LL, please post pictures for us when you can! Your yard sounds so nice. i think the fairy garden is my favorite idea of yours, and i love all the roses you are adding! You must show us when you can! :)
I will have a little fairy area, but its under my sassafras tree, and itll have 2 little fairy statues, a door in the tree, and it has a wishing well already. I love whimsical things! So thats 1 new thing.
My next new project is the back bed i started last fall. I was only able to lay out the bones of it, i have a few roses
and hydrangeas there. I want a boomerang lilac , and more butterfly bushes. I have to lay out paths, and close it all in somehow to keep my bulldog out( he is super destructive!)
I found a beautiful gold gazing ball for the area too. I have been ws tons of perrenials, such as agastache,daisies, monarda, penstemon, and alot more to attract more pretty insects. Im also adding 2 adorondack chairs so i can enjoy coffee in the garden.

In the front yard, i feel like im doing a total makeover! I have ripped out the forcynthia hedge that made our house seem old and hidden. Now i have room for more hydrangeas and roses!

I hope to have so many flowers i am able to cut and give to friends. My mother in law lives down the street from me, and id like to bring her bouquets every week.

Oh would spring get here already!! :)

Lavenderlass,

I am going to be giving my garden a complete makeover starting this week. For too long, I would just buy plants I like and just stick them some where. This winter I finally got decided to draft a to-scale image of my yard and re-design it.

Going border by border, I will start by lifting sod.

I will perform soil tests to efficiently amend each border.

I will install lawn edging to keep the grass from invading.

I will move my current plantings to their new (and hopefully final) locations.

I will amend and dig the soil (carefully and with a permit).

I will plant, and then law pine straw.

Finally, with all my plants in place, I will customize a drip system for each bed and border.

floweryearth, what a comprehensive plan......good luck.

My one border that is critical is the Garage Wall border. I have some kind of grass that has taken over and I think it is beyond just pulling. I don't know yet what method I will take....maybe just a section at a time. The bed is about 4 feet by 40 feet and has lots of perennials and iris in it. It will be a job!

We also hope to break ground for a new garden and orchard on the far side of the barn. We want it a long way from the main garden because I will be planting some open pollinated corn there. I hope to eventually get a berry patch started there and a small orchard.

I am still working on a mixed border in the front yard.

I'm hoping to rework an island bed that has been neglected for several years. I'm also hoping to finish up another bed in my backyard. I started it last year, but it still needs some tweeking. Finally, I'd like to redo the bed at my mailbox. We redid our frontyard landscaping last fall and the new design really makes the mailbox area look bad. I think those three will probably keep me busy and my wallet empty for this year.

Then there are the areas I'm saving for later.I have a shade bed on one side of the house I would like to rework and a bed on the other side of the house that I will probably plant with annuals until I figure out what I want to do with it. I've tried several things in the past, but none has turned out the way I planned. I also have a lilac stuck out in the middle of nowhere that I would like to incorporate into a bed. It was given to me as a gift, but I had no idea what to do with and just stuck it in the ground.

Totally Confused

Floweryearth - I am impressed by your plan. Mine generally goes like this:

Sketch out new area.

Research plants that might be good for it.

Plan to test and amend soil.

Then spring comes.

Buy a cheap soil testing kit, marvel over the acid level.

Dig like crazy for two days, tossing the sod over my fence and into the woods.

Go to the nursery with my list of plants. Buy mostly items not on my list.

Plant.

Sit on my deck enjoying my new garden, amazed at how it looks nothing like my sketch.

Wow, isn't it amazing when you ask gardeners their plans for the upcoming spring and it seems we've all been in our living rooms with magazines and catologs planning for the next spring. As most of you know I just purchased a house, so this will be an exciting spring and summer for me. Here we go, the plans I have been losing sleep over, researching, seeking advice, and basically been planning my entire life...=)

We'll start in my fairly large front yard that already has 8 well established and not chopped back every year crape myrtles. Up against my brick house that is above grade will be my hydrangea collection. That spot gets a great deal of shade due to overhang. A white picket fence will be aligning the front and right perimeter of my front yard. Along the right side I will be planting a 30 ft. hedge of different butterfly bushes (not invasive here). In the middle of hedge will be a bench for sitting. On the front part of the fence will be an antique climgbing rose, deciding between old blush or new dawn. Then to close the yard aligning the drive way will be a hedge of rosemary. Up against the front fence will be various perennials like hollyhock and foxglove. There will also be a large island bed filled with 3-4' tall perennials (salvia, daisies, bee balm, etc.)and at least 4 antique rose anchoring each corner: Louis Phillippe, Julia Child Rose, Clotilde Soupert, and Mrs. B.R. Cant. Then to enter this garden will be an arch arbor covered in annual vines (morning glory).

