If I could go back and start this garden over, I would....

No regrets. Sometimes, a harmonious combination of plants comes about by accident simply because I had no other space large enough for them, and ending up with something in the wrong place is an easy enough matter to fix. At least with the plant right in my gardens I can look at it and see where it might fit and look better. Those things I just don't want after all also always find good homes with friends and family - making even more happy gardeners! There never seems to be a downside.

There are at least 2 reasons why I haven't used trees and shrubs as extensively as herbaceous plants.
1. They are usually too big for me to plant by myself; I have back problems. I'm not interested in planting baby shrubs and trees and have to wait years to see them come into their glory? Smaller plants I can place and manage more easily.
2. I have lived in 3 places since I started gardening, and the shrub and tree "bones" in each of those places was established when I arrived, so I have always worked around them.

Here, here, ginnylynn!

No regrets here. I like accidents~happy and unhappy ones! I have learned more from this garden (about what to do and what not to do) than any other garden I've had. I feel that my mistakes makes me a better gardener.

This message was edited Jul 10, 2006 7:54 AM

I chose:

"No regrets - I've enjoyed learning from my mistakes"

But it was running head-to-head with:
"Spend more time in preparation before planting anything"

I've hated having my plants being drowned out for the third time in 7 years.

~* Robin

Edited to say, in the words of Frank Sinatra; c'est la vie ..... "That's LIfe."

This message was edited Jul 10, 2006 11:06 AM

I voted "no changes needed."
I just plant like a nut, my son throws things in, my wife plants something she likes where she thinks it should go.
Guess what, our yard is a colorfull thing from early spring until frost & beyond!
Also, we have baskets & planters everywhere, because when selling that sort of thing, you always have a bunch left over!
Bernie

I voted "other". I would pay more attention to the invasive nature of some perennials before I planted them. I would do more research on my own and not rely on nursery personnel, even supposedly knowledgeable ones, to advise me (or not!) on their nature. I have had a particular problem with Centranthus ruber (know by several common names (Keys of Heaven, Jupiter's beard, etc.) and with Hesperis matronalis (known here in California as Sweet Rocket). The latter, especially, has spread through one of my perennial beds by both seed and underground runners. I have finally fallen back on Roundup, which I apply with a small paint brush. But I don't know if I'll EVER completely get rid of it. Many regrets on these plantings.

I wish I had done more prep work. I should have gotten all the weeds out of the beds and topdressed with compost in early spring. Tamara

Few mistakes, far more successful ventures associated - so, there's no regrets.

Besides, when you continue adding beds, then dividing plants in the older beds, then adding those to the new ones: there are still no regrets. A bit difficult to mess up too badly anyway .. for every spot and each plant lends itself further to the learning experience.

- Magpye

This message was edited Jul 10, 2006 10:49 AM

I chose "other" because I have 3 regrets. Our house was new when we bought it 20 years ago and did not even have fences or a backyard so it was a blank slate. Unfortunately I had not been bitten by the gardening bug back then and I put in raised beds using 2x12 redwood. All good until I added 2 trees, a variegated box elder and a magnolia tree. Still all good until I decided where to put them. That is where 2 of my regrets come in. I planted them both in the raised beds but only went down a few inches below the raised beds because that adobe soil was a nuisance and I did not want to get all dirty...LOLOL So my trees were planted in the flowerbeds. Also, I planted them WAY too close to the fence. I did not see the error of my ways until about 10 years later when the raised beds had become distorted enough from roots pushing the sides apart, to need removal along with all the soil and that is when my error became apparent. My tree roots were no longer level with the soil, but rather well above. Now my trees look like they are planted on little hills. And they ARE! lol
Regret 3, when I was then faced with creating new beds, I got the brilliant idea to just lay down weed block fabric and cover all the beds with black lava rock. Sounded like a good idea, a way to keep out weeds and never have to mess with the beds again, only problem is a few years later I was bitten by the gardening bug . Now everytime I need to plant a plant, I have to dig through several inches of lava rock. LOL Talk about a constant reminder of my shortcomings. LOL
Ahh, to be able to send my 46 year old wisdom back through time to my 26 year old ignorance and say "HEY! BONEHEAD, get dirty and dig the darn tree hole!" and "keep the rocks in your head, not the flowerbeds."


