You may not have it all written down, but it sounds like you know what you want to end up with, you're learning how to get what you (and the plants) want and your method is working well... not everyone is willing to take the time and patience needed for writing good notes, and I think that is okay as long as it works well. Do keep in mind that many folks have mentioned how difficult it is to remember specifics after a couple years... which is when at least a minor bit of record-keeping comes in handy. So do try to keep a central notebook to jot down what you planted, where, and when. I also add comments regarding the soil and the season's weather since both can really affect growth-- not fair to blame the plant if it wants drainage but is planted in a bog -- and it's nice to know which ones survive in spite of poor conditions.

Take photos! If you can, use a digital camera so that $$ goes for the good shots, not for blurs or incomprehensible ones. If I had to choose between my extensive notes and the photos, I have no hesitation in saying that I'd keep the far-too-few photos and let the notes go! My biggest regret is that I have very few photos from the beginning of my garden (and no notes either), and not nearly enough pix are taken during each year. I have gotten very good at actually labeling plant names on the photos, and really find them useful when ordering new plants (as in: oh yeah that site only gets sun during summer noons; or oops, no way can I fit xxxx shrub into that bed unless I move xyz and zyx out). Do stand a tapemeasure or yardstick up (or across) in some, it's fascinating when the plant advertised at 24" two years later actually grows to 40 inches -- and hides the 36" that was supposed to complement it :)

I am glad I have notes-eapecially as my hosta, daylily, rose and sedum collection continue to grow-that way I don't keep buying the same thing. I keep my garden notebook in the bathroom, so when I come in from the yard I can easily jot down a few notes. I seperate it by days, so during the following year I know what I did last year. I also have a month page to remind me to spray the peaches, spray the eunomyous for scale, etc. Pictures are great-so much fun to see how things have changes-how the trees looks in full bloom and how much they have grown. We used to have 5 acres, but moved & now have just 2 1/2 acres. you are starting out right, put the plants where they want to grow!!! At this house I have 'maps' of yard areas. I don't have every plant listed and where it is, but use it to remember that I have a Ayer pear already. I have a red haven peach and a alberta-so I know to get a different type. remember we all move plants around ALOT. I keep a list of trees so I don't plant too many of one kind--so when a new dreaded bugs comes along, that all my trees end up dead. I know the naturalistic thing to do is to have a small selection-but be realistic-do you want a yard of only dead green ash trees? Even with 5 acres put up some 2x4 to mark your corner property lines-no matter how big your yard, the neighbor always seem to think some of it belongs to them. Wow free mulch, lucky you-I have to buy mine from Ann Arbor recycle-but the chips and compost are a great price. gardening is ever changing as you get new ideas, as your body changes, or if you move on. Read All the books at the library under gardening, and Landscaping-Join a garden club if you can-their fun too.

I'd suggest you search the archives of the Landscape Design forum for threads regarding home use design software - this discussion comes up frequently. The consensus is that 95% of it is worthless, with some that offer photographic modeling possibly helpful but with a generally deceptive appearance in the result produced. Even professional designers disagree on the value of design software, with many preferring hand drafting and rendering but those who use it lean heavily toward the very expensive, high learning curve CAD programs.

Landscape software is a tool, much like paper and pencil is to a designer or spade and pruning shears to a gardener. Unless you have the skills and knowledge to use the tool, it's not going to be very helpful.

5 acres is a lot to organize and plan for - it could be intimidating to even very experienced gardeners to immediately get their hands around such a large chunk of land with widely varying growing conditions. There are a number of very well written home landscape design books that can help provide direction. Most will take you through a step by step process in how to evaluate your property and define your needs for it. They will also explain basic landscape design principles and how you can incorporate them to give your garden structure, flow and unity. This may seem a little esoteric to begin with but hang in there - there are very valid reasons why designers and these home landscaping texts refer to these principles and use them in developing a design.

One that I'd recommend highly for the layperson homeowner is Better Homes and Gardens "New Complete Guide to Landscaping", typically available at the book/magazine area of Lowes or HD as well as various book stores and retail garden centers. I refer to this text in my landscape design classes and most homeowners have found it very useful and easy to follow and understand.

Invest a few bucks in a good design text book and a camera and get hold of some gridded drafting paper and pencils and start making some plans. For a 3 dimensional effect you can always do tracing paper overlays of existing photos (digital or not), adding plants and features to see how they fit in the scale of things. It's not as difficult as you might imagine and the act of drawing out scale plans with mature sizes of plants carefully delineated will give you a much better sense of impact of the garden over time than inevitably deficient home design software will provide.

Wow. Thanks for that. I just learned a lot. I had a hunch the sfotware wasn't going to help me much, but I wanted to see if I was missing anything.

I am working my way through the books in my local library. I have read "The well-tended perennial garden" and sevral books on natives, etc. I can only seem to absorb so much at one time, though.

Chris, I think it was Clinton County that gives away free mulch- maybe your county will too. However, I don't think it's guaranteed clean- it's the remains of the trees they cut and other stuff, I think. I haven't gotten any yet, but I'll let you know.

Again, thanks everyone. I appreciate all input.