The side yard: A hallway arbor covered in lady banks rose. An awesome moon gate my husband will make we saw on The New Yankee Workshop on PBS.

The back yard: My husband will be building a deck with a pergola over it that will be covered in Blue Sky Vine and Moonflower vine. A red bud tree will be planted as well as a vitex and cassia. In front of my sun room will be raised beds so as to see while sitting in sunroom filled with annuals for year round color (i.e. tulips, zinnias). I will have a raised bed vegetable garden along privacy fence. I will be training an english dogwood(sweet mock orange) to be a tree (a friend of mine did it) and have a shorter flowering plants bed underneath. My husband for my birthday coming up on Monday will be building me a greenhouse. Then I have a stretch of area very shady where I will plant things like Aquilegia, Firespike, Crinum Lilies,etc. Then my husband is going to build me a little garden shed with a potting bench. He will also be building himself a workshop in another corner. Then last but not least I will create what I call Darlene's Favorites and herbs bed. Just all of my most favorite perennials and herbs I use put into one bed. Then somewhere there will be a Lady Margaret Passion Vine in there somewhere.

Well I think that is everything. Thank you for allowing me to share my plans with you. I've told very few so as not to bore them, but I am really really excited about this!

Wow Darstar, your plans sound just wonderful! So charming. I hope you are able to do all youd like to what sounds like a beautiful, large back yard. Are you using different colored butterfly bushes? Or all the same? I have lavender butterfly bush seeds if youd like, and seeds for shasta daisies, bee balm and rudbeckia, and coneflowers... email me if you could use them! I have been wintersowing many of the things you listed. Anyway, good luck! Sounds wonderful!

I had big plans for this year. Expand rose garden(have 6 Austins coming), take out 2 plums and an apple (old, rotting), add 2 apples, 4 blueberries, raspberry bed and raised veggie beds. We have been very busy. The weather has been wonderful. Trees are down. Rose bed has been expanded and amended. The raised beds are done. One for raspberries. Two more for veggies. The blueberries will go in the bed where old raspberries were removed. Now I am just waiting for all my new plants to arrive. Live is Good.
Jackie

darstar - you are going to be one busy woman!

My plans have changed, then changed again.

First, I planned on creating a climbing rose garden on the east side of my house. That plan got scraped when I decided instead to work on the entry to my home and made plans for the southwest side.

But - these plans call for some asphalt for additional parking, and a very large (and expensive) arbor I've been drooling over. And DH just showed me our budget for the year (we've been hit hard with this economy). AAGGGHHH!!!! It's back to the drawing board for me. No budget for asphalt, large arbors, or all that I needed for the climbing rose garden, either. :(

I did, however, already get my three 4x4 square foot gardens for vegetables, and I'll be busy with those! :) And, of course, filling in and tweaking the other areas of my garden. Which will keep me busy enough and make my garden look great, not just so-so like it is now. (Can you tell I'm looking for the silver lining?)

Scully, your message CRACKED ME UP!!! How funny. I spoke to a guy from the local county extension a little while ago, and he advised that I use round up on the grass when it wakes up (rather than lifting all the sod with my spade). He assured me that it would not make the ground incapable of ever being used again LOL.

I will be moving many of the plants around in the fall, so that they will have an easier time getting set-in for the following summer. I guess that for now, the hardest thing will be digging the trenches to get the edging in. Good thing we still have cool weather until the middle/end of May!

