A job worth doing

About two years ago a girlfriend of mine asked if I would help her with her landscape/garden/flower bed at her newly built home - the yard was devoid of any landscape. It was a dream come true for me, no demo to do, no digging up 50 year old roots, a blank canvas. I have never lived in a fresh built, brand new house, never chosen the flooring or cupboards, have never had to pick out colors or tile. I have also never had the option of starting a landscape totally from scratch.

 I did all the necessary 'digging' for info - what colors would you like, maintenance level and what do you absolutely not want. We planned out the tree types and locations, the play areas for the kids, and the screening from the neighbors. Mrs D was pretty easy to please, she likes all colors and a lot of color, throughout the season, with spaces to fill in a few annuals for that extra little pop. She pretty much let me do whatever I wanted to do. I also had the task of trying to find plants low in maintenance, little deadheading, no self seeders, no invasive rooters, but plants that enjoyed a little one on one time with the home owner for a quiet 'mommy alone time' watering session.

I chose a Rocket Ligularia for the main focus of the flower bed at the front of the house, I surrounded it with iris, delphinium, dianthus, gaillardia, ajuga, lillies, achillea, veronica and a few others with room for her annuals. The bed turned out very nice, her ligularia survived while my third has perished. Maybe I need to spend some one on one with my plants.

The post is being written because I have been recently asked to do two more flower beds for another two friends, so here I go again.

I stopped by Mrs G's today and took a couple photos, walked out some general measurements and asked the same questions - color, maintenance level, any favorite flowers and what do you really dislike - I've been given the 'go ahead and do whatever'. It's a fairly straight forward flower bed job almost triangular in shape along the front wall of the house with a sweeping curve to it that wraps around to the corner gate. The plan is pretty much ready, shrubs, perennials, spots for annuals, varying heights, a range of seasons, shapes and colors - I may do some final tweaking yet but feel pretty good that it will be all she is looking for, and I can be there to help shop and/or plant.

The second garden is taking a little more resourcefulness on my behalf. I am not what you call a formal style gardener - none of my flower beds have straight lines - I kind of hate them, I love curves and soothing shapes. I also have some restrictions to work around - heights and keep the view through the windows. A split level house, beds on either side of the front door, the upper floor overhangs the basement level and there are low windows on the basements walls. I know which plants I want to choose the trouble is trying to find the full season of color range and the best sizes for the new cultivars available. I am also not sure if I can be present during shopping or planting of this garden - which means the list has to include substitutions if necessary. (The garden I did for Mrs D included plants from my own yard and plants I purchased very cheap at a plant sale/swap). It's not quite as easy as the first garden but the plan is beginning to take shape.

I am an El-Cheapo at heart, I will always do my best to get the best deal or lowest price for everything and anything I can. I absolutely love plant sales/swaps at schools or churches and I grow a lot of plants from seed. I do check the local newspaper for the want ads displaying 'free perennials' - some plants should be divided or they just don't grow properly.

So the quest continues to find the best garden plans for my friends so they can proudly claim 'my friend did it for me'

The rant has ended - or has it?

After all my rantings about the Thompson and Morgan seed company my order has finally arrived. The lady at the post office said she figures it took so long because they shipped by regular letter post - apparently that means delivered by snail. We then look for the date stamp and notice we can't find one but that the package says 'if undelivered return to .... are you ready? .... Belgium' - well no duh it takes a month and a half to get here the poor snail had to swim an ocean. I am happy to receive the cool plant seeds I ordered but disappointed that there are still two packets missing - one for me one for sis in law. We are in debate as to whether or not cancel the last two items - who knows when they would arrive. If this company would've been up front with me in the first place - that timing is not one of their priorities I would've understood, but telling me my order was on 'rush' status and then it doesn't arrive for another three weeks really cooks my bird. I definately will not order from them again via internet - you can buy their seeds almost anywhere although the selection isn't as good for unique or rare items, which is really my interest. I don't want to be the same as everyone else, or have all the same plants, I like to be different and enjoy a challenge when it comes to growing stuff that shouldn't survive here. I have had a zone six wisteria in my yard for 5 years now (I live in zone 3b), it's never produced flowers but it hasn't died, so I am ahead of the game. I will be planting some of these seeds tomorrow I think, I am going to have to do some serious rearranging of what I already have planted, and figuring out how many more lights I should (but don't) have. I also have to figure where to put all these trays of seeds/seedlings - I need a greenhouse heater - bad. The days are perfect for growing right now but the nights are too cool to not have a heater going - I learned that lesson last year, the hard way. I am a little more cautious this year and will wait until it is time to move outside.

I'm off to dream of the garden that will be.