I'd like to see what looks good together and what grows in my garden, therefore, I keep planting more and more.
Am I making a horrible mistake? I figure I can always starting pulling things out that don't do well, or are overcrowded. This philosophy ok?
Err on the side of planting too much this year... this ok?
Well you are preaching to the choir there! That is exactly what I do. ; ) I would rather things seed all over and sit quietly in my little garden pulling out the "extras" than not have enough. But then my yard is pretty crowded. We are very dry here, so no problems with humidity and overcrowding. Aren't you over by Houston? So humidity may be a factor for you. Hopefully someone in your area will warn you if need be!
Jo, last year I had a blank canvas and pretty much did just that -- planted everything I thought I might ever want. This year I have quite a bit less because last year I found out what WANTED to grow here. Instead of half a dozen different herbs in any of the garden areas, I have 2 or 3 VERY HAPPY herbs in each area. I'm glad I did it that way and would do it that way again, whether herb, flower, or vegetable.
For example, bee balm does amazingly well here. I'd love to have horehound, but there just is no way! So, the bee balm has been allowed to take over where the horehound failed, and I couldn't be happier with the way it looks. (I'd still love to have horehound but, as Clint Eastwood says, a (wo)man's gotta know his (her) limitations.)
Go for it!
nothing wrong with goin plant crazy. Move around stuff like your painting. It will all eventually find a home and you will love it! I buy stuff with absolutely no plant. I just see a plant and just gotta have it. Its comin home with me!
heh heh ... I have a very small lot, but I have over 500 seedlings started and ... well ... they have to go *somewhere*, so I'll likely end up packing most of them in to my flower beds this year. So what if I lose a bunch of them -- I have about a Zillion seeds left over and can start more next year. I'm no longer addicted to shopping in the local nurseries and dropping obscene amounts of money, so I have a lighter attitude about my failures than I used to. :)
I have hundreds of packs of seeds as well. When i shop at garden centers i usually work at them so i get good deals and i also love to buy the discount sad looking stuff. i have spent 90 bucks on $500 worth of plants on several occasions! wooohoooooo!
I love swaps and trading too.
Don't see a problem with it myself. Whatever you decide you don't want you can share with others, or have a yard sale!
My gardening experience has been "Trial and Error" finding out what will grow here and what won't!
Good luck with your adventures!
It's a fine philosophy! Last year I sowed Agastache 'Coral Nymph' I think I had 9 or 10 seedlings and planted them a decent distance apart. They bloom really young, and it looked really good. The funny thing about this plant is it gets taller and taller and taller and taller, all the while blooming. The plants on the edges were sort of leaning out over the grass, but when they were leaning a foot over the edge, I pulled them up like weeds. Yup! Like weeds. The others breathed a sigh of relief and probably went on to grow another 2 feet over the rest of the summer and into fall.
Suzy
About your Coral Nymph. I purchased one little coral nymph salvia to see how it would do in my garden. I did a search on line, but can't find coral nymph agastache. Are they the same plant? It's doing very well, and I wish I'd bought more.
Ah, That's because I thought it was an Agastache, and it turns out it's a Salvia! Annual Salvia up here.
I had no idea! I'm glad you asked the question. The seed came to me as Coral Nymph Agastache and I also got Apricot Sprite from her, too.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/31635/ - Coral Nymph
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/89605/ - The Apricot Sprite really is an Agastache.
They start very easily from seed, and while harvesting the seed, I spilled as much as I collected. I should have known it was a Salvia from the seed pods!
Thanks for the correction -- if you want more, just sow the seed. You can have a garden full in no time.
Suzy
I have some red salvia already blooming, sorry no photo. But I had some of the coral ones last year. They are so pretty! I sure hope they reseeded!
i have a couple agastache golden jubilee which is really pretty. I have tons of everything! Several summers working at garden centers will have you spending paychecks faster than you get em. In the summer of 03 i had a tab of over $800. I only made 6.50 an hour! I filled my car weekly with plants plus they gave me all there overstock of annuals as the season progressed.
My second nursery job had great deals all the time so I got hundreds of plants. I think over 300 pots! My yard looked like a garden center. Trees, shrubs, roses, grasses, hosta, ferns, salvia, irish mosses, pasque flower, sages, elderflower, peonies, goats beard, sedges, and so much more!
Now all the co op stuff!!!!
Oh, my goodness. Your yard must be a lot bigger than mine! (Or maybe you don't have any lawn left....
Jo
i have the smallest yard in town! its a single lot 50 x 150! Theres not much lawn and things are crowded. I am going to start planting at my mothers cabin too now. She has two acres there and its just down the road.
You can never plant too many plants...................
we fill every space possible with plants......!!
In fact we are just doing a border widening project and have planted over 200 plants in the last few days!!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/819439/
Mark
flowergirl, we would love to see photos! Mark that will be wonderful. Less grass is always better, and certainly a million times prettier. I sure wish we hadn't planted any lawn. It is small, but still a waste of time mowing and waste of water. The only good thing here is it does help make the porch cooler in August. But then ground cover would have done that and not needed mowing. Oh well, live and learn!
