Good heavens! Such a long list - I am sure all of these are good ideas. When you say "common myrtle", do you mean vinca/periwinkle? That is also called myrtle here in the US. If that is what you mean, I am amazed that you have had trouble establishing it - here we have trouble controlling it! It is one of the few plants (along with peas, and some roses) which survive in old Gold Rush towns in Calif., long after the original homes where they were planted have disappeared. It is one way to tell where the old homes were, in fact.

My list is just to take care of the plants we have already at the moment - making good progress with that, now that our great nephew is coming to work with us once a week.

Jackie

I love the plans for your woodland garden, Melissa! The violets and primrose sound so pretty!

I always have so many projects kicking around, too. Here are the ones that keep floating around in my head these days:

-Take cuttings of the herbs (basil, oregano, lavender, agastache, etc.) that I want to spread around the garden this year;

-Sow seeds for the veggie and cutting garden;

-figure out how to root some of my existing roses;

-make new trellises for all my berries;

-make potting mix for the new rose bands on their way here;

-Finish painting the old bench that will become a perch for the cats/trellis;

-Build a bathtub wormbin for the shady side of the yard;

-refinish and hang the old garden swing.

That‘s only maybe a third of what I need to do, but that’s enough to think about for now. I love the creative opportunities of a new garden, but often forget about the reality of execution. I’m famous for thinking I can do all this in a weekend, lol!! :-)

My "garden helper" sadly is unavailable until March 23 after his first and only visit, and who knows how often after that, which means that my main project, putting barriers around the roses, is in abeyance. Perhaps my husband and I can do some of that because it needs to be done soon, before the pruned roses leaf out and the new roses begin to seriously grow.

Jackie, no, I mean actual myrtle, Myrtus communis. It's not generally considered hardy around here, but I've had a plant in the ground for several years that has gone through the coldest freeze since 2000 without damage. Periwinkle is native and grows like a pest, including the charming variegated forms. I wish I could grow them without them taking over the garden.

My list of projects is huge partly because I don't have an old established garden like yours. Also projects have mounted up because our weather the past few years has been difficult: a major drought in 2016-2017, and another started in 2018 and going on now, though the effects will be felt this summer, at least if the weather doesn't change course drastically.

Perma n' Posies: exactly!! Have fun! Oh, and, yes, the woodland flowers are delightful, and they come in March when there isn't that much in bloom. A couple of plants of, say, Erythronium dens-canis isn't impressive, but a woodland carpeted in them--which I have seen--is a wonder.

Ingrid, I hope you get the protection completed. We have a significant animal problem here, too, though I think not as serious as yours. And the new rose foliage is so lovely.

Please, folks, keep the projects coming!

Ingrid, I bet if you and your DH started small, like just one or two barriers, you could do it on your own. I sure wish we weren’t so far apart, or I’d be offering to come and help.

My sister has fibro, CF, and several other related health issues, and her plants bring her so much joy, too—but it’s challenging, because she never knows what her energy levels will be. She’s really helped me learn how to pace myself better, and how to be content with steady, albeit slower progress instead of over-doing it to try to get it all done in one day. :-)

I need to hire a tree pruner and really need someone who can do heavy digging. Or I have convinced myself that digging out certain plants is too hard for me. Maybe I could do it if I'd chip away at it. I have done 99% of the digging here up to this point but it's hard to dig out an established plant.

I'd like to buy some somewhat clayey topsoil. I have an old fish pond hole to fill in and I'd like to raise up some areas.

I need to look freshly at parts of my yard that are not being used.

I have some seed orders and old seeds that I'm excited to try. Here are some of the seeds:

Gomphrena , Fireworks I have never grown gomphrena.

Pentstemon Electric Blue have a lot of seedlings

Anagallis Monelli

Ammi major

four or five kinds of campanula

Zinnia, Benary's Giants

Orlaya tried this last year with poor germination, but did get one plant

Bells of Ireland

Convolvulus

Blackberry lily

Heliotrope

CHinese Forget Me Not

Looking forward to seeing what some seed grown plants do from last year: Anchusa, and Verbascum chaixii.

Some of these came from my library's seed exchange. It's a neat thing..you bring what you've got, and take what you want.