Darstar, I am really hoping you'll post pix of your before/during/after project. I can't believe there will be such a cottagy garden in FL! BTW, I used to grow Louis Philippe in Miami and loved that red, fruity-scented cabbagy rose. I did not know that foxglove could grow any where in FL. I was told its too hot. However, if I could get my hollyhocks to bloom in Miami, I know you'll be much more successful in zone 8. Besides, you got a degree for all that. :)

LavenderLass, to be a little more specific on the plantings I'm going to do...

I am going to plant a saucer magnolia on the opposite end of the side border from one of my Weeping Cherry trees, and bridge the gap with summer-blooming lavender crepe myrtles.

In front of the three lavender crepe myrtles, I will put both of my mock oranges together and put a bench in front of them. On the side where the weeping cherry is, I will put the rose Ypsilanti. On the other side, I will put Chapeau de Napoleon, La Ville de Bruxelles, and Felicite Parmentier. Will place my monstrous Queen of Denmark on the far side where my back yard starts with some blue and pink Rose of Sharons to take over for the summer.

I am going to make a foundation planting of August Beauty gardenias in front of my front porch.

On the other side of my yard, I will make a hedge of tea olives (in the shade), abelias (in part shade), and Buddleias (in the sunny part) of my property line.

In the big patch of lawn, I will group together all of my lilacs into a huge island.

I will squeeze berries, veggies, annuals, and bulbs where ever I have a gap between the perennials, shrubs, and trees.

I'm going to prioritize bomb-petaled peonies, old bearded irises, heirloom lilies, bellfowers, scabiosa, lamb's ears, cottage pinks, clematis, honeysuckle, phlox, and daisies among my perennials everywhere.

LOL Scully, sounds familiar!

I'm an old gardener who may be 'biting off more than she can chew' but we are enlarging the house yard on our large acreage and have a lot of work to do. Last year we made 2 new large perennial beds which did very well despite the drought and frequent lack of care. Hope to get a lot more done this year and I've planned it to be as easy as possible. LOL Am I dreaming in technicolor again? DH will til some areas, I'll use cardboard and mulch in others to eliminate weeds and grass preparatory to planting in the future, and seed various ground covers in several places. Some of the ground covers will later be used to improve the soil with the cardboard and mulch method. Using various methods to amend the heavy clay soil is my first goal for the entire area. My current garden area is overgrown with perennials so many can be moved to new beds in the new yard. The first thing I'll do is to mark paths with wood shavings to see how it looks. That will be done soon if we don't get more snow by the end of this month. I've done some preliminary planning on the site map DH did to scale but not sure how that will translate IRL.

Here's a link similar to what I'm starting with. It would be really discouraging except that's what my current garden looked like 14 years ago. I expect by fall it will look very different altho I'm not expecting miracles the first year. BTDT and there are always unforeseen circumstances which change the best laid plans. There is another area at the front that's about 30'x60' adjacent to my 'finished' garden now all mown (either by DH or the horses) pasture grass which I will do something with first as it is the first thing visitors to our home see. A perennial bed in the corner with some colorful plants to start.

Here is a link that might be useful: the before pic of my new garden

Wow! So many great responses. Hope I didn't miss anyone!
It's so much fun to read about everyone's plans. It also helps (at least for me) to describe a plan...it seems more real, once you write it all out. And how wonderful to have other gardeners to share ideas with. You know, people whose eyes don't glaze over as you go into great detail about why you picked a particular rose. LOL

Lilyfinch- You and I both love roses, but I think I may have to find some hydrangeas that will do well in my winters....they sound so nice when you write about them. The fairy garden is my favorite, too :)

Floweryearth- Your garden sounds like it's going to be wonderful. I wish I had your work ethic, but I think my garden style is more like Scully's...except I usually come home with the same plants I had on the list, because the list is so short. (Zone 4, deer resistant except for the roses, non-toxic to horses and kitties, safe around children, etc.)

Gldno1- A new garden, orchard and a berry patch...I'm so jealous. I wish I had that much space. That's going to be such a great area :)

Totallyconfused- I love lilacs! You could always add a few more lilacs, or maybe a couple of butterfly bushes and plant flowers in front of them. Everything goes well with lilacs.

Darstar- That's what we all DO in the winter, isn't it? (LOL) It sounds like all your planning is going to result in a beautiful garden...take lots of pics!

