LOL. I know just what you mean. But based on my experience, you may as well just toss that plan. The end result will look nothing like it. Fold it up, put it away, and in a few years, come back to laugh at what you thought you were doing.

Do any of us really have a plan? Or just tiny parts of plans?

Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that the first comment on my master plan was, "Toss the plan"? ROFL - Token, I have a feeling you are SO RIGHT!!

I do actually think this plan has a purpose... not so much to dictate which plants will go where, because that is the part I KNOW is useless to plan given my past history :)

But, this just gives me a guideline for how to locate the flower beds - what I want the "birds-eye view" to look like. (Because I was having trouble visualising how a few stray flower beds were going to constitute the walk-through garden I had in mind.)

It was also used last night to show my DH that when I talk about a walk-through garden I am not talking about taking up the whole lawn or even a signicant piece of it... just talking about expanding my existing flower bed and then adding a few more. :) So it is a peace-keeping plan as well as a general guideline for where to put some flower beds.

The rest of it, I'm quite certain, is completely "up in the air" and will evolve over time. Thanks for the chuckle, Token - I think I will steal your idea and, once I have my flower beds dug up, put this away for a few years and see how things end up. :)

Janet

Think of it as looking at a highway map. It doesn't show a picture of your final destination, but it will help you get where you are going without going too far out of your way.

Nell

That looks like a good plan. I think it's always wise to put things down on paper. I did that when I moved into my house three years ago. The thing is, I ordered most of my original plants through mail order. Having no idea how tiny they'd be, I had a catmint taking up the entire front of my garden, three grand pink lavenders spilling over the walkway and flowering pink almonds surrounding my beautiful new statue. Then I opened the box and saw the two inch plugs. :-)

The planning Gods are laughing at you! I would absolutely put those fruit trees in first! We delayed and are still waiting for fruit. Then, if the rest gets changed you still have the trees. I think it is a great plan and I would stick with the layout and trees and any hardscape. Then do anything that you want in the individual beds.

I should say that I too have/had a masterplan. I did lay out my beds when I first started. Using the local GIS system, I got an aerial view of the property taken in 2005, two years before I ever saw this house. I named the beds as I created them and have stuck to the plan, mostly. Some things change and this winter, lots more will change. I wasn't bold enough to label where individual plants would go. I use it strictly as a reference and move things all the time. Just yesterday the front bed got a complete overhaul.

My "masterplan"

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Just a quick update, I made a little progress today - I bought a can of spray paint and outlined "Area 5", at least the first part of it, since I was using a garden hose to outline the shape and ran out of hose - LOL. This is about 8 feet across at the widest point; it will eventually extend to the right a bit more. My husband says I have officially bit off more than I can chew. We shall see; he doesn't understand how much I enjoy the process. :)

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Love the shape of the sweeping line you've created, so many plant choices to choose from. I almost envy you your new bed, more space, more plants right?

Annette

The main thing is to enjoy the process. I started planning my "new" beds in January after buying an 100 yr old victorian last July. I have to say the only things that turned out as planned were the shape and size of the beds, that I truly enjoyed every single moment of their creation and they are just beautiful (to me anyway)! I still have the paper drawing that I made just as you have, although yours is much more artistically done :) I realize now that I have to make another one just to help me remember what I have planted come next spring.
I love the shape your have outlined thus far. My husband asked me several times while I was removing grass and digging my 30x15 bed if I was going to make it smaller...he laughed when I kept telling him I wasn't sure if was going to be big enough as it was!
Have a great time, and keep us posted!

I agree that you should put in the big "structural" stuff first, like trees and larger shrubs. Then at least as the plan changes, the bigger stuff is already there and you can adjust boundaries, borders and individual plants around it all :)

I also plan onto paper. Trouble is, my plans change almost too often to keep up the habit! But the main stuff stays the same, the larger stuff. That's why it seems like a good idea to get the backbone in first.

Thanks, all, for your continued ideas! I'm fortunate that the fruit trees shown on my original plan (2 apple, 1 pear) already exist. I'm also UNfortunate in this regard - last year when we first moved in, they were so overloaded with fruit and we were so busy with moving in and making home repairs that we didn't have time to harvest anything. I finally put a "come and get them" ad on Craig's List, and we had about a dozen people come and pick fruit. (One person filled the entire bed of their pickup truck with pears! They said they were going to make cider.) I had seriously thought about pruning them back big time this year, but have not got that done yet. Anyway, they are already there as part of the hardscape along with a healthy Quince shrub and some peonies. My thoughts on shrubbery are flowering almond (which we had at our other house) and some form of spirea - I like 'Magic Carpet' or the chartreuse one with purple flowers. Fortunately for me, I found a small strugging 'Magic Carpet' spirea elsewhere in the yard, so I'm going to move that to the new bed this weekend. It's tiny and straggly, because it had to struggle to get out from under some weeds (see my "serendipity" thread), but hopefully it will perk up.

