You are not alone. The other night I grabbed my lawn chair and sat it in front of 2 of my frontyard garden beds with a pencil and paper I roughly (very roughly) drew out the beds and circled the ones I plan on moving, come cool weather. I even went as far as drawing out the bed I am moving them to. So, yes, I completely understand where you are coming from. My beds look good from certain angles too but things need moved. Let's hang in there. Summer will be over before we know it.

I am so with you on that. I want to rearrange several of my beds. I have drawn them out on paper and just itching to start moving plants. But with our heat I know I have to wait until fall.

If you are like me, I am nver satisfied with the look of my beds.

Summer will be over in a few months and we can start digging.

faye

I am always pulled to rearrange my beds, especially this time of the year. I am always adding more plants to fill the gaps, rethink the colors, height, attemp to replant flowers from "here to there" with various success.
Waithing till fall is something I am working on :). With various success as well...

I think gardening is a journey, not a destination. This spring, I moved more plants around than I purchased to tweak the design. I take lots and lots of photos of the same spots at different times so that I can use more of my best performers. I cut a sample bloom off of favorites and walk around the garden to see what will partner with those before deciding to add an outsider!

I used placeholders such as grasses, herbs or annuals until investing too much in a specific design. I'm narrowing down my favorites list, instead of expanding it. Due to the size of my garden, I want larger masses of the same plants.

I'm paying attention to the foliage of plants after they've finished blooming.

So, I'm making my list of what to re-arrange and what I want to propagate for larger displays. I've got a few "wants" on my list for fall.

That said...I'm sure that I want a never-ending garden! The garden is my creative outlet. If I can't re-arrange the plants and add a new one now and then, the garden will stop being fun!

Garden on!
Cameron

You are not alone. I spend hours looking at the beds and planning for the changes I want to make come fall. Memory frequently fails me of late so now I carry pen and paper to make notes of said changes.

The bed under my picture window was absolutely perfect to my eye last year. This year it is so overgrown that it is necessary to dig up and divide, toss, and/or move everything except for a stunningly gorgeous blue mophead hydrangea.

DH and I started (at 5:30 this a.m.) by digging out a Festiva maxima peony planted only 3 yrs. ago. I have never dug up any of my peonies before. I had told DH it should be a relatively easy job because its only planted about 2 inches under the soil.

You can imagine how stunned I was to see the size of the roots on that thing. They were about 3/4 to an inch thick and the hole DH had to make to get it out was huge. The size of the plant didn't seem to justify the roots attached to it.

Now, I have some pretty big pots collected from planting small trees (like dogwood) and large shrubs (like vibernum)
but did not have one large enough for that peony. Resorted to cutting it in half (not part of the original plan) as opposed to having to toss the whole thing.

We tried to start early to finish before the heat of the day. The task was completed around 11:00 with a temp of 95.

Yeah, easy job!!

I've done it several times, and will do it again. What I am itching to do is work on the soil some more. Things are suffering - it's the soil. I need more organic stuff and nitrogen and lots of lime and rock dust.... after doing some veggie beds and planting some WinterSown zinnias in them, I realize what I need to do... they are the healthiest zinnias I've ever grown...and I also have another 2/3rds of an acre to work on - completely from the "ground" (or below the ground) on up too. Will need TRUCKLOADS of mulch, organics, manures. I can't wait.

GGG

I'm not eager to "redo" my entire garden but I move and take things out all the time.

So far this season I've

Moved a 5 yr old butterfly bush and moved a mungo pine to put in its place...love the change.

Pulled up all the low growing carpet like sedum I had in my street bed and moved a dwarf butterfly bush and put tuberous begonias around it.

Just today (in stupid hot weather) I chopped back and dug up a big stand (approx 3'X 3' and 4' high) of shasta daises. Replanted 2 good sized pieces to another location. Moved my newly planted Pheasant Berry (Golden Lanterns) to the spot where the daisies were and put iris bulbs (thanks Gottagarden) in back of the Golden Lanterns and gerbera daisies in front. It looks so much better. If you have shasta daisies be careful...they will takeover the world one day.

I rarely wait for fall to move plants around. I've found if you give them plenty of water they do just fine.

I want a smoke bush some kinda bad so I'm studying how I can reshape my island bed to put one in there. I've run out of room and its the only bed I have with full sun.