Flowergirlwa8- It's amazing how much you've already accomplished. The weather is so much better this year, than last year. What kind of raspberries are you planting?

Holleygarden- Nice way of looking at things...finding the silver lining. Wouldn't gardening be so much easier if budget was never an issue? I think we all have that problem. That's why my grape arbor is going to be a garden for at least the next year or two.

Luckygal- Beautiful photo! You have horses, too? That and the cold winters, I think we may have a lot in common. A corner perennial bed sounds like a really nice idea. What perennials do well in your zone 3 garden?

I am SO ready for spring!

luckygal, I visited your album and must tell you I am very impressed with your Garden House! Can you use that south window for raising plants? I just knew I was going to see the south roof with a greenhouse covering for growing things.

I am an old gardener too and I know we can do it!

Wow. Everyone's plans sound so great. I hope everyone will post pictures as they move along. There is some great ambition out there. I think it's fun to hear what everyone is planning.

We expanded into the backyard last year and got the bones planted. We put in many trees and shrubs. I also placed a couple orders online this winter for a few more trees and some perennials that folks talked about in other threads that I was not familiar with.

This year I need to work on "shopping" in my existing garden. I have to move about 30 shrubs (I say "I" but my DH will do lots of the digging, lucky me) and then I need to divide many daylilies and other perennials and move them back there. Lot of digging, dividing and planting. Hopefully this will keep me out of the nurseries this year (yeah, good luck with that...) since I spent a small fortune on plant material last year for this project. I have a couple ideas in my head on where to put some perennials but I think I'll probably wing it as I go along. Most of my plants know when I plant them (I warn them you know...) that they are probably not in their final resting spot (well, unless I kill them). I move a lot of stuff around. I did plan where the trees and shrubs went in though. I don't like to move tress or shrubs too much. We also need to get paths in back there but I'm still on the fence on how we're gong to do that. We're leaning towards grass paths but not convinced yet.

Right now it's snowing outside so this was a really nice thread to read this morning.

Lucky gal your pictures were amazing! It really inspired me and I need it right now. I am trying to learn the art of patience, but I've never really been very good at it. Everytime I look out my window I try and visualize what it will one day be instead of a desolate landscape.

Thyme2dig, I also agonized over what material to use as my pathways because my front yard will be nothing but flower beds and pathways...no grass. My current path material of choice is pine mulch because it's inexpensive, has a natural look, and will be my mulch of choice, so I won't have to have some kind border material around the beds. The flowers beds and pathways will be as one. At least I hope it will be. Anyone have any suggestions? Any flaws anyone can see with this idea?

floweryearth: I have had foxgloves grow here before, but I have to be very selective on what variety I choose to plant. I've done some extensive research into foxglove and hollyhocks. I love them so much it's worth all the trouble. =)

Lilyfinch: The butterfly hedge I mentioned will be different colors; mostly violet, dark purple, yellow, and whites. I have about 6 or 7 different cultivars picked out. I couldn't decide between them and it ended up equaling 30 feet, so I thought butterfly hedge!

Love to hear all of the plans.

Nice thread LL...

For new beds:

I plan on doing a makeover for the front yard.
Going to rip out grass around Sycamore tree to extend the shade garden. The grass always get mildew-y there in summer anyhow. Gives me a reason to buy more shade plants too ;-)

Then I may rip out a six foot strip in front of the sidewalk and put in an arbor and picket fence. Behind that I will put in a veggie garden. I have a veg garden in the back, but it is very small and gets too much shade. Still debating on this garden. I can't help but wonder if someone will come along and rip out the veggies or cause destruction of some sort...

Might also make a small, bean-shaped bed around the wine barrel planter. Unless I find there isn't enough room, which is likely.

As for redoing older beds:

Need to get the garden where the apple tree used to be completed. Last year I twidled my thumbs and didn't get much done (at a loss as to what to plant there). I am determined to get this looking good.

Then I might revamp the strip of garden on the west side of the house. It always gets ratty looking in summer. Maybe add some groundcovers.
Then I need to move some plants out from along the foundation of the front shade garden and replace with Lamium. The cats are always pooping there, burying the plants as they dig.