I ordered 12 or 15 clematis plants last year and have been getting some of those planted. I hope they'll be happy. I don't know...the soil drains fast here. I bought a new arbor a of couple days ago.

THe biggest outdoor project is for my husband to finish rebuilding the back yard fence for our dogs.

I have so many plans!! Starting some more seeds, getting my Vegetable garden down. Finish getting those horrible winter weeds, that didn't die. Plant more Rose's, aquire some more I really want to try, although, I am so very blessed with what I have. Start some more perennials from seed. Plant more rose seeds. Make my Tea bed. Cut out more oak seedlings. Plan where to put my cheap greenhouse. Fence my vegetable garden in. Redo my chicken pens, so I can get new chickens. Coon got most of what I had. Get a room built on to the house. Finish putting the rebar tripods out. Alot more I'm not naming I'm sure. Will most likely not get it all done this year.

I need to prune some trees as well, that I can reach, and find someone to do the others.

Wow Melissa, quite a list over extensive property but I know you have fun with it. It's interesting that you haven't had good luck getting lily of the valley to establish given that so many people find it invasive. I'd planted some in a nice garden bed of mine but the feedback scared me so much I moved it to a scrubbier area where it could take over to its heart's content. Of course now it refuses to spread at all or even bloom much. Guess we all have some plants that are "supposed" to do well in our areas that just aren't successful for us.

I can think of only three or four non-routine garden tasks that I have planned for this year: get an obviously dead pine tree taken out without damaging the rest of the shade bed (and roses) under it, set up pots of cucumbers and tomatoes on patio since the veggie patch really doesn't have enough sun, maybe replant strawberries in a new area, and finally (no shirking) learn how to take my own rose cuttings and get them to thrive. The problem for me is that within a cold zone, my prime time for taking cuttings is also my prime necessary time for planting roses, in both cases because they need maximal time to set down roots before the winter. I think this year I'll actually have some June time available for cuttings so I'm officially on record as having no excuses not to give it a go. I'll be providing cuttings for a new rose vendor of some of my roses anyway, so good heavens I should be able to stick a few of them into some sand at least to give it a try.

Other routine tasks include (in more or less chronological order):

- Label and organize last year's rose photos (I got sadly behind in those)

- Clearing away about 250 leaf bags providing winter protection for my beds

- Spread out leaves and alfalfa for mulch and fertilizer

- Prune and do survival checks for around 1000 roses

- Plant seeds for spring and then later summer vegetables

- Weed dandelions in lawn areas

- Prune some small but established fruit trees

- Enjoy and deadhead about 5000 spring bulbs

- Plant new roses in April/May (so far only at 260 of these)

- Buy and plant selected annual plants (like salvia and impatiens)

- Divide up perennials in yard and share with friends

- Nag (er, I mean remind) my kids/DH to mow as needed

- Do the annual "death march" in late June and pull out dead roses and tags

- Weakly fertilize new or wimpy roses with diluted liquids

- Keep up with deadheading, pruning, watering, and photos of roses

- Share bouquets with friends and neighbors

- Replenish leaf mulch in all garden areas as needed (& smile at lack of weeds)

- Start ordering next year's roses (usually by mid-summer I'm embarrassed to say)

- Tidy and tie up out of control climbers (always including Quadra)

- Fill and maintain my compost piles (remembering to empty them - sheeesh!)- Clip out faded perennials and control overly exuberant plants

- Plant around 3000 new bulbs in fall (minimizing major blood loss under roses)

- Rake and distribute fall leaves around garden beds, "reminding" kids to help

- Collect another year's worth of 250 filled leaf bags and place around rose beds

- Take a welcome 3 month's break from gardening for the winter.

Oh, and I forgot another important one that's year-round:

- Keep up with all my friends on GardenWeb and Garden.org

Cynthia

Oh gee! I constantly go through this list for my near term and long range plans. I'll stick to gardening ones, although some of the others affect using and enjoying the outstide. An easy thing I need to do as soon as the weather breaks is prune back some mulberry trees to afford a couple of roses and my lilac and peonies more light. While I'm at it I'll prune back some of the lower limbs of the front oak so the door to the walkway opens when it rains! I consider these sorts of things and digging rose holes more maintenance issues.

