to do, eh?

Yes, I really should do seed orders. This is usually when I do my ordering, and usually when it's done, it's done. The big problem with stuff is where to put it. If I have the place for it, the rest is usually doable.

Seed orders are usually annuals, so the problem recently has been buying enough, instead of the other way around. Last year I bought a couple more hayrack planters, and the boxwood hedge gets annual underplanting until it fills in a lot more. That more than doubled the annual planting I'd been doing for years, and I'm still getting used to it. I've decided to splurge on caladiums again this year. They look nice in the windowboxes, but I've never been able to overwinter them. Then I'll get a couple of packets of impatiens seeds and maybe a couple of packets of torenia, and some trailing lobelia.

Last year I tried something that worked, at least a little, for me.

I decided to buy only plants that I already have and like enough to want more of. This isn't as restrictive as it might sound, because I have A LOT of different plants, including many "onesies." In fact, I could still go broke by buying one more of everything. There are many plants that I have and like that I can just divide, though, so that cut my list quite a bit.

I was pretty good about this, after years of not being able to control my urge to buy plants, and the real bonus was that it's making my garden a little more cohesive. The down side comes when I start thinking that I can now buy ANY hellebore, ANY ginger, ANY clematis ... you get the picture.

Here's another trick, I've been doing this since early fall; making up orders on my favorite vendors' websites. I "buy" just about every plant I could ever think of wanting - and keep at it with no thought to how I'd deal with the stock. Once my cart is full to the brim, I peruse it carefully and think about finding room for all those plants. I get that sinking feeling you are all familiar with, the one you get when you've just emptied your car after a big day at the nurseries. Oh, heck, why did I buy all this stuff, and what am I ever going to do with it, and look how much money I spent which I don't have, etc etc.

Then I click on File -> Close, and go read a book. The sense of relief at not having really bought anything is wonderful. Don't try this after a couple of glasses of wine, though; I don't want to be responsible for leading anyone astray.

Oh Ellen, you are right! I just got finished laughing my head off reading narcnh and Amanda's posts...and was busy thinking I should read that one to my spouse..when I started your post and...I just realized that is the reason I just made another seed order. You are SO right! I used to do the indoor lights with the fans and just couldn't do that any more. I used to buy plants and rarely bought much seed except vegetables and a few annuals. Now with winter sowing, I can try so many more seed. Oh no!

I also forgot that you could order so early from NEWFS and I keep seriously telling everyone I am finished. I swear that is the ONLY place that could tempt me again..lol.

Now that I think of it...my process is more like Amanda's too, usually..but this year, I find I am just throwing caution to the wind. I hadn't thought of what the reason was...the winter sowing! I haven't lost all touch with reality though. I know it is a delusion. I guess it is just a fun one. [g] At least until I have too many seedlings that need separating and transplanting in the spring.

Amanda, you are too much! I do so admire your very deliberate and calculating wrestling that you do with yourself! You are very good at it..lol.
DtD.....you are so very funny.
Thank you all for a good laugh.

:-)
adam

I Promised myself this year I would limit my seed buying, Yeah right!! I found Valueseeds.com A subsidiary of T&M Nothing is over 99c and half as many are 49c, Shippng is 99c no matter how big the order is, well that did me in lol. I winter sow also and because i'm a relatively new gardener I want to learn (at least thats what I tell myself) The more I grow the more I learn, I don't have a garden plan I just scramble around and put things that I think will work together and so far I've loved my garden every year no matter how eclectic. I'm obsessed seed maniac, I try to resist and maybe I can keep the catalog thing somewhat in check but then the seeds start showing up in stores, I'm a sucker for cheap seeds. I do buy a plant or two but usually when spring comes I have so many seedlings the store plants are less appealing.
One more thing about winter sowing the plants are so strong and perform fantastic!!
Best wishes, Wendey

This is a funny thread! I like all the ideas to resist. Awhile ago I stopped ordering from catalogs so I don't get many these days. I still grow a lot from seed but carefully keep the seeds from year to year with pretty good results. One of the seed catalogs I still get is 'The Fragrant Path'. This one is easy to resist as it doesn't have any 'jaw dropping' photos to make you go overboard, just descriptions of the seed varieties. It has been a good source for me for old time, cutting flowers that are hard to get other places. So besides the ones mentioned already, what are peoples favorite catalogs these days???

Sedum- there's actually a couple of threads on that topic going...um...one in the Cottage Gardening forum, and I think there's one in the WS forum, too. Lots of good information!

