Are you bragging or complaining? LOL. Enjoy your beautiful garden and wait until fall to do cutting back, dividing and transplanting.

It looks great up above, but everything is definitely pressing together now. It's so BIG that I feel pretty intimidated by it whenever I go out there to work! So in the fall I can just dig up - as much as I want - and swap it around? It won't stunt the growth or anything?

Edit. Last year you used cheap plants to fill space. Now you've had a chance to observe them. It's okay to yank the ones that don't thrill you. It's okay to yank the thugs. Then rearrange the remaining plants aesthetically.

I like plants close together, too, but I guess my question is: how close is TOO close? I'm afraid that their close proximity is affecting their ability to thrive. Here's an updated pic from this morning. I do think I'll just take notes this summer and will just have to ruthlessly yank and rearrange this fall. It will be a big job, but I want to stick to my original design plan!

You might look at some contrasts in foliage. Maybe some spiky or more vertical shapes.

fear your success... lol ...

just take a shovel.. and take out half the clumps you wish smaller ... give them away.. or spread them around ...

i dont understand when you say .. you like a cottage garden look.. but when you achieve that.. you arent happy ... did you goal change ... if so.. change teh garden ...

yes.. you can do it in fall.. but why look at it all summer if its bothering you ...

never heard the term polka dot garden.. what does that mean??

as noted.. this look exactly what i would call a cottage garden

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=cottage+garden&iax=images&ia=images

ken

ps: also keep in mind.. when a plant spreads to cover soil... it basically retards weeds ... so you need less mulch.. etc ...

The garden is lovely. You don't have to "ruthlessly yank" anything. If a plant is too big for it's allotted space, carefully dig it up and divide it in the fall or next spring. Information for dividing each kind of plant can be found on the internet

Um...I like it! I do think it could use more foliage contrast, like Floral mentioned, but otherwise I find it pleasing. But, it's not my garden -- what do you want to achieve? Sometimes it helps to put thought into what it is about it that you don't like, why you don't like it, and what you can do to remedy the problem before you just start yanking without rhyme or reason.

I agree with Ken. This is a cottage garden look and it’s beautiful! I would only pull out the thugs at this point and whatever you just don’t like. Then I would spend the summer observing and making a plan for rearranging. Try to enjoy it!

Take pictures each week from the same vantage point to help you remember what you like and don't. If you want repeating drifts, then divide and plant those out so you have several of them. It looks very nice and as mentioned, if you don't see mulch, that's keeping weeds down. And some of these probably haven't reached "mature size."

I planted our new garden accounting for the assumed "mature size" so we'll see if I need to add more. Right now, there's too much soil for my taste.

So, I know you said this is a new garden, but are you a new gardener? Because if this were my first attempt at a garden I'd be pretty darn pleased with myself! LOL. It looks wonderful!

But, as others have mentioned, it's your garden, so if you are unhappy by all means change it. Lots of good tips here, including taking photos. I will say this, though. I think many of us gardeners are never really satisfied, at least not for long. We are always tinkering - adding, subtracting, moving. But IMO that's half the fun of gardening.

Good luck and ENJOY it!
:)
Dee

Maybe I should clarify that I do like the look, but I worry that the health/success of the plants will be compromised by how close they are to each other. I think I would still have the 'cottage look' if they were a foot apart because the foliage could spread out more easily instead of being mashed together. I didn't separate any plants this spring because, well, they looked small and tidy when they were coming up. ;) But now that they're more mature, they are so large and seem so 'settled' that I was afraid that digging them up and/or dividing them might possibly kill them. The only plants I've ever divided were irises and hostas, and I have definitely killed hostas by not digging deep enough/separating well. I also didn't necessarily want to give them a major 'setback' - i.e. plant is full and lush...I dig it up and replant it...plant is puny and lethargic for a year or so until it recovers from the transplant shock. I'm a fairly new gardener so this is all a learning experience for me!

I've heard the term 'polka dot garden' used to describe a garden where you have just one of each type of plant 'dotted' around...not very cohesive.

Look at some photos of English perennial borders. In most cases, they are crammed full of diverse plants all intermingled and growing up through each other. And a mixed perennial border does not have to be very 'cohesive' although that can be managed by combining color and repeating forms and leaf textures if not the same actual plants.

One of the things newer gardeners can have trouble with is visualizing just how large plants can get at maturity. With perennials in particular, most will double in size each season until they have been in the ground three years. Then growth tends to slow (but not stop) unless they spread by rhizomes or stolons.