Cameron is so right about paring down the wish list. Mass plantings of the same plants make such a dramatic statement. Unless of course it's the shasta daisies on steroids!
Vikki

After almost 4 years of 80% neglect, yes! My yard is a total mess and I want to redo everything!

Be Safe, Rach

I am also still buying plants and digging out plants to put in other places to fill gaps. I trim plants, and create more gaps. I need to finish putting mulch down. I moved a spiderwort last week, and gave half of it to a friend who saw it in the spring and said she'd like a start of it when I divided it. I'm sure she wasn't expecting it this time of year, but she took it. I'm not totally satisfied, either, but I've said this somewhere, if everything was perfect, then what would we do?
Sue

I'm the same. I am running out of room for things in my front yard beds and have missed adding some annuals. So I bought two flats of petunias, a flat of elfin thyme, three munstead lavendar, two Besty daisies and three little ice plants . . . oh ya, and I decided to get 7 bags of soil pep for mulch. Remeber I said I am running out of room, but I couldn't help myself - it's almost a sickness. I spent hours under the 95 degree sun squeezing in my new purchases and then another hour spreading the mulch - but I loved every minute of it! I can't wait until we can go ahead with the back yard! I also can't help myself from moving things around. I know you're not supposed to do it in this heat, but it usually turns out alright -we'll see.

I'm also always doing things in my garden. Like Vikki and Sue, I will chop back a plant and move it at this time of year. Water them lots and it doesn't seem to bother them. I also can't stop buying plants. I bought half a dozen 4" thyme plants and another bronze fennel at Wal-Mart today because they were only $.50 each, and I *love* thyme for filling in little gaps and spilling over the edges of beds onto pathways. I have a few roses that are still in the gallon pots I bought them in and guaranteed, I'll no sooner get them planted than I will have brought home some more. I will end up digging new beds or adding onto existing beds to make spots for certain roses or daylilies I buy, and then I have to dig up and divide clumps of other perennials so that I can fill in the new bed. Then, I end up with space where I took away half a clump of whatever, and I stick something new in there...

Flowerluv and eris,
Thanks for helping me start my day out laughing. Both of those are so me! I had to read them and parts of the others to my dh this morning. Every time I buy plants, I tell him I am finished buying plants, and he says, "Liar, liar!"

Sue

I'll be changing most of my front cottage garden when we install the picket fence. We got a great deal on the panels, so we have those. Now we just have to install the posts and fencing - which will be when the weather cools a bit. After that's done, I'll rethink and replan the whole garden this winter, wintersow bunches, and start new beds. In the spring I'll move everything. Gee, it looks so easy just written down, lol!

always - gardening is my outlet and if I am not out there arranging - rearranging and creating new then I am lost. I am in the process of switching over to more natives and drought tolerant plants after the devastating drought we had last summer. I know we will have the rainy summers but I just feel drought tolerant is the way to go for me then I read a garden magazine or view someones garden on here and think ah-ha I can do that and then go out an visualize where and start digging - gardens are forever evolving.....

Lynne

This was the first year that I was really satisfied with the look of my kitchen garden.....then the roofers trampled the whole front of it and destroyed so much that I have been in the process of planting new and digging out damaged. I found three Jacob's Ladders (one of them is variegated) at a roadside plant stand for just $1 each. Beleive me, I snapped those up and they are now doing really well in the shady side of my garden. Then I was fortunate to hit a sale at my favorite greenhouse and got Mckenna's clolumbines 6/$1. She only had 12 but they came home with me. This is a great time of year to get sales and I have also found that as long as I pay attention and keep the new plants watered well they will be fine. I dug the cinquifoils out of the garden because after being so trampled they just didn't seem to be recovering. I put in Veronicas and also found geums which I have never had.
OK....that's enough chatting....gotta get out and see what to rearrange today ; ' )).

Bonny

Pondering... having trouble with concept that one would NOT redo garden. I don't even have to have a reason. Anything but housework!

My garden needs serious attention right now. Looks good last year, but plants have grown so much they are overcrowded, need moving, splitting, rearranging. And, um, I ran into one of those plant sales? Pluse my potage (fancy word for vegie garden is taking over more of the back yard. Grass is almost gone! Yay!

Dayle Ann

I don't want to - I just redid a major portion of the side garden this spring and it was so much work that I don't want to even think about doing that again for awhile! It seemed deceptively simple, but I got into major musical chairs - with plants flying every which way. I want a rest . . .