>Sedum- there's actually a couple of threads on that topic >going...um...one in the Cottage Gardening forum, and I >think there's one in the WS forum, too.

mmqc-2 - Thanks for pointing me in the right direction... A lot new seed sources to check out. In fact, I do want to try out some new ideas this year as I am getting tired of the varieties I have planted in the past one of my annual beds. Hey, a good excuse to look at some catalogs and web sites!

I am very impressed with everybody's organized methods to control their catalogue purchase. As a New Years resolution, I'm going to try this myself.

My other resolution will be not to drink wine when I am browsing the catalogs, to try to prevent the "I cannot live without that plant" lustful impulse that happens when I drink wine and look at catalogs... :-)

The High Country catalog and the White Flower Farm catalogs arrived today - arghh! :-)
Ellen

the @$*% Heronswood Nursery catalog arrived today ... pure, unadulterated plant pornography.

i want five of everything.

c'mon, you guys! who's going to be in my bank-robbing gang?

I got the White Flower Farm catalog today..OMG...

$150. ladyslipper plant... one plant..bareroot!
$ 60. hellebore plant...one plant!

kris, that is going to have to be a series of bank robberies! [g]

Seriously though. Drop dead gorgeous plant photos. The only thing that saves me is how expensive they are...lol. Tons of new plants that just have you drooling by the time you put the catalog down.

Thankfully..NO SEEDS!

lol
adam

"it was the wierdest thing, officer ... the robbers were all wearing knee pads and rubber clogs ... they smelled of sunblock, mosquito spray, and horse poo ... they threatened me with Heirloom Tools from Smith & Hawken .... they made me place the money into their wooden garden trugs ... their getaway car was a ratty old station wagon and the back was filled with bags of grass clippings and leaves ..."

c'mon! who's with me?

I'm just north of you; where's the meetup point? LOL!

I found this most amusing on White Flower Farm's Catalog req. page:

We never rent, sell, or share e-mail addresses. Period

then below it you have two options, one of which says:

Yes, I'd like to receive occasional catalogues from carefully screened, garden-related companies.

They don't share your email address; they share your whole friggin' address!!!

MoR, I'm not sure there's enough money in the banks these days to support all our needs, and we might be better off just robbing white flower farm. I know they've got *tons* of money because I've sent them a real wad of it over the past 20 years.

White Flower farm....their catalogue....I am ogling the photos...I need to buy something from their catalogue just to ensure I continue to receive it!! I really like how they show pictures of plants within the larger surroundings..and paired with other plants and shrubs. Gives me lots of ideas and gets me in the mood to plan this year's gardens (grin)

Too bad that the plant I want the most in their catalog (a yellow lady slipper) is $99!!!!

Ellen

oh, DtD, you are so right. this spunky new direct approach is clearly the way to go.

road trip!

I am now dangerously considering that it may not be bad to order early. There can be minor discounts and you might catch items that are in short supply.

However my approach to the catalogs slows things down on it own. I bring them to bed to savor with a big black marker as they arrive and circle everything I would love to have at that moment. January is the month when I plant my dream garden. After the catalogs stop comming in February I try and get real. Xing out all the replicates (although I do sometimes buy the same thing from different companies with the excuse that I am doing research into the best vendor....right). I also then try and be reasonable and consider my bank account and the fact that I am not gardening a 40 acre spread. I tend to actually order in late early March. At that time I am in the grip of my seeds and seelings which actually reallly does sober me up. I think as years pass the catalogs will mostly just be the inspiration for my January dream garden.

Or, how to keep from ordering *MORE* now?

I took the order-early-before-they-run-out approach earlier this week. I spent way way way too much but it was tons o' fun. About 30 plants among 3 places. Now, it is not so hard to put the catalogs aside when they arrive. I've gotten my fill. How long will it last is the big question though!

Ellen, I haven't ordered from WFF in years, but they still send me about 4-5 catalogs a year. They used to send one about every few weeks (it seemed) which was so ridiculous. This is much better. Their prices are really outrageous. And the majority of their stuff is not so special.

I managed to keep some (SOME!) of my seed buying under control by buying a grand piano this year.

:)

drippy, that's an interesting approach, but sort of a one-time deal, don't you think? I mean, buying plants may be a really bad habit, but buying grand pianos could get out of control much faster.

I also agree with wendyb; wff has a lovely catalog but most of the plants are available locally for less money, in bigger sizes, these days. On the other hand, it's a really nice place to visit, and thinking I might go there helps me resist ordering from their catalog.

I have a harder time with forestfarm, heronswood, and plants delights, where there are choices/varieties that you just don't see every day.

MoR, I'll drive the getaway minivan. It's so nondescript that they'd never even consider pulling it over to check for criminal activity. We should have no trouble forming a band of horticultural criminals, as we've already got our monikers. I noticed that was really important for this kind of work, on the Sopranos. Back when I could afford hbo, before I spent all my money on plants.

darn, I just got my forestfarm catalog. Its chock full but no pictures makes it kinda hard to get too carried away. You really have to focus and go look up things to find images.