Most perennials can be divided successfully....exceptions are those with taproots, but even that can be accomplished with proper timing and some effort :-) Although you can typically do so at any time, early spring or fall is best. Pick the early spring for late summer flowering perennials and divide early season perennials in the fall.

One of the best sources you can use for both good info on mature sizes (so you know what to expect down the road) and how and when to divide just about any perennial is The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, by Tracy DiSabato-Aust. Well worth the investment!!

Gardengal48, thanks for that tip! I will check it out! It's definitely true about underestimating 'adult' size. I bought several catmint 'walker's low' plants last year. Small, tidy, a little bit boring, but this year they each have a sprawl of over three feet!

I don’t see a garden that is out of control at all. Your garden looks very happy. A raised bed must be providing excellent drainage that a lot of plants love. They really don’t even look like 2nd year plants. They’ve filled in nicely in two seasons, especially if some of them were cuttings. [But then I read further along, that they’ve doubled in size since taking this photo, and after reading the list of plants, I can see there could be something to be a little concerned about.]

You said it’s “…done so well, it’s taken on a life of it’s own.” Yes! That’s what great gardens do, especially cottage gardens that you like, but maybe you want to adjust whether you want a cottage garden or a modified cottage garden look.

Catmints always grow a lot in one season and need a lot of space and/or can be divided every couple of years. For me they are worth having, they bloom for a long time and if you deadhead you can get a second round.

Baptisia does get large and wide. I would definitely find out what the expected eventual size is and make sure you have room where it is growing. You might want to move something that is near it just enough to give it room for the maximum size it will be. Make sure it is in the perfect location, because I found when I tried to move it, it was really beyond me and my husband. The roots are dense and difficult to work with. That was after many years in the same location and I ended up leaving it where it was. So if you want to move it, I’d do so in the next year or so. Also keep in mind that they bloom for a short time and then that large amount of foliage is just blank the rest of the season. They do produce cute black seed pods that I also enjoy, but in my main garden, they are just not decorative long enough to take up that much space. I'm adding them to a more out of the way bed.

Sunflowers are annuals. Unless you are referring to a perennial sunflower?

Delphiniums did not last more than 3 seasons in my garden, always had to be staked, and totally worth it. I like to start seed from Dowdeswell Delphiniums and keep adding them to the garden, when I have the time.

Dowdeswells Delphiniums

Black eyed Susan and Yarrow are the two that I’d be concerned about. For me, they both did not play well in a mixed border and I removed them and don’t even grow them any more. Black eyed Susan ran all over even my echinacea in the same bed and just took over after about 5 years. I removed it all. Yarrow, I love, but it really spreads quickly. If I had a meadow, I’d love to grow it on the edges, but in a mixed bed, for me they were too much work, having to divide them and keep them in bounds too often.

Artemesia too? [g]. You do have a lot of plants that spread.

I would wait until fall for most dividing and moving only because we’re basically about to be in the hottest part of the growing season. Any time before Memorial Day is a great time to divide and move. You can do it, it’s just not ideal in hot weather. Fall is great too. But as Ken said, if it's really making you unhappy looking at it, you can divide and move things now. Just try to do it when you have a couple of cloudy days in the forecast and cover it with a milk crate for about a week, and keep it watered.

Can you prune things into submission? I would not count on that at all. Much better for you, for the plant and the garden bed, if you allow for the mature size of the plant.

You are off to a great start. Garden beds are rarely planted and then not having to be touched again. They are an ongoing process. That is the fun of them. You have to have realistic expectations which you will get with experience. Every season you will no doubt look it all over and edit it and maybe move some things around, buy new plants and add them. What has been consistent with a garden bed in just my own experience, has been change. [g] It’s been a lot of fun though. I’ve been able to try a lot of different plants.

I would second the recommendation that GG made for The Well Tended Perennial Garden. My favorite book for knowing how to maintain every perennial in the garden. The author is not timid about her plants and I learned a lot from the way she gardens. Great reference.

You’ve done a wonderful job. It looks beautiful. The only thing I would add is to leave the baptisia and lupines where they are. If other plants will squish them, move the other plants.

Also, what is going on with HOUZZ today???