I would also like to add my favorite tree, Cercis canadensis (eastern redbud)... but am still figuring out whether that goes in the garden itself or elsewhere on the property.

I did make a little MORE progress on this bed after I posted the photo yesterday... I got some of it dug out and planted several things there - some things I moved into the sun from elsewhere and some "newbies" that were waiting in pots on the patio. I will be doing more digging this weekend - I have lots of iris that can be moved to this area!

Please keep us posted (w/pics)! I can feel your excitement!

What a fun project! It's always great to gain more "real estate" for expanded beds. I had to laugh when you talked about it being a "peace keeping" plan! It seems these guys never want to give up their grass!

Plans are a funny thing. I agree that a plan of the beds' shape/size and where trees and shrubs are going is a great idea. That doesn't seem to change too much from a master plan.

But, it seems that no one ever told perennials to FOLLOW THE PLAN! I swear you can plant a swath of let's say salvia and although they are all planted in the same conditions somehow those plants decide that one will take over, another will be small and then the following year some decide to "jump" into a different spot. I'm sure that some of my perennials check out their neighboring flowers over the course of a season and then the next spring migrate to be next to some other sexy plant they checked out previously! Many times I'm asking "how did YOU get over THERE?" when I planted it 2 feet in the other direction. Shrubs and trees seem to be much more obedient about following orders! LOL!

Your plan looks great and I think grass paths will be really nice. Have a fabulous time and I hope you post more pictures as you progress!

>>>no one ever told perennials to FOLLOW THE PLAN! ROFL this made me laugh out loud - I think I will try to paint up a sign to stick in the garden that says,

"Would someone please tell my flowers to stick to the plan?"

Or the more authoritative version:

"ATTENTION FLOWERS: This would go a lot smoother if you would all just stick to the established plan. Thank you."

Plans are good fun. You think. You dream. You put it on paper.

Then, you go to buy the plants on your wish list and they are no where to be found. So, you start substituting. Then comes the domino stack... change one thing, that makes you change another... but, you end up with a glorious garden after all.

That's my experience. Lack of availability of the plants on my plans.

Cameron

Here's the minimal progress I made this weekend... pretty good weather, but it was very wet from rain during the week so planting was almost out of the question til Sunday, then we had a family birthday party that took all afternoon so on Saturday all I got done was laying mulch at the other end down by the shed and then a small section dug out up here in Area 5, and a few plants filled into the newly dug portion. Compare to the photo above... more digging tonight after work!

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Just a little more progress to show - it's been raining almost nightly here (and sometimes daily too!) for the past couple of weeks so planting has been nearly impossible. My daughter went out and put down mulch for me in the finished portion of area 5, and I got some rudebeckias in the ground (finally!) this weekend. The little open patch in the mulch on the right is planted with four o'clock seeds. It's getting there!

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Whatever you do, DON'T EVER limb up those beautiful blue spruce trees!

I realy like the shape of the bed, and the little red shed is darling. Please post pics identifying the individual combos that you come up with, that is so much fun.

I love this thread! And will follow it with interest, so hopefully you will continue to post more pics through the seasons. :)

Prairiegirl, funny you should mention the blue spruce - I was just thinking about taking off the bottom row of branches, because it's hard to get the mower back there... one of the peonies is very close to a blue spruce. I will reconsider or at least study very carefully before I cut anything back - thanks for noticing my blue spruce! I do hope to have some pretty plant combos to photograph next season - everything's too small right now to see what looks good together. Thanks for the encouragement, I'll continue to post updates as I get more of the work completed. :)

Janet

Funny, I was just thinking as I looked at the picture, is there a reason to leave that bit of grass between the spruce and the bed? Then you wouldn't need to mow OR limb up the spruce.

Irene, it's just wide enough to walk back there and it's nice to be able to access the bed from both sides... one solution might be to widen the grass path a bit by moving the peony - but, I've never had very good luck moving peonies so I'm reluctant to try. When this area's all done, I plan to mow with the push-mower - it's just the riding mower that doesn't fit too well right now. The rider is faster, of course, but once the garden's done I won't let hubby in there with the rider anymore anyway. :)

Hi Janet, I was very active here last summer, but then got involved in blogging, and I let this slip. I miss the people who don't blog, so am attempting to come back and keep up better.

