Hello Lisa.

Welcome back to yet another edition of THE PENCIL CASE!  Each issue focuses on a theme to encourage a fresh look at garden design and graphics. Today let's discuss how I tackle ONE PLANTING BED AT A TIME in my own garden. ♥︎

A WORK IN PROGRESS 

Like many of you, our garden is a work in progress. Our first step back in 2020 was establishing our garden rooms (dining area, fire pit space, paths), plus defining our planting areas. We’ve also been slowly adding fences, arbors, furniture and planters. I didn’t do a full-blown planting plan back then, but instead focused on the overall spatial plan. The spatial plan defined the planting areas so I could tackle one empty bed at a time, as our budget allowed. 

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I’m sharing this experience with you today to show one way to build a garden over time. Sometimes we’re overwhelmed with choosing plants and having a perfect plan before heading to the garden center, but it’s okay to approach it step-by-step.

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We still have many empty beds (just mulch) in our garden, but each year we tackle a new one. I don’t always know what plants I’ll use. Instead, I have an idea of potential plant community, composition (rough sketches) and function, then I take those conceptual ideas to a local garden center to choose available plants. In some of our garden beds, I do have a certain vision with a certain plant, so I will work with a local landscape company to order those plants for me. 

MY PROCESS 

As I tackle a new bed each year, these are the things I consider:

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GOALS. Do I want tall plants for privacy, a certain color theme, plants that attract hummingbirds…or maybe all of these? 

I just finished planting a little bed next to our arbor (see above photo). My goal was to stuff it full of plants to cover the soil (less weeds and instant wow), plus hopefully deter Sunny (our pup) from walking into it. Yes, the plants will grow larger and I’ll probably have to edit it a bit in a few years, but I’m happy to spread things around later if needed, so I have less weeding now. I focused on a variety of textures, plants that can handle dryer conditions, a bit of orange (for my warm color scheme in the backyard), but also a bit of blue (to transition into the front yard cool color scheme).

COMPOSITION. I love taking a photo of the site, then drawing conceptual plant forms to explore how I want the overall planting bed to look. Do I want a tall plant to frame a gate, but low plants next to it so you can see over them? Maybe some are low and creeping, while others are columnar or round. My sketch for the arbor bed is above.

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SITE. Is your site sunny, wet, dry, have clay soils? Is there a native plant community that thrives in those conditions that can help get you started with a plant palette? Some areas of my backyard are inspired by the Iowa white oak plant community, while others are a combination of traditional sunny cottage-style plants and native groundcovers. 

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SHOP. Once you have your sketch and general idea of plants, visit your local garden centers (yes, plural…I often shop around) to see if you can find plants that fit your vision. I will spend a lot of time pulling plants and placing them next to each other to make sure color, texture and form work well together. If you have a more detailed plan in mind, you may need to order them online or work with a local garden center to do that for you. The photo below shows the plants on my cart at a local garden center as I made selections for another area in my garden that was part shade. This starts to give me an idea of what that planting bed could look like.

LET'S DO THIS!

Dive into your own planting beds step-by-step. I've learned that focusing on one area at a time is more manageable and provides quick rewards (rather than spreading yourself thin all over the garden). To help out, I've provided some links to past newsletters below that cover some of my thoughts above in-depth:

SPATIAL vs. PLANTING DESIGN

PLANT FORMS

TEXTURE

NARROWING DOWN YOUR PLANT CHOICES

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We discuss many of these topics in the GARDEN DESIGN COLLECTIVE. This is our monthly membership where we dive into one topic a month. Please join our WAITING LIST if you'd like to jump in this September when enrollment opens once again.

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Need design inspiration now? You're welcome to join our 10x10 GARDEN DESIGN TIPS email journey for only $10.

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If you know someone that needs design inspiration, please feel free to share this newsletter. Anyone can subscribe right here. I also keep a VAULT of past issues in this secret location.

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Thanks for letting me visit you this week and I look forward to seeing you again very soon!

Happy summer,

Lisa

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PAPER GARDEN WORKSHOP