Now, I have a mental picture of you in the middle of flying plants, gottagarden! I'm trying to remember if you've posted photos of your new bed. I'll have to check, and if you haven't, please do.

Sue

Me too, whether I want to or not! Due to the possibility of having to remove a large tree (looks like it will go)we have to decide if we will replant another tree or not, building a garage either yet this fall or in spring, which also means considering the possibility of moving the garden shed on the edge of the garden/patio, removing the roses on the fence due to RRD and planting bittersweet instead, not liking how the roses I planted in the bed next to the fence are turning out...

Need I say more?

lvtgrdn and the rest,
I recently found this forum, and I feel like I'm not crazy after all - there are people like me! :) LOL!
I get a lot of grief from neighbors who just don't get it, but I also get endless complements on the flowers so it's alright. Nice to know I'm not alone! It's funny, I just spent all day Saturday adding to my overstuffed beds, but I can't stop thinking about running to Wal-mart in the morning to try to find some of those deals you all are talking about. :)

~~sigh~~ just some pictures today of EE's on one of the forums and have decided that another garden needs to be revamped - probably starting tomorrow - the vignette was so delightful and I am not pleased with how the garden looks now so out comes the shovel. The EE's will stay but everything else will be moved and rearranged - life goes on :)......

Lynne

I can't say I'm really looking forward to it because it will be a lot of work. And I sure won't be doing it during the heat of summer! But I am going to have to rearrange a LOT of plants in my beds. Many turned out to be much taller than expected; some just can't handle southern full sun (regardless of what the tags say); and others have been overwhelmed by trees and other plants that have grown like weeds. I only hope that this time I can keep the variables in my mind and make a sensible arrangement. And I'm planning to take that opportunity to divide and spread out some of the successful plants as well as eliminate (or at least downplay) some that have not been as nice.

The goal of the whole thing will be to make my mid summer garden as nice as my spring one. Too many plants that I've been trying to grow are just unable to deal with our blazing heat, stifling humidity, and dry, sandy soil. They will get a chance to thrive in a slightly shadier location. If they can't handle that (sigh)...it's the compost heap for them.

I've had the itch as well, however i did this last year. So for the 1st time since i've owned this house (3 yrs) i'm very satisfied with the way my gardens look. yes! so this summer i have watched my gardens grow into exactly the way i planned them with no plant deaths. so i'm pretty happy...

-chris

Hello Everyone,

I am a bit surprised by the number of responses to my post. and I'm sure glad I'm not alone feeling this way. I'm a bit conscious that people think of me as obsessive with planting/planting. I'm forever going outside, tinkering in the yard. Does it feel like all eyes are on you too?

Anyway, like a plantaholic that I am, I went to an outdoor antique/flea market and returned home with a filipendula and a lunaria. That was all it took for me to begin the transplant process. I had to find space for the filipendula which is sunny border plant and that meant moving one other plant out..... well you get the idea. In 3 hours I managed to move about a quarter of my plants about... It was the perfect weather to do this too. Very rainy and overcast skies. I think it's worth the risk. I'm still not done though. The last bits of moving things about will be done in Sept.

Ianna

Yeah, it's just one small step from playing plant dominoes on a one-by-one scale, to a massive let's-rethink-the-whole-design-of-this-bed!

I thought it was just another symptom of 'gardenitis', LOL! Worse than a mosquito bite - instead of scratching, we're constantly digging......[grin]

We are odd, we do have to admit it. but I enjoy it. If only my husband doesn't disapprove. (And he's obsessed with golf!) I think the best way to describe my behaviour is that I approach gardening through hysteria.

Oh well, as one can get obsessed with golfing or clothes, I'm simple obsessed with garden designing. .. got to go. Have a fall catalog with me and so time to look for spring bulbs.

Ianna

Well, my main borders are still a work in progress, and I know it at least! Since I didn't order my roses this past spring, I've been doing a lot of second-guessing over the past weeks since I got my arbor in. I *think* I have made up my mind, but we'll see if the plan survives reality, lol. But, so far, instead of Quadra climbing roses plus clematis on the arbors, it will be just clematis (Clair de Lune). In the freed-up space, I will move some existing echinacea purpurea on one side, and spread out my agastache on the other side. I'm still planning on getting Lichtkonigen Lucia, Lavaglut and Tuscany Superb. But, instead of Ambridge Rose (too wimpy of a pale peachy-pink, I think), I want a pink peony in that spot. And, I want to infill with some alliums behind the peony and my bridalwreath spirea.