I love this thread. My husband has given up saying I have bitten off more than I can chew. He even cut sod out for a 12 by 15ish foot bed in the front yard last summer! I had to laugh at all the plan talk. I had put a couple plans on some graph paper, but when time came to plant, I couldn't find them. Later, when I did find them, realized I didn't come so close to following either one. I had laid the plants all over the place, and moved them around until I liked how it looked. But then, I added plants all summer to fill in the bare spots.

Your area is taking shape nicely! I see you are from Iowa. On the internet, that kind of makes us neighbors.

I was able to find one color combination I really like so far in this expanding bed - it's not very "full" yet but things are doing pretty well! This photo shows a reddish variety of Blanket Flower (Indian Blanket) next to a leaning stem of Creeping Campanula and in front of a compact magenta monarda. Although the plants are still small, I love having similarly vibrant colors next to each other like this.

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Oh I see you like gaudy colors, like me! My fave combo last year was butterfly weed and perennial geranium, long lasting and in your face blue & orange (Go Bears) all summer. This year, I'm putting orange in all my beds. Today, I'm on the hunt for an orange begonia for the shade garden, among other things. If I can just figure out how to post pics, you can see how that turns out.

The reason I mention the blue spruce, that is the single biggest regret I have for MY gardens, so it is the voice of experience talking. I really wish I had left it alone (I let my BIL do the awful deed itself). Maybe later you'll get interested in dwarf conifers, layering them into this bed. In any case, it's one of those things that can't be undone.

FWIW, the peony CAN be moved, the fall is the best time for that. I moved mine last year, and it bloomed this year, same as always. I think digging the new hole beforehand and not planting it too deep are the keys to success with that. Besides, it is much easier to replace than a fully grown, mature specimen conifer. IF you decide to move it, but it looks fine where it is from here.

I can see in the flower pic that you have a nice strip of lawn between the bed and the tree, and I personally like how the turf sets off the shape of the bed. Push mowing, and digging, are good exercise (beats having to go to the gym), esp. as it sounds like you already have a push mower. I've been looking for one, they're getting hard to find! I have a very small lot (shrinking every year, heh) so my battery-powered mower works great.

I think you're doing a fine job, keep it up. :)

lvtgrdn - Hi neighbor! I was away from these forums for awhile, too - I've been popping in and out for several years, and this year I've been hanging out here because I feel like I finally have the opportunity to create the walk-through/cottage garden I've been wishing for. So I'm here for the advice and inspiration, and getting plenty of both, so I'm thrilled to be here! :)

Prairiegirl, thanks for the encouragement - I promise to be kind to my blue spruce, they are beautiful. I should be clear about the kind of mower I'm using - LOL - I just mean a pull-start, walk-behind mower. Not the old-style "whizzer-reel" kind, which would be the BEST in terms of exercise! And yes, I LOVE gaudy colors... one of my favorites is still bright yellow and bright orange, side by side. Mmmm, citrusy! :D

Hi janetgia, I'm kind of new to this forum, I found the web in Jan. and was mainly on the rose forums, but I have a cottage type garden and have always loved old fashioned flowers. Your plan is lovely, and I could identify because I am designing a new garden as you did. The plan is on my refrigerator! but that is not why I'm piping up, I wanted to tell you that we have lots of huge old blue and norway spruces on our propertyand in time they will die on the bottom and then you will want to lop off bottom branches. until then enjoy them! roseberri

Me again, just wanted to share that I *finally* got the portion of Area 5 cut out for my new flowerbed that I had painted in the grass a month or so ago. It's quite literally all red mulch right now, but in fall (or maybe spring, depending on budget and weather) I will remove all of that to be used elsewhere and have plenty of sun-lovers to put here. Eventually it will extend a bit more to the right in the photo, but I'm finished for now. The weather's going to be mid-summer Hot any day now, and I don't plan to be out digging in that. If you click the photo it takes you to the full album for this project, and my original plan (and painted outline for this area) are shown higher up in this thread.

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Janet-
You DO realize that you MUST have a ying for that yang, RIGHT??? The universe is out of balance otherwise ;)

LOL I *am* sorry about the universe, but for now my YING is tired of digging and my YANG needs a vacation. Maybe next year! :)

J.