In terms of garden plans I'm still working on removing a couple of not too large volunteer trees from my "hill". This are is on top of a LONG dry stone wall that abuts another wall. It got out of control and I'm almost there removing bad trees. Next I'll transplant the Cornus Mas saplings I've been nursing to grow against the upper wall and start removing all the invasive vines.

I'm growing various Hydrangeas from cuttings and hope to find some other nice large bushes for cheap to go in this area. I may plant a crabapple or something of that sort at the very furthest edge. I plan to remove the vines in sections starting with the top to plant the trees and moving to the front to plant the roses that will spill over the wall. Lastly I'll empty the mid-section where I hope to put some large roses and other bushes. I put down old carpet to stop the vines regrowing and it's worked well in other areas. I'm hopeful that some spring flowers and summer perennials will reappear when I remove it and put down leaf mold. Last year very unusual tulips appeared in a cleared section as well as some gorgeous Cardinal flowers. I was recently sent an image of this part of the garden from 1925 and it was exactly how I've planned it, but with more perennials. We'll see how that goes! This should keep me fairly well occupied, but I also hope to remove the rest of the bush honeysuckle and clear out another small hill so it looks like the old picture. That area will eventually get some large bushy roses or maybe I'll just use Red Cascade along it and the rest will just get mowed. There's another area, but I decided to focus on concrete work and the above and leave the other smaller area and arbor and shed for next year. This is why I'm planting all my climbers in the front and am now focusing on OGRs for the hill.

Oh yeah! I forgot my brainstorm of last fall. My yard is on levels and I plan to put in a hedge and gate leading into this back "L" area. I think it will really help delineate this area, especially if I ever get the arbor built at the end of the grass allee. It sounds very grand, but is a mess at the moment. MUCH better that last year though. I've been at it starting with my out of control hedges in 2015, so having a plan has helped me see what has been accomplished as it's discouraging otherwise. I only have myself to blame for it getting our of control though. : ((

Wow, so many projects. I should add that my own projects I listed are mostly the little oddball ideas I get so many of, and that like everybody else I'm up to my neck in maintenance, and have a large program of basic planting I hope to complete in a few years (ha). Right now the major maintenance project is pruning the big warm climate climbers, though I'm also dealing with weeds, and spent part of yesterday sawing a low-hanging branch out of a maple down in the woods and then cutting it up. So much to do.

Cynthia, your energy level must be amazing. Have fun! Alana and Erasmus, good luck on your projects.

Bart, thanks for the mention, that's helpful. I looked at the nursery's site, and it's promising. I'm only sorry they don't offer Italian buckthorn (Rhamnus alternifolia), but the P. lentiscus is certainly welcome.

Vaporvac, your project sounds promising, and what a pleasure to meet another fan of Cornus mas. This elegant plant is native here and is currently flowering in the woods. It's not abundant on our property and I continue to plant it.

Aw, jeez, I want to read this thread but just can't! I have far too many projects myself ,and am trying not to stress about them. But I have so much catching up to do, since I've been out of commission for so long, and now I have flu or something,so I'm stuck at home once again,and the silly weather is so bad; drought in early spring??? I've had to already start watering,and that means that I also have to get the water myself and put it in the tanks .So yet again,I have to put off completing projects. I haven't even got the pruning done...

Melissa, I did order from them once, back when they were the Neoplantarum,and was satisfied with the plants. I also think it's nice that one can get very young plants ; I'm beginning to think that this is really the best approach for planting in rough, dry terrain. However, if I had to do it over, I think I would have grown the plants in pots for one year after recieving them before putting them out.I think this helps reduce transplant shock a great deal.

When thinking of carpets of woodland flowers I am reminded of my grandma Kathy’s house in the spring. She had a beautiful carpet of forget-me-nots under a stand of wild cherry trees. Her property bordered dense evergreen woods typical of Western Washington in the Pacific Northwest, but the stand of cherries let in light. At the time I didn’t realize that she weeded and cared for this area to get it to look so spectacular. As an adult I realize this carefree ‘wild’ sea of blue was almost certainly manicured to some extent. Forget-me-nots will always remind me of her and hold a special place in my heart. In my garden, I hope to have a ground cover of scented violets on the North side of our house. Here is what a field of violets looked like at Descanso Gardens last week.

gosh, stephanie, that is what my north side regularly looks like. I guess I should embrace it. Your grammy's yard sounds lovely. Bart.... I also find it stressful thinking about everything I need to do but when I have a plan it helps ease that. I'm sure you know that already, but just doing what little I've been able to has helped keep the disaster to a low roar.