I'd been planning to eventually move my lilac that I'd put in the border as a holding spot, but it seems pretty happy there, so I think I will just leave it there. The big question is whether my White Dome Hydrangea will survive - it seems to be thirstier than most of my other plants. I recently moved a self-seeded cosmos that I think was not helping matters by crowding it and stealing water, and I think it is finally bouncing back. I also want to divide some stachys to fill some empty spots, and maybe move some of my iris to a corner spot to give my lilac more space. Oh, and I want to add some daffodils.

Whew! But, other than hoping to plant a peony and some bulbs this fall, I want to be done for this summer! Of course, I did just move some marigolds that had needed thinning...I'm not sure if they are going to survive or not, but they needed to go, anyhow, so if they survive in their new home, that is just an added bonus.

Why is it any different from any other hobby/passion?

An artist paints.
A musician plays.
A baker bakes.
A knitter knits.
A quilter quilts....and so on...

So, why can't we keep changing our gardens when we run out of a canvas...out of songs we know...when we're ready for a new recipe...when we have knitted enough scarfs and want a new challenge...when we create new quilt patterns of our own design after copying patterns of others?

Exactly Cameron, gardening is what we do and do and do, lol. It also happens to be an activity that requires a great deal of maintance.

Ianna, my neighbors wonder whats wrong with me if they don't see me in the yard everyday. I was doing extensive weeding one day and a neighbor came over and said "you couldn't possibly have any weeds!"

Gardening is what obviously makes all of us here happy so thats what we do...garden!
Vikki

So glad I found you. I thought I was crazy wanting to just start over in the flower gardens. In the spring they were beautiful but now I just dont like them. They look overgrown or something. I started pulling things apart this afternoon but made myself stop because I thought maybe I was wrong. Glad to see others are doing it to.
Keep on playing everyone.

No, I don't want to redo my "entire" garden but I am re-thinking some of the plantings in my front porch bed. It faces north and gets early morning sun and late afternoon sun - not a good combo since the morning sun is mild but the late sun is harsh. I may plant a conifer on the west end to make it more shady and just go with shade lovers. Or maybe colorful pots changed seasonally - not sure yet but I do know that the variegated euonymous are headed for the compost pile. : )

Diana

I'm very glad I found this thread. I totally rearranged two beds on the north and east sides of the house in the spring, and I'm very pleased with them. However, I can't stop myself from planning what to do with 2 on the west side of the house this fall. I have been scolding myself all summer because I am never satisfied; there is always something that could be just a little better.
Dorothy

I am forever tweaking my garden. Not necessarily redoing complete chunks of it, but always changing something here and there. Since this Spring I have been working in a border where I feel more Winter interest is needed. Since gardens in Fall and Winter are my favorites (I'm weird, I know...) that border looked blah to me. So far I have added an Himalayan birch that I grew from seed, two red twig dogwoods and a Golden King holly to the already existing plantings. Now I'm considering choping down a broom that went out of all proportions and add a couple more red twig dogwoods. The ones I planted before are doing ok in the heat, so I'll probably add more. I want that mass planting look in that border and something cheerful and colorful to look at in Winter.

Another area of the garden will probably get a total revamp once we are able to do the works we need to the house. Since we'll have to lift one of the patios to be raised and relaid I haven't been doing much to that area other than pruning and watering, but I have ambitious plans to change the garden layout in there.. We'll see what I manage to accomplish.

So, in short, yes, a garden is never finished, yes, it's just like any other hobby and no, there's nothing wrong with it. If you think of it, many people pay good money to workout in a gym, I do the same for free in my garden and improve the environment on the go, so it's kind of a no-brainer, isn't it? :-)

Eduarda

Agree with all of the posts....I do the same, especially plan out on paper and do "whatever" when I am actually outside...

and... at least we are not redoing our rooms in our houses - new furniture, new curtains, blinds, bedding, towels etc. etc. - OR.. are we? :0)

Carrie

Not itching to redo my entire garden, but eager to do an occasional tweak or two.

Like Eduarda, I'm wanting to add more Fall and Winter interest. You're not alone, Eduarda, I love to garden in the fall and winter! Plus, I'm finding that flowers that were once marginal surviving the winters, are now surviving just fine which is giving me the incentive to push the zone a bit more.

So my goal is create a colorful, blooming fall-winter garden.

Marilyn