I wish I could map out my gardens, just to keep track of what I planted where when. But I frankly don't want to spend the time with pen and paper, and I can't find software that will help me do what I want to do.

Hi High,

I just have all mine labeled with white plant tags that I write on with "lead" pencil because it doesn't fade. And the bulbs I have marked with little pieces of different color coated wire stuck in next to them so I don't accidentally dig them up when I'm planting other stuff.

No time for maps! And it would change too often! Bet yours will too, and you'll give up on the OCD stuff pretty quickly!

Still can't believe how much you've gotten done in your yard in so short a time!

Skybird

P.S. Will try to answer your emails soon. Got stranded in the mountains one nite, and have an interesting story!

Oh my...obsessive/compulsive? *raises hand* I've been moving around little circles on a grid map of my (soon-to-be) first perennial bed for a few minutes, every few days, over the last several weeks! My husband tells our cats (lovingly of course!) that I am psycho...but I have always been a dreamer and a BIG planner and I doubt this will ever change. It's too ingrained in me. There are just some things in life that I wouldn't be able to start (or want to start) without putting pen to paper and putting some kind of masterplan together. But as I get more confident with gardening, I'm sure the planning will take less time the more I learn, and I won't have to obsess over things quite as much. :-)

I actually just finalized my "map" this morning. Added and subtracted, moved around and changed things many times as the days went by and I was able to hone in on the look I want to achieve (not that I don't fully understand that some things won't work at all and will either die or need to be moved somewhere else - I'm not completely delusional!). And I ordered 12 plants (the first of 22 altogether) this morning to put in with the bulbs I have coming in next month. I've never planted perennials before...eeek...so I am nervous but excited!

Hey High,

I admit I'm a little OCD, too. And yes, I have mapped out my large front yard flowerbed twice. Just did it this week so i can move some things before winter, and I wanted to be sure it was designed well.

If you're into this design stuff, you might enjoy a book I just read. It's "The Well Designed Mixed Garden" by Tracy DiSabato Aust. It's all about mixing perennials, shrubs, trees, annuals, and bulbs and making great flowerbed designs. When I first cracked it open, I thought it might disappoint (and I may have even posted here about it), but after reading it, I think it was a great book.

My disappointments on first look were that some of the photos weren't exposed as well as I thought they should be in a nearly $30 book. I also thought the chapter called "Encyclopedia of Plant Combinations" was a bit naive -- like you can really make an encyclopedic documentation of all the great plant combinations. I think now that it's just the name of that chapter that bugs me (more OCD, this time in the use of the English language, but that's partly because I write for a living!).

Anyway, I now find the book quite useful, because it teaches so well how to use color theory, texture, shape, rhythm, repetition, etc. She has a great section on putting it on paper that you'd love. Then there are the obligatory sample garden plans to help you see what a design on paper looks like.

So no, you are definitely not alone in wanting to put a design on paper!

Joining the club!

I did 2 or 3 grid maps of my raised vegetable beds before planting them. I think these will be handy next year in rotating crops to different spots. But for some plants the map was a little naive. I spaced everything on the map just the way the packets or labels said, but in reality the zucchini, potatos, squash and melons did not cooperate at all!

I also mapped out my new perennial garden that I planted this fall as well. I'm definately and OCD candidate!

Skybird, you touched on something that I was agonizing about this weekend... how to label plants so that the writing doesn't fade. I asked this question to someone at my favorite nursery this weekend, and they said pencil too! You put "lead" in quotation marks, though. Does that mean there are not pencils out there that are not lead?

Stevation, I think I'll check out that book. I need so much help on that front. I'd like to take some classes at the local community college, but don't have the time right now. DH picked up a special issue magazine about a month ago put out by Fine Gardening called "Plant Combinations". It's really about colors and which work well together. It uses a color wheel and talks about designing for harmony or contrast.

Of course I didn't didn't have this magazine when I ordered all the perennials for my new garden. But while I was waiting for them, I made a list of them by size and color (to use in creating my map) and noticed that almost everything I was buying was pink, purple or blue. So I decided that would be the theme of this garden and relagated the Rudebeckia to another space! We'll see how it looks next spring.

We have had rain off and on for the last 24 hours, close to 1 1/2" according to my rain gauge, so all of the plants I moved Saturday, have settled in nicely. The forecast low for tonight is 34 degrees, which has me a bit nervous though.