This message was edited Jul 10, 2006 8:54 AM

Spending more time planning includes several of the other points as well. The garden has been in a state of flux for 30 years and will continue so for my lifetime. I'm satisfied with it at any given moment, but see where something could be "improved", or plants that should be replaced etc. We hired a Landscape Architect the first time and his plan was great for the first 10 years, then as plants died out and needs changed the scene was altered. Recently a Landscape Designer set forth a design which we are working on now, and which we hope will be the last change. The landscape is a growing thing, from the standpoint of our physical and psychological needs, as well as horticulturally. Around here the byword seems to be "try something new", which is why I changed from nails to screws. Living in an Urban subdivision presents the problem of limited space, which in turn means large trees, orchards, greenhouses or significant water features may not be appropriate. Careful and thorough planning is all the more important. It may not be a perfect world, but gardening helps salve the aches and pains of society.

I wish I HAD been here to start this garden so I could have chosen different trees and - more importantly - planted them in more sensible places! The guys who lived here before bought a bunch (like 14!!) of cute little "bushes" and put them in without paying much attention to how big they were going to get. By the time we moved in, it looked like a jungle. LOL We've taken out 8 of the bushes/trees. I would rather have taken out the Mexican Plum and kept the Texas Sage or the Desert Willow, but they were planted in places that weren't good for them or for us and couldn't be saved. :-(

NO REGRETS!

A flower mistake is still pretty!

no regrets, but....

--I would dig out the icky adobe clay soil even deeper than we did -- 12" would be the MINIMUM one should do around here -- to replace with good compost.

--I would be more careful not to plant anything with thorns or prickly leaves, no matter how pretty, not so close to the many walkways defining our garden beds.

--I would be more diligent about staking trees and standards to grow straight up, not leaning over, LOL!

I Wish i had chosen smaller shrubs seeing as my garden is small ..
not so much a height problem as there is in width!
I just need a bigger garden full stop !!

I'd get rid of ALL my grass, not just half of it, if I started over.
inanda

I voted for more preparation but I really wish I had done several other things. I did hire a "pro" because I was from a different part of the country and not familiar with what grew well here. Well, her design was beautiful but labor intensive and she was not always right about how much sun or shade certain plants needed. So I wish I had learned more about native plants and their patterns. I should have definitely enriched the soil. She just threw in a little compost around each plant. As soon as its roots extended beyond the hole, the plant died. I am digging huge plants out that were put too close to my house and trying to find filler plants for those that never filled the vacant spots. I am going strictly native except for one very small cutting flower garden. And I am reading up on endangered and native plants. I have tons of room and might as well do what I can to perserve what should be here while I beautify it.

I need more shade! Everything in my yard better require full sun...and then some! This drought is killing me because there is no shade for my paonts to hide from the glaring sun. I have one shady spot in the whole yard and I am planning to put a bed there next Spring...and I'll lay yu doughnuts to dollars taht nothign does well tehre next eyar because without the drought, my plants won't need the shade! LOL! ACK!

I voted for more preparation. I have a very poor soil in the front yard which I didn't realize at the time, and it's limited what I can plant there, but I overall I would say it worked out ok:-)

No regrets, but I've made a lot of mistakes. Fixing them was fun. Not finished with that part of it yet though! And my tastes are maturing along with the garden, not exactly on parallel paths, though.

Most of our hardscaping, stonework, nice bushes, shrubs, and trees in the front was here when we moved in so I just had the fun part to deal with--experimenting with plants, bulbs, flowers, and learning 'wintersowing'.

Searching DG for info and answers has saved the day for us more than once!

I'd think before I planted. I love trees and shrubs for their long lifespan, and tend to dislike plants that require planting/digging every year. That is fine, but now that I've become more knowledgable about the trees and shrubs I planted, I regret my choices. And by now they're established so it'd be a shame to tear them out. I wish I would have made more intelligent tree and shrub choices the first time.

No regrets. Plenty of mistakes. If it was perfect what would I have left to do? Part of me has a fantasy of hiring a professional to come in and clear it all out and make it absolutely gorgeous. But how would I maintain it (not the greatest gardener here)? I have a slow learning process but that is the challange, fun, & reward.

BamaBelle you have quite the cryptic message. I think I got most of it. You have lots and lots of Sun!

I chose "other." I think I would just havew my nursery owner to come over and look the place over and give me some ideas. I have a lot of shade but a few sunny areas and I would want to make the best use of those places. I have done a lot of planting and then moving because there was too much shade.
I can't seem to quit having an incomplete look. Hmmmm.

I have to say my little garden certainly did not come out perfectly... but the process of bumbling around, collecting from all over and seeing how things turned out is worth all the mistakes I made (and I made hundreds). I would never do it over again, though wouldn't mind a lot more space. I took this blank slate 16 months ago

and pretty much crammed about all I could into what little space there was. Now that it's planted, I have to keep it all alive.... less fun, but still an exciting part of the landscaping process.. then the last, and never ending part will be to thin out the mess once everything gets too big.