So far my pics arent very good. This summer i am going to document everything with my new digital camera! lots of before and afters. I will probably post them thu out the summer. Cant wait to get started. Im planning to build three rustic arbors, a glass greenhouse, and lots of new beds. Im gonna be busy but its gonna be so fun.
Well, I planted more yesterday. I'm way overplanted, but with our Texas heat, I figure that I will probably have to pull out a few plants, even though I was very careful in purchasing mostly plants that I thought would do well here. I suspect I will be moving plants around all spring and summer trying to find a place for some of these plants to survive our heat!
I was re-reading this thread and I have to laugh. Things were so tight last year that I widened three different beds. Well that led to buying more plants and I'm back were I started!
And that is the fun of a cottage style garden! I took this shot this morning. I have several hollyhocks, some pincushions flowers and salvia that just pulled out of this area. I would rather have more and have to pull than see bare ground.
That looks lovely.
I'm already thinking about making my beds deeper, but they're allready pretty deep. I guess I'll have to add stepping stones, now!
Nice picture!!! Im buying way more than i can afford, plant myself or fit in my yard!LOL!!!
My beds do have flagstone stepping stones in them Jo, DH made me some nice walkways and we had plenty of pieces leftover to lay in the beds.
I have one with stepping stones, soon to be two.
Well, stepping stones weren't supposed to be in my budget this year, but at the "deepest part of the curve, one of my borders is 7 feet deep. Needless to say, I'm always walking through it, but my plants in that part are things like lantana, which aren't too fragile. The thing gets so big and grows so fast, that if I step on it, it doesn't matter! LOL
I would think you can easily find stepping stones out in the wild there like we can here? We have the leftover flagstone pieces, but many are just big flat rocks I found out in the field at the back of our property--no money spent and they look nicer and more natural. ; )
this was a spot i redid in 06 i think? Im redoing it again this year. I have lots of plants to put in there now! Its my shady corner in the yard. I have lots of hostas, hellebores, heucheras, toad lilies, tiarellas, ferns, anemones, ajuga, bulbs etc.... to put in there
That looks wonderful, I can't imagine why you are redoing?
Im gonna make it bigger and add more plants!!!LOL
Alright! ; )
The area farthest right in the pic and beyond is actually really bare and in need of some lush shade loving plantings. The soil could use some work tool. Its an old bed. I also have some sun loving stuff in there that does suprisingly well but im going to move it all to sunnier locations in the yard to give it the fare share of light.
Flowrgirl,
You're fortunate to have access to great plants. If I had a second job, I would want it to be in a a nursery. Or maybe a pet shop - but then I would have to limit the amount of live "merchandise" I bring home.
Jo, one can never have too many plants! I think that's one of the lures of the Cottage Gardening style.
I think that the original cottage gardens in England were smaller plots or front yards, so everything had to be crammed in together. (Mark, correct me if I'm wrong!)
Flowrgirl - looking good!
I think you are correct about the small plots. Here in NM the little stucco houses I remember from my youth had plants in a small area around the kitchen door because no water would be "wasted on flowers" so planting them where it was easy to toss the dishwater was what they did. I didn't know the reason then, just loved that look! The ones I recall were hollyhocks and roses and that is what my garden is today.
I just bought a english cottage garden book for $3 at a plant sale. I was so excited. i love books and have lots of gardening books!!! It has really beautiful photography in it.
Eng Country is my favorite because the plantings are so lush, wild and colorful. All my favorite plants and colors overflowing in small spaces.
I have 21 clematis coming very soon!!! Lots of glads and lilies, hostas, astilbe, heuchera, pulmonaria and much more.
I will be planting till my fingers are little nubs. Good thing i bought a dozen pair of atlas gloves!
Great find. I don't have any books on cottage style. But I used to clip all the pages from the garden magazines. I still get them out and look through. Is your yard new? I mean since you have room for so many new plants? Good luck!
I keep mag clippings too. plus i have hundreds of garden mags.
My yard is not new and its pretty darn full. I just keeping taking out lawn. My eyes are always bigger than my wallet, yard, stomach etc...
Sorry I know you said you were taking out lawn, it is early and I haven't had my first cup of tea! Duh!
I need to go through all my magazines and cut out what I'm interested in and chuck the rest. Now THAT's a good project for a hot afternoon with nothing else to do. It would probably also remind me of things I want to get done and had forgotten about! Maybe a notebook with those plastic "pages" you slip things into.
Thats what i do. I tear up my BHandG, house and garden, and others that have garden features in them and just keep all the stuff that i like. Less bulk to deal with. I keep my garden mags in tact though. they are too nice to tear up! I put them in the clear plastic sleeves and divide them into catagories. Project ideas, recipes, gardens, home decor, etc....