The Chalk Hill Clematis "catalog" just came too, but it was not even a catalog. Just a 1 sheet list of variety names in tiny font with running text. Why bother?

Also, I happened on a new (to me) mail order plant site that seemed worth a try and I didn't even need a catalog. They don't do catalogs.

I did some ordering from Plants Delight without their catalog -- just on things I knew I wanted. Their catalog is too frustrating because there is so much that is too tender for my area.

DtD, I can't believe you can hit File->close after filling up a cart. What restraint!!!

Oh dear, I just remembered I forgot to visit Song Sparrow...another fav place... back later...

For obvious reasons I've been avoiding this thread. Today I took a peek. Then out of morbid curiosity I checked out a few of my favorite nurseries on line. For those of you who are into container gardening and tender stuff, the 2006 Singing Springs catalog is up on-line. Time to check out Fairweather Gardens...good grief it's all starting again!

Sue

Like Sue, I've been avoiding this too, but today I caved and read. You guys are too funny! Amanda, I follow your method up to the part where you look at pictures of your garden. I do the whole list thing, whittling down, etc.

My first thought was to post: why would you WANT to keep from ordering now? But then I thought that that might not be too thoughtful or helpful. :)

So, what I do, is I do order now, (or sometime in the next two weeks or so) and once I put my order in, that's it. I'm pretty good about not adding to my order(s) once it's in. I have one or two places I order from, order early to get discounts, etc., and then I'm pretty good, at least until April or so, lol!

It also helps if you do seeds, and especially if you winter sow. This way, you can get your early urges out of the way by ordering seed, and then avoid plant-buying urges by spending your time winter-sowing. I find if I'm busy actually "gardening", I won't spend as much time thumbing through catalogs and daydreaming and spending!

:)
Dee

Sue (VTSkiers) I can't believe the Pentas offered by the Singing Springs Nursery. I've been looking for taller pentas. I really want the seeds but may have to settle for the plants. You happy with the sized plants you've gotten from there?

Seum37, I've never actually ordered from Singing Springs (I've made lists though-lots of lists) but have heard good reports about the size and quality of their plants. They do have a 100% approval rating at Garden watchdog.

Sue

Ha! If you guys are just ordering now, you are way late! I'll bring the stick up masks! I found Della Conway, who sells Japanese Maples. I have 2 large ones coming from her. I also have a bunch of daylillies coming as well. I decided that any roses that don't do well this winter will be replaced with daylillies. I'm also have 3 hazelnuts coming this spring. And I haven't even started looking at catalogs yet.

Terry-
Are you a J-Maple enthusiast? How do we know which one to choose? There are so MANY!!!!!!!!!!

OK, here's what I do. Buy! Buy! Buy!
But seriously, I have one of those Christmas Club accounts that I put money into each week, but I don't use the money to buy Christmas presents -- noooooooo..... it's my gardening fund.

I started Wintersowing for the first time this year. It doesn't help with the buying, though. I put out 61 containers of seeds -- 90% of which were trades. Now I'm furiously looking through catalogs for more seed to buy. It is very sobering though to see how much seed costs when you just buy what you want. I was at the Thompson Morgan website looking through perennials -- they have this option where you can add things to your shopping cart and they'll hold the list for two weeks. I was just browsing, adding things that I liked that were "different" -- I thought I was being really selective, and not at all impulsive. I looked at my total -- it was $57!!!! For seeds!!!!!!!!

LOL, gaelicgardener, my initial list at T&M was over $150! I pared it down, though, and I think my final purchase was around $50. But I look at it two ways. One, I plan (or at least plan on *trying*, lol) to sow only half a packet of each kind of seed, instead of the whole thing, and saving the other half for next year. Secondly, when I think of how much all those plants would have cost me if I bought them potted from a nursery, $50 doesn't seem so bad.

I like your Christmas Club idea...

:)
Dee

I ordered from Johnny's Selected Seeds this evening and I feel great! Ordering from plant and seed catalogs on line is more fun than going to the mall and less expensive. I would rather have exotic plants instead of a new sweater any day. I advise to give in to temptation and order to your heart's content!

Cheers!

