Consider it a nursery bed for now...plant storage, like fabrics on a shelf to a fiber artist. As you grow in designing, you can move the plants around. I'm always moving things. That's gardening.

I’m with you. I moved onto an acre lot 4 years ago, and we moved a bunch of dirt around a year later, and then I just started planting indiscriminately. Bunches of plants from swaps, perennials from seed, re-seeding annuals, and anything on deep discount at Lowe’s.

Overall it’s looking great, but some beds have thrived and look awesome, while others are a constant struggle. You can really see the difference between the beds with great soil and the beds that I got a little too excited and started planting into clay. One bed I had a bunch of Shasta daisy starts and I put them as a border around the edges, not realizing how large they get. Most of my beds struggle with grass growing through them. I really regret not planting more trees and shrubs when I had a blank slate (this “planning” you speak of).

Have I learned my lesson? I have to admit, apparently not. I’m working on a new bed, and the first thing I did was plant things before the rest of the bed was prepared. I’m desperately trying not to plant anything more until my bulb order arrives and I get them into the ground, but we just had a garden swap and I have a bunch of plants looking for homes. So...

At this point I’ve accepted that it will take a couple/few tries before each bed starts resembling what I’ve got in my head, or it turns into its own awesome self that erases the image I originally had (more common). I’m more of a “grand vision” person and all the little details of getting from here to there are not my strong suit. And unlike something like, say, quilting where you make a plan, carry out the plan, and then it’s done, gardening is much more fluid, more of a dance between gardener and garden.

I am going to compile a longer list of lessons learned this year, but here are few relevant to your situation. I learned to just cut flowers or foliage that turned out to be the wrong color or in the way and use them for arrangements. You don't feel it's a waste and can move the plant in fall or spring. I learned that it's very difficult to time blooms and to count on the heights and sizes of plants. All will change radically from year to year depending on weather and other factors. I don't know the solution to this (other than to enjoy the ride) except to make more use of pots so things can be moved. I need to make a list of plants that do well in pots: lilies, dahlias, other? Finally I learned to mark out with stakes and strings where I direct sow seeds, and label label label..

One of my lessons learned was to think ahead to a time when the upkeep was going to be too much. I would have used more shrubs and masses of lower maintenance perennials. I would have kept the size of the beds smaller to make the mulching less of a huge chore. I would have been less of a plant collector, but where’s the fun in that?

I now have a smaller yard and am trying to restrain myself. I’m limiting my collecting/impulse purchases/experiments to a smaller area.

I guess it depends on whether you’re landscaping or gardening, and at what stage of life you find yourself.

Didn't you have a great garden at your old house? I doubt you made as big a mess of things as you're saying. Sometimes we are our own worst critics.

Right now a lot of my garden fits the definition of having a face only a mother could love, lol. But I do love it. For instance, I'll never have beautiful pathways, just my single file pavers that I was able to carry up the hill and dig in myself, but they're efficient.

Some mistakes with plants are fixable, like I've been ridding myself of unruly floppers, but that Viburnum twig I planted three ft. from the pathway will have to stay even though it's huge now. I'm limbing it up like a tree so I can pass by. So some things a professional landscaper would call a mistake, I think are all a part of my garden's charm.

Although, not all are charming. One big mistake -- planting ivy , ugh! Why, oh why, did I want to cover up rock walls with ivy!?! Why didn't I heed the warnings??? ... You know who likes ivy? Rats!

Oh, and when I started here with a blank slate, I did put it down on paper. But I was new to gardening, so things didn't always work out. I found making a plan to scale was not my forte.

But it's still a lot of fun, right?

I’ve learned that even though I meticulously plan my new garden beds using software & paper, I still find reasons to move stuff around. I think on average, I move plants twice before finding their final location. I end up loving the final result, and so do my visitors, but I laugh out loud when people suggest I do this professionally! I would be your nightmare of a landscaper!! :) :)

Today, I cut down most of a Vitex agnus that I had completely misplaced when I first planted it! I did that a lot (put plants in the wrong places), but most of the trees are there to stay. I know I need to map out the garden on paper, but I just never seem to sit down to do it! I want to reconfigure the island bed out front, but I worry I will make a wreck of it. So, I feel your pain and I too am wishing for the day I can hire a designer to help me! For now, I will try to plan out things this winter, too!

my brother took me to tractor supply for chicken feed yesterday .... they had machetes .. 2 for twenty bucks.. full tang .... lol ... i thought of you ... and tried to persuade him he needed one.. or two .... for his tiny ann abror lot... lol .. i tried to picture us walking into zingermans deli with them strapped on our belts .... probably would have triggered safe space issues with all the students ....

plans are fun to conceptualize ... but limited by reality .... not unlike a war plan or a football game plan ...... it all goes to heck.. as soon as you meet the enemy ....

imo ..... a garden is ever evolving ... and as such ... you are always tweaking it ... as everything changes ... its just the circle of life .... and as such ... you should never really be frustrated by it all .... it should be stimulating .... a failure of none thing.. is an opportunity for the next thing.. even if it ends up being a failure.. lol ...

the only thing that is not variable.. is hardscape ... so that kind of stuff ... MUST be planned

ken

"i tried to picture us walking into zingermans deli with them strapped on our belts .... probably would have triggered safe space issues with all the students..."

ROFLMAO!!! You are so right on the money with that LOL!

Sometimes I think we, as gardeners are our worst critics; focusing on what we think is wrong with our creations and miss all the beauty. Camp, what you describe as a 'jumbled heap of stuff' I see as charming and artful. And mxk3 I wouldn't be so quick to demolish that bed. Sometimes it takes a bed 2-3 years to fully display our unexpected and unplanned genius.

Campanula, maybe I'm weird, but I rather like your cluttered, gloriously bonkers look, and the passiflora in the greenhouse is a nice touch. Do you forget plants and then rediscover them?