Prairiemoon2, thanks so much for taking the time to give that information! I am definitely not unhappy with the way it looks...I just want it to be cluttered AND healthy! Yes, I'm afraid I've planted a lot of vigorous things, including obedient plant and evening primrose (gulp). I've been astounded at how black eyed susan, coneflower, and yarrow have reseeded this year. I've carefully relocated around 50 seedlings of each type! The yarrow I have in my front garden (also added last year) was over 3' tall before a heavy rain knocked it down. I love my catmint, love the baptisia, love everything, really! I got the baptisia from a local woman. It was huge and took my husband 15 or 20 minutes to dig it up. Root got really chopped and we definitely didn't get the whole root...didn't get any bloom or much growth last year...this year it's been wonderful. I'm getting ready to plow up a large field behind our house and am going to make a massive cutting/perennial garden there. So all little seedlings, garden bullies, and "just don't fit"s will be relocated there in a couple of weeks!

The biggest challenge, for me, is the confusion over care. Some things like to be transplanted...some don't. Some like a nice chop mid-summer and will bloom again...some won't. Some can be propagated by root cuttings, others by stem. Some reseed like crazy and others are apparently sterile and can't be grown by seed. Some grow and spread like crazy and others remain in tidy clumps. Some can be direct sown (their seeds), others require stratification. Then there's all the light/soil/moisture requirements, which are different for different plants. It's been a bit overwhelming and I've been doing a lot of reading, as time permits! This has been a wonderful learning experience and I'm really enjoying it.

Oursteelers, I was definitely planning on leaving the baptisia. I know the flowers are short-lived, but I love the foliage. I will read up on the lupine...that's one of the ones I was planning to move in the fall. It is - you guessed it - smashed up right against the baptisia, which is getting larger by the day! :)

Bosewichte - It sounds like you are going to have a lot of fun with it. For the specific information about what to do for each plant, you cannot beat The Well Tended Perennial Garden. It answers all the questions you've asked. You can learn gardening as fast or as slow as it makes you happy. If you have the time to read a lot and the energy to rip things out and move seedlings and dig new beds, you can really go fast and learn a lot in a short period of time. But, on the other hand, you don't have to, you can take your time. If you love plants and gardening, it becomes all about making yourself happy and going at your own pace. :-). Enjoy the journey.

What's nice and not-so-polkadot is that there are not a crazy amount of different flower colors. The colors are harmonious, I think. If you want drifts, you can divide some stuff and spread it out. I did move a baptista the second year and it was fine--it's possible that the longer you wait, the bigger the tap root--I don't know--I was worried at the time, but it did fine. I divide from spring until fall. I try to avoid blisteringly hot, sunny days. I also use a trick where I place an outdoor chair or one of those plastic milk crates to shade the new transplant from the sun for the first week or so. Just anecdotal, not expert advice here.

Violetsnapdragon - About moving the Baptisia. I've moved one in the first two years and not had that difficult a time. I did leave behind some root and some of it came back. The one we left in place - I think the fact it had been in the same spot for over 10 years was the reason we had so much trouble with it.

We have moved lots of things in the yard. Mature Viburnums and lots of other shrubs, lots of perennials. That Baptisia was the only thing that we left in place because we couldn't get it out and gave up.

You can cut back plants after they’ve bloomed in order to allow space for later blooming plants to spread out. This is what divides the women from the girls in perennial gardening! For example, the baptista can be tamed into a tidy little mound when its performance is finished- sacrificing the striking black seed pods i’m afraid. Or split the difference. Day lilies chopped, letting them send up fresh growth. Think of space on the ground and in the air as two different things. The goal of the first is to suppress weeds and support the tops. The goal of the second is your changing visual plane. like being an orchestral conductor.

I just picked up a copy of The Well-Tended Perennial Garden on Amazon...can't wait to put it to use! :) Thanks, everyone!

I wish my plants got that big their 2nd year😕

I will pick up that book as well, thanks for the recommendation, gardengal!

I have moved Baptisias several times over the years. As Tony Avent has said, it's a myth that they resent being moved. I've never attempted to get all the root, just what was easy, and in one case broke up the root mass into many pieces, giving away some and keeping some. Every single piece survived.

laceyvail, I'm glad to hear that. I actually got 2 baptisias from the same lady but planted one in a more shade area. It's not doing nearly as well and I had been wishing that I could move it. I'm going to dig it up this fall and put it in a better place now that I know that it's not as tender about moving as I'd thought!

Bosewichte - They seem pretty indestructible to me. We bought a new Baptisia last year and didn't get around to planting it. In the fall when we were cleaning up, it was put in the garage by mistake. I didn't even know it was in there. This spring, I wondered what did we do with that gallon pot of Baptisia? When I found it in the garage, I dragged it out thinking it had to be dead. No water all winter. There was a stem poking up out of it. Once I dragged it out to the yard and watered it, I got at least 15 stems coming up. I find that amazing.