what is VERT

Vertical.

I put things very close together and trim and take cuttings to play with all summer. Some occasional guidance and maintenance.

"Proper spacing?" According to who? There are no rules. Garden in whatever way brings the most joy to you.

when you overplant.. that means the size of your garden is out of whack with your budget ..

if you had say 5 acres to cover.. i suspect.. you would run out of money long before you overplanted.. lol .. dont you think. ..

ken

I buy usually just 1 or 2 of something, and propagate more. I don't really have a plant budget, especially this year. Ouch!

This spot wtarted with 1 puny stem. (Tradescantia pallida)

This was naked ground this spring. Now filled with propagated cuttings.

The 2 Begonias and the Geraniums (Pelargoniums) were purchased. The rest of the plants are propagations.

I definitely over plant, more like packed like sardines. :) But I have a tiny balcony to fill and I do start a lot from seeds. Over planting is mostly because I can't bring myself to thin seedlings so they all live and get a piece of the action. Other reasons to over plant:

Lots more flowers

I don't get as much sun as everything I grow is supposed to get so more plants compensate for the slower growth, fewer flowers that are expected as a result.

Insurance -There is always some pest or disease that rears its ugly head in July - broad mites on dahlias, torenias...., assorted fungal wilts on petunias, snapdragons.... Having more plants makes it easy to have a presentable garden despite all the havoc... Right now I have about 60 nicotianas, two dozen fuchsias, two dozen straw flowers, a dozen plus poppies and stock flowers tucked into every pot there is besides so me roses and camellias, several clematis, a honeysuckle, a raspberry, a peony, sweet peas......

Also, violas, nemesia, dipladenia, columbines, ground cherry, peppers, several jasmines....

You nicotinas have come along quite well!

I almost always think I'm planting with a good amount of space between, but then things take off and it's a packed ship. It doesn't help that I have a lot of reseeding things which need me to adult a little and rip out, if they all stayed it would be a disaster. One of the best things I did was grow out of the 'save everything' phase. I don't need thousands of verbena or sunflowers, I only need a few so out they come.

I'm with Tiffany on the propagating too, and that doesn't help. I bought a nice coleus on clearance and before it went into a planter I already had five cuttings potted up. I'm going to rip out some early bloomers this weekend and hopefully give some things more room and find homes for a bunch of the other seedlings and cuttings sitting next to the garage. I am definitely not a Mothers day, one and done planter, things get pulled and planted all season until the ground freezes :)

Getgoing, that's fantastic!

Why have a flower bed and not use all of the space?

Or a pot?

Getgoing, you nailed it! LOL. All great reasons for planting too closely, especially this:

"...Over planting is mostly because I can't bring myself to thin seedlings so they all live and get a piece of the action..."

Yup.

Your balcony is gorgeous!

:)

Dee