One of my problems is the fact that I try to make a plan, but circumstances always seem to come up and block it's completion. One of the worst problems in my garden is the lack of decent rose supports. I was hoping to work on making these whilst doing pruning,but the continuing lack of rain has forced me to instead turn my attention to watering -and-mulching.Nor did I ever complete distributing manure around. So my entire garden looks a mess:half-exposed cardboard mulch ,bags of manure,half-done rose supports all over the place. O, and I forgot to mention: there are still many areas that I have yet to clean up from last summer's weeds, etc. So I wonder if there's something really wrong with my psyche that makes me sort of "want" to fail and get in my own way,and that my total garden project is just folly, or if it's essentially a good, brave idea, but very ambitious and therefore just requires a vast amount of patience and steadiness. The bottom line is, I guess,that I have to remember to focus on the mentality expressed by many of us in Melissa's "Some of your favourite things in your garden" thread,rather than on the concept of a garden as a sort of "performance" or "show" that one is trying to "pull off".That is, at bottom, something with which I have almost zero sympathy,so there is really no good reason that I should buy into that mentality. Embrace the caos,lol!

Well I always have a list of projects in my head, some are small & some are large. Many are just a step up from regular maintenance, but they will help make the garden look better too.

Come spring weather - which could be April or May here. Prune all roses & cut back perennials that are woody. All the leafy perennials turn to mush over winter! Give the beds that have grass a nice sharp edge. Weed everything while I can see it easily.

I have been contemplating removing some non performing plants even though I keep hoping they will improve. I have 4 mac type hydrangeas that never give me any blooms. lucky to get one bud to survive winter. But it's hard because I really like their growth habit, structure & look in the garden. There are a few roses that are puny or I just don't like and need to be replaced. Again I leave them in the hopes they improve.

I have also been contemplating overall structure of the gardens and am trying to edit the beds to be more uniform. I struggle with this because I like so many plants, but when I see shows or books with designer gardens they are always saying to plant only a few types in larger patterns. Which look lovely, but is very limiting in a small yard. It's such a fine balance!

I need to remove a few horn beam trees that got winter killed halfway in a row that I really liked. But even if they grow back they will never be very suitable in that setting as it could happen again. I need to find something comparable a few zones lower. This has really taught me not to zone push on larger items in the garden such as trees and shrubs. It's a bigger job that I'm just not looking forward to.

Last year we built a shed with porch and fenced in veggie patch, need to add a patio/walkway/garden in front of the shed porch.

The sides of our house are a boring mess. Both are smaller alleys being in a subdivision. One side is shared with a neighbour, very narrow, damp & dark, so we are planning to just fill with gravel and steppers for drainage. The other side is a wider space and I would like to create a pretty walkway with lush shade plants. These are the 2 projects slated for this spring. However, we have toyed with the idea of a pool for years. Being our swim season is so short and the project is so costly we have not gone for it. Instead we have decided to install a swim spa this April. We can use it all year long. So now all the other projects have been put on hold. But once it is in, my husband is going to be building a whole area around it. Adding in decking, steps, privacy structure & creating a room like feel via a simple pergola type room structure. Which means I have to move some plants & change out an area. Once that's done we need to create new gardens and walkways to tie in that area with the existing patio. It will be a lot of work & will take the whole season & probably part of next season too. Since we are doing everything ourselves besides the concrete pad it will take a lot of time & energy. Thankfully my husband can build everything, he is a skilled carpenter, it really helps with keeping the costs down. It's almost daunting the amount of work involved, but it's very exciting and I get to create more gardens! It's difficult to explain the look we want, but we really want to fit it into the yard without it looking like a giant box in the yard. We have been using houzz images to formulate our ideas and make a plan together. I show him how I want it to look & he tells me if it's possible. It will be a very busy season, but I also dream of swimming when it's hot & in the fall we can turn up the heat and enjoy the crisp air flowing around our heads.