Thanks for the book suggestion, Steve. I have heard so many good things about her other book, "The Well Tended Perennial Garden", but haven't got around to buying it yet. Too busy spending all my money on more plants, compost, etc. I'm guessing the emphasis is more about maintenance, pruning guidelines and such, rather than design like the one you just read. I'll add them both to my Christmas wish list : )

I think my biggest mistake when I planned my garden last year, was believing the height and width listed in the catalogs, and on the plant tags. Now that I have seen their growth habits, I think I have things spaced out better for next year. The other thing I have been trying to do this year, is add more shrubs and perennials that have colored foliage, so that there is something of interest even when nothing's blooming.

Alice, I tend to gravitate more to the yellows, reds, and oranges, though I have allowed some peachy pinks, and there are touches of burgandy too. That is what is great about gardening, it is a way for personal expression.

Tunnymowg, I can relate to your anticipation. You are where I was at this time last year. It felt like receiving a present that you had to wait until next summer to open. It is amazing how fast everything filled in though, so your planning and patience will pay off.

Bonnie

Bonnie, just curious, regarding height and space, did you find that the tags and catalogs under or over estimated?

Oh, gee...I may not be OCD, but Darren is. I worry a little about the plan, so I write it all down, then I type it into a document, then I type it as an email draft and save it, just in case my HD crashes...you never know!! So, about two days ago, I started worrying about the snow and how things will get so covered up and that the map-ish notes I made might not be clear once the yard becomes completely redesigned by winter. Last year, we still had a mountain of snow four feet high in April!! I had no idea where anything was. When we got back from Canada, it was somewhat melted and we were able to see the path that we had forgotten all about. So, Darren said, "You need stakes so you can see where the beds are located." Oh, I thought and said, I've got lots of those, I'll put them out..."No," he said, "that wont due, first, you need taller stakes, at least six feet high. Then, you need to label each stake, in case one or more fall, break or get burried...." blah blah blah! He had a whole plan worked out and wound up verbally mapping the entire garden out loud. Well, I think I'll stick to my written map-ish list and description...and my spreadsheets... and my photos...oh, and my plant labels that I keep in a notebook...with all my handwritten notes. Oh, and my stakes. Although, tags might be a good idea, too...

Very funny JC... I can see what you mean about Darren being the OCD one in the family. ;)

I did remember reading in several places that one of the most common mistakes with perennials is planting too close together. I'm trying to give most things a bit more room than the largest width estimates I've seen, so hopefully I won't have to move too many things for lack of space. But I didn't plan for peonies very well. I only drew them two feet wide but was looking at all the different varieties the other day and saw that mature ones are supposed to get to about three feet! Ooops...so I had to take a couple of things out of the plan to make more room. Overall, I'd imagine that most catalogs and labels probably underestimate spread and height, would you all say that's true?

I am a sucker for white, blue, and light pink, so that's what will make up this first bed, with a 'Snow Fairy' Caryopteris and a couple of 'Husker Red' Penstemon to keep the whole thing from looking too bland. And I should have nice fall color too, with the Penstemons, a Spirea, a couple of Amsonias and some Asters. Maybe when I get around to the other side of the front yard someday I will do white, red and purple. I just planted a nice crabapple and lilac there a couple of weeks ago and would like to add some redtwigged dogwoods. Never been too fond of yellow, but I'm going to have to make space somewhere in my yard for orange and blue/purple...love that combo too!

Hi Alice,

Just have a minute. Got back from recurrent a little over an hour ago and have to get up at 0200 for a trip tomorrow!

The "lead" in lead pencils isn't really lead anymore, it's graphite---or at least that's what I've been led to believe! But it works the same as lead lead! Use a soft "lead" pencil and it'll make a good dark line that won't fade. I write on store-bought, white plastic labels.

Gotta go,
Skybird

You are right, Tunny! My experience has been that things spread out more than what they are "supposed to". Maybe the nurseries underestimate the width, so that people will buy more.

Either that, or things are reeeaally happy in my garden, LOL.

Thanks Skybird. Now that the garden is drying out I'll head out and remark everything. One more task on the never ending list! Sigh. I'm not complaining, really. But I just want to get caught up on something... garden, house, laundry.