Then I might try to get rid of some of the more aggresive plants in the Alley Garden to make room for a few roses and plants that I don't want in the main gardens anymore.

And if the front veggie garden does well (if I ever do it, lol) I will make the old one into a part-shade garden. But that will be next year. I will still put a few veggies in it just in case the new one doesn't work out.
Geez, I am getting fatigued just thinking about all of this!

-holleygarden, your garden will be great, even on a budget. In fact, I think that having less to work with makes you more creative, which is a good thing! It opens your mind to new ways of doing things. And shopping for sales is a lot of fun (it thrills my very soul to find a clearance rack of plants!!)

-luckygal, wonderful job! You don't hire out your services to people untalented in the woodworking department do you? ;-) Beautiful garden house.
CMK

Lavender lass, thanks, we no longer have horses (did for years) but like to have the pasture grass eaten to prevent it being a fire hazard when it dries in the fall so we 'rent' it out (mostly accept what neighbors/friends offer) to people with horses or cattle. We had a hobby farm for years altho when the animal census here went over 70 it was no longer a hobby but a lot of work. There are quite a few hardy perennials that do well here altho I don't have a fraction of what I could have. For years, because of said 'hobby' farm I didn't have time and now I don't care to try for a showcase garden - it just has to please me. I grow the plants I like and occasionally try new things by seeding perennials. I like deer resistant plants for the obvious reason that we live in their forest. I'll just c&p my plant list for you of what's growing here altho it's not complete. I haven't put most var. as they are just common garden plants. I haven't done roses since my most wonderful heritage rose died the first year I gardened here. I hate seeing plants succumb so stick with very hardy ones. Plants I have: Leopard's Bane (Doronicum plantagineum), Dwarf Siberian Irises, Autumn Joy Sedum, Hens & Chickens, Blue (creeping) sedum, Green (creeping) sedum, creeping thyme, Bugleweed (Ajuga), spotted deadnettle (lamium maculatum), Bearded Iris, Shasta Daisies, Feverfew, Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla), Pulmonaria, Blue Fescue (Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'), variegated ribbon grass (invasive, not recommended), Perennial sunflower (Heliopsis), Jacob's Ladder, Potentilla shrub, Spirea shrub, lilac shrubs, Lily of the Valley, Golden Marguerite (Anthemis tinctoria 'Kelwayi'), Oriental poppies, Iceland poppies, peony poppies (not hardy but self-seed) Coralbell, Columbine, Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris), Cranesbill, Creeping Jenny, Daylily, Delphinium (tall & medium), Bleeding Heart, various lilies, Purple loosestrife, Campanula glomerata (clustered bellflower), Fleabane, Monkshood, Mountain Bluet (Centaurea montana), Dwarf Spike Speedwell (pink), blue flax, Maltese Cross, lavender 'Munstead', red/pink/yellow yarrow, lamb's ears, heuchera 'Stormy Seas', dianthus (Sweet William & Maiden Pink), plus one struggling peony that I'm afraid to transplant! Several different trees that are DH's (maples, Russian olive, some fancy birch?, and a caragana). We also have native alder, spruce, fir, and pine in our house yard.

Thanks gldno1, yes, I hope to use the garden house as sort of a greenhouse as here in zone 3 we can't even grow tomatoes in the ground due to possibility of frost at any time. When I grew them on the deck they were safe from frost but not from the squirrels. So I *might* grow them in my little house if we stay home long enough. We're retired so travel a bit.

Darstar0301, thanks, I'm glad to inspire as I receive so much inspiration from others. We had this house built 14 years ago in the middle of a forest and, believe me, it was 'interesting' for the first few years. I redid the garden several times even tho I initially had a plan which quickly went south. We learn as we go and every little change adds up. Gardening has certainly helped me learn patience altho it's still not my strong suit.

Christinmk - thanks, I don't think I can 'let' ;-) my DH hire out as I don't consider my garden house finished. There will be a porch with potting shed added, it needs a floor (concrete pavers we will do ourselves), stairs to the loft, outside battens, and maybe more window trim. He did get a kick out of the compliments tho as he downplays his woodworking talents.

Lavender Lass, I am putting in Tulameen raspberries. I only ordered 10 plants, but I understand they multiply quite quickly. Hope so.