When I first started my garden, I read books, made sketches, planned, planned, blah, blah, blah...and then one day I read something that made a lot of sense to me - put stuff where you think you'd like it and be prepared to move it somewhere else if that spot doesn't work. That became my mantra. It allowed me to get off "top dead center", stop the endless planning, and get started gardening. I made LOTS of mistakes, but I love my garden, design flaws and all; and while there are things I plan to change, had it not been from the experience I gained by making all those mistakes along the way, I wouldn't know what needs changing.
,
So, no, while there is plenty of room for improvement - no regrets, nope, none.

I voted "other". I'd hire someone to stay at my house to watch my flower beds & shoo the dang deer away from my daylilies, etc.while I went on vacation. Came back from an 11-day tour of Ireland to find all my new dl's (about 50) bitten & chewed off. I was so looking forward to seeing all the new blooms for the first time. Well, there's always next year....won't be going far away. I'll just spend what little money I'll have for vacation on plants!

I had to vote for native plants. We can't get hardly nothing to grow here. When we first moved in I planted marigolds and silver dust plants (not seeds) and no matter what I did they shriveled up and died. My wildflower garden is thriving but all of the other plants are still struggling and some of them have been here 9 years which is how long we have lived here. I am slowly putting in more native plants cause those are what can handle this poor, poor,god awful soil.

I voted other because we ARE doing it all over. At least we are doing ALL the beds around the house over. Like PudgyMudpies we started with a new house almost 20 years ago, and like Methuselah regret the choices we made back then. It is a lot of work and dh is having to do most of it because my knees and back won't allow me to do much. He is digging out monkey grass and St. Augustine, pruning back some things and cutting down others, building borders of landscape brick, and adding soil. I am doing all the running around to find and purchase all of the plants, landscape brick (I have to make lots of trips to home depot for these as I can only carry about 20 at a time in my car because they weigh 22 lbs each), and soil that we are adding to the beds. He plants the plants where I tell him to and then I feed and water. Actually we make a pretty good team, it just that I worry about him cause he is doing all the hard work and it is so hot! Things are turning our really pretty though. We have finished the back and are working on the east side now. The front will be last because NO ONE sees the front of our house except us when we mow. (Long story)

I wouldn't buy so many more plants than I can plant and take care of. Of course, I say this every year and yet........ well, I'm sure you know what I'm trying to say. Dotti

I am currently adding one bed at a time and wish that I had arranged and prepared all the beds then planted.

Well, this year we used "CHOCOLATE MULCH" but it was more of a multiple colors of light browns. I don't like the red mulch and this is better than red, but it's not natural enough. Next year we will try a dif color.

Hey there PudgyMudpies,

Maybe you need one of these here things for around your tree bases: Wrap-Around Tree Bench http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_garden_structures/article/0,,HGTV_3588_1399464,00.html Something to rest your Laurels on! LOL.... Or just put a smaller planting box around the tree bases; & put some Hostas there or other shady loving plants. Bricks, rocks or wood will work well to surround a planted garden patch.

~* Robin

I voted for more time in preparation, mainly because I think the soil should have been better prepared. I spent a lot of time preparing my garden plans. I had a landscaper build the beds and they just dumped topsoil, which in this area means 'clay'. No amendments. I can't do any heavy work myself.

As far as learning from mistakes, or doing anything different, every garden is a work in progress! It's never finished. And beginner or expert, I hope we all learn something from our gardens every day. So, of course, I learn from my mistakes and will do things differently as I learn, but........no regrets!

no regrets here, just a long and delightful learning curve, lol

The most important things I have learned:

make the any new bed 3 times as large as you think you need it to be, lol
Square Foot gardening is the way to go!
Give away three quarters of what I start as seeds.
My xmas (birthday, Mday) list is only: manure! manure! manure!
gardening is a gamble
where there's green, there's hope

Sue

If I could do it all over again, I'd make sure that sun lovers were not mixed with shade lovers and thirsty plants were not mixed with waterlogged plants and high feeders were not mixed with low feeders!!! I've slowly been rearranging things, but I always feel it's a gamble to move a plant as it doesn't always survive or looks terrible for a long long time. The one thing I haved learned is that you can't blindly trust a professional. I hired a landscape architect and designer, yet they still put many plants in innappropriate locations. Thank goodness I discovered DG for help!

:-D

This message was edited Jul 11, 2006 5:52 AM

I voted "other".
I would make my garden more orderly after starting over. Planted way too many specimens hither and yon.

I voted "no regrets" as each thing I did gave me such joy that I really would not want to change anything. However, that does not mean there haven't been some mistakes - some of which turn out to be a real pain to correct (I think someone mentioned invasive perennials already!). I definitely should have done more with soil amendment, but my budget didn't allow for everything I wanted/needed to do, so I spent it on plants instead!!!