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Green w/Roots March 2009
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Garden Planning Tool Did they come? Those wonderful seed and bulb catalogs
full of beautiful photos taken of lush gardens and blooms…not to mention those gorgeous tomatoes. Have
you poured over them, folding down the corners of the pages making your dream list? And when you got to
the end were you satisfied or overwhelmed, not sure what to spend your hard-earned pennies on? Happens
to me every time. Last year I came up with an idea…I’m sure someone else did this long ago…but
it was a light bulb for me. I already had a plot map for my garden, hand drawn, not to scale.
I made a couple of photocopies of it and went to work.
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| Bloom time chart: click to see larger version |
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| Color chart: click to see larger version |
On the first copy I took crayons representing the colors of the plants and
colored each one in accordingly. With one glance I could see where I needed more balance or a splash of
this color or that. On the second copy I picked a color to represent each blooming time; May-June,
June-July, Aug- Sept. and June-Sept. I then colored in each plant according to when it blooms.
With one glance I could see where I would have non-blooming areas during each part of the season. So
instead of being overwhelmed with my wish list, I could narrow it down and look for exactly what I needed, a blue flower that
blooms in July for instance. It worked great…except… you know, there’s just something
irresistible about walking through that nursery. Sure enough a few “not on the list” plants
found their way into my cart. Hmmm…how did that happen?
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Tell me about your garden planning.
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This Month's Garden Website
www.greatgardenplants.com Wow! This website is fun to look at. Lots of photos, lots of info, sales,
clearance. They offer a free newsletter that includes savings and a free plant with first order. Wonderful articles
available. I checked out one on plants for privacy which also included ideas on how to hide unsightly elements in your
yard (air conditioner, septic vent, etc.) They also had articles about deer resistent shrubs for all my friends out
in the country! Check it out.
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