Mmqc-yes I am a JM fan. You're right-there seems to be a million, and many are very similar. I don't have a huge collection (yet :0 )-just 5 at the moment. Choosing the right ones for the look you want is the hard part. 2 years ago I wanted a small grower with specific leaf color for the corner of a raised bed. Well, I bought a Kashima without knowing that it is the tinest JM in existance. Vertrees says it is very dwarf. That is an understatment. It will probably always be too small for the location, but it's minature leaves are so cute.
The 2 trees that I'm buying this year are chosen for fall color-I wanted a strong orange and a bright red, so I bought Hogyoku (orange) and Osakazuki (red). I bought Vertrees book (thanks to a nice Barnes and Noble gift card for christmas) and have spent quite a lot of my time reading descriptions. It helps to have an idea of what you want as you start looking. It would be very easy for me to want (and buy if I had the cash) many trees, but I'm trying to restrain myself. It helps that the more desirable cultivars are not readily available here at nurseries, so I have to mail order. That stops the impulse buys when I'm out shopping. That and the fact that JMs are pricey.

Okay now that the snow is gone...I'm cleaning up all the leaves that I didn't get to a few months ago.

Oh, my sister-in-law gave me another gift certificate to White Flower Farm (the only way I'd buy from them as stuff is $$$). I also get the great catalogue from Klehm's Song Sparrow. That catalogue will get you all hyper to plant!! I think I look through all these catalogues and draw up all sorts of senarios. Of course I have a limited budget. Then there is Johnnys Selected Seeds and Seeds for Change.

See, with the snow gone and the warm days we had..what is a gardener to do?

:) Good morning... it's a beautiful thing to see I am not the only one possessed with the urge to buy... I just checked all my lists and the total was well over $200!! I nearly choked on my Dunkin Donuts and my fiance nearly choked me even after I tried to justify the expense by saying "think about how much we spend in fresh produce"... my children are still shaking their heads at me "crazy mommy" and they are the wise ages of 6&8!! Ahhh it feels good to dream... its almost like looking at the Sears wish book when I was a kid!! I am new to this site.. and I have to say thank you for the refreshing laugh this morning, I really needed it after seeing the blanket of snow and finding out the munchkins had no school.

Ok I just put two orders in this week. I was pretty restrained. I ordered 6 different, tall Penta plants and a Fuchsia triphylla 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt' from Singing Springs Nursery. (Thanks VTSkiers for pointing to this nursery!) For me, it is difficult to find the tall pentas at the nurseries near me. Also I struck out trying to get seeds for the tall pentas. So I told myself it was prudent to order them now!

From Old House Gardens, I ordered some Canna, Dahlia and Gladiolus bulbs spending around $100 total for both orders. Other than a few packs of seeds that I'm going to get at the stores or the garden shows this is the extent of my orders. I mostly start seeds (that I've saved) and enjoy going to local nurseries in the spring time so I try to be restrained in ordering now.

Diggerdee - your plan to save seed packets from year to year is good one. I've saved many seed packets in two large mason jars in my refridge for years now and I've had good germination rates from them. It is scary when I take the seeds out and see the 'packed for dates'! Just be sure to store in a tightly closed jar, in the refridge not freezer. Also I put some of the dessicant packets that come in shoe boxes or inside pocketbooks into the jars. I don't know if this helps I like to think it keeps the moisture out of the jars.

Ahhh...so strange. I read this thread about 3 weeks ago and it was about NOT buying a lot, I come back and see everyone has run amuck. Going to have to start a 12 step program I see! [g]

adam

Thanks for the tips, Sedum. I just started my winter-sowing last this week, and I am trying soooooo hard to restrain myself and not sow the entire packet, lol!

Adam, want to lead the group, lol?

:)
Dee

For JM fans, don't forget Mountain Maples (mountainmaples.com)! They have an online and a mailer catalogue.

As for resolve, mine went out the window last weekend at Logee's. Now I have a load of tropical and semi-trop plants sitting in the sunroom, waiting to go outside in May. And I brought home a Logee's catalogue too. Bad move.

AdamM321 - we've missed you around here. Haven't seen you posting lately. I am so garden starved I am constantly on Gardenweb at work. Work is slow right now so nothing to do but look at GW and order plants. I think ordering around $100 plants was very restrained for me. Hey we have to have some fun don't we!

You seen any seeds in the local stores? I think I remember that you like to check out the stores for seeds. I have been avoiding the big box stores trying to prevent getting a cold but may be convinced to take a trip if they had seeds in the stores...

Heeeeellllllllllllp; trying to get Johny's Seeds order down to a remotely reasonable size...I cannot grow vegetables, anyway. Someone please make me sane.

I'm also very happy to see Adam here. And I admire (and sympathize with) your willingness to risk your health in the pursuit of seeds, Sedum37.

Amanda

Okay, isn't this warm weather driving us nuts, as it is only February 2! Too early for spring planting fever.

Anybody who is going nuts can come over to my house and help me put in a patio.

Anybody?