Japanese maples. They were some of the very first things i planted and planned around. I also plan around my fruit trees.

I'm still at the planning stage and find myself potting stuff up rather than putting it in ground - due to the "Somedays". You know: "Someday" I'll have someone remove that nasty Wild Cherry Tree... "Someday" I'll terrace the slope and have a level place to plant... etc.

I know that I plan around the stuff I love the most - Japanese Maples, Contorted Filberts, Roses, etc. I always have one of those V-8 moments when I find a new large plant/tree to love... Where do I put the Dwarf Cherry or Pomegranate tree???

I started gardening because I also golf and fell in love with the azaleas and dogwoods at Augusta National (site of The Masters golf tournament every spring in GA). I had a creek running through my property and went about recreating the plantings at amen corner (the 11th, 12th and 13th holes at Augusta).
Ten years ago I was invited to go down and see the golf course in person and learned that before the property was a golf course, it had been a nursery and every hole on the course is named after different plants.
So after 10 years of gardenening I still have a strong affection for azaleas and dogwoods.

All I wanted when I first moved to NC were irises. Can't have too many! Now I have blueberry terraces, a lavender bed, various day lilies, and am ever increasing the herbs and vegetable garden. There are SO many plants to love here! Future plans are to make a hosta border (WHO knew you could grow these from seed!!!) on a path near the creek, and transplant some of the rooted azaleas there as well. I really enjoy the dogwoods, and am looking forward to planting fruit trees at some point. So many garden plans, so little time! :)

Back before I brought my horses home my garden was defined by the few plants that performed well, lol. I could always count of Rudbeckia fulgida "Goldsturm", which is very lovely in dappled shade, and swamp sunflower.

Now I just grow everything I can get my hands on.

Back before I brought my horses home my garden was defined by the few plants that performed well, lol. I could always count of Rudbeckia fulgida "Goldsturm", which is very lovely in dappled shade, and swamp sunflower.

Now I just grow everything I can get my hands on.

My defining plants are not shrubs or trees, but daylilies, iris, canna, calla and elephant ears. I use them in almost all my gardens. I have a rather eclectic collection of common and rare plants. Because of an ever-decreasing amount of space, I am becoming more choosy about what I grow, though.

Sally

Hydrangeas, Azaleas, Clematis Elsa Spath, Southern Red Oak, Southern Magnolia, Black Tulip Magnolia, Japanese Styrax "Emerald Pagoda", Confederate Jasmine...those should be the main things...I guess the lawn too :)

These are all great responces, please keep it up.

Magick,
If it wasn't for my "somedays" I'd have a very sparce yard. I moved from NC with half of a 24' Penske truck devoted to my "somedays". Believe it or not I had to make two more 5hr trips with a trailer LOADED to bring the rest, and I still left perennials and some trees and shrubs behind! I am happy to now have about an acre open for my experiments.

Tamelask,
I think Jap maples can't help but be centerstage. This creates problems for those collectors, like me, who have 8 trees all vying for attention.

Ncdirtdigger,
That's very interesting about the golf course, and what a great story as to how you became a gardener. I challenge anyone who sees the spring display of azeleas and dogwoods throughout our area to not fall in love with their brilliance.

Rosebush,
It seems that one can never have enough time for all the plans to be fulfilled. We spend all winter itching to get our hands dirty and put our plans into action, once the weather warms, only to stop and look up in July and wonder where the fair weather has gone!

Alicia,
The property I have moved onto was once a horse pasture. My non-gardening friends all laugh when they call and I tell them I'm gathering manure. I am excited to see how well the compost helps enliven the sandy soil here.

Sally,
I love all those that you mentioned. I love my daylilies and cannas especially. Which are your supreme varieties? I have two "Tropicana" and a slew of "Indian shot". I find it ammusing that the hummingbirds will come and visit the indian shots every morning, but seem only mildly interested in the new, large flowered varieties. Do you grow "Canna iridiflora 'Ehemanni Shelly's Pink'? I was thinking about giving it a try.

Jqpublic,
I think of the lawn as air. That is, I don't think about it unless it isn't there. Gardens need to breathe like animals do, and if a person's yard is SO overplanted that it becomes suffocating I find my self disoriented and eager for "negative space."

---Keith

What??!!! You mean people actually *plan* their gardens???;)

In that vein, I heard a speaker at the Philaldephia Flower show say one time that "wandering the garden with a plant in one hand and a trowel in the other is considered legitimate garden design". My kind of gal.

Pam

It's not just legitimate it's the only kind of true garden design there is, lol. It's fun to plan but somehow the garden always turns out different than what was on the paper.

Amen!! And is ever changing, too. Nothing is ever finished, and even when you want to keep them, things unexpectedly die or something flourishes overly enthusiastically and changes the balance.

Daylilies, antiques roses, azaleas, sweet olive, camellia, salvia and daffodils. I have always had tons of these with lots of other things spread around. Denise

Though my yard features all sorts of plants and whole lot of mature oaks and tulip poplars (think shade) I believe that the plants that other people define my garden by are globe artichokes. Last summer's heat did in my original row, but for three years I had a regular weekly supply of artichokes which stunned visitors (both newbie gardeners and college hort professors). I have enough replacement seedlings to start the process over again but with this summer's predicted high temps I don't hold out much hope for success.

I'm in the process of using nepeta as the primary edging plant along my pathways. I'm going slow with this as I know I can divide nepeta easily, so I don't want to buy every plant that I need.

People who visit notice my lavender more than anything else. I think it's because it's not used as widely as other garden plants.

I think it's more the structure of my garden, rather than the plants, that define it. I have distinct garden areas...cottage garden inside the fence, dry stream and rain gardens, outer garden, fragrance garden, butterfly garden, waterfall garden, etc.

Cameron