I can read the same gardening magazines over and over again yet some how I come at it with a different perspective each time. I am also so easily influenced by each garden designer’s perspective that I continue to search for my “style”. It is frustrating yet exciting at the same time. But I think I got a little closer to moving in the right direction thanks to one simple statement I recently read in a magazine.

Last night as I watched the snow pile up, watched the most recent Lost episode frame by frame (amazing what you find the 2nd go round) and read the same Fine Gardening magazine for the bazillionth time, I came across a statement that fit me to a tee (and most plant lovers I suppose). The article was “Liven up your long border” by Jimmy Williams and the statement was this – “The plant collector’s mania always fights with the designer’s restraint, with the plant collector often winning”. Did you like read my diary Mr Williams? THAT IS MY PROBLEM and you know what … it ain’t gonna change any time soon.

This past year I finally came to grips with the notion that you can’t force a plant to live under your conditions – which for me is brutal clay and wet soil that can stay for days. Find the plants (especially the natives) that prefer your conditions. This was a big step for me and something I will follow forever. However, I still cannot give up on the trips to the garden centers where I go without a plan in mind other than to look around. This inevitably leads to purchases of plants I have no room for or those that don’t fit with what I’ve already got. You know the drill after that – I’ll move this here, that there, I’ll put that in a pot, get rid of that and now I can fit these new grasses right there or maybe over there. This process repeats itself all season and I end the gardening season the same way – this winter I’ll figure it all out.

I hope by taking the time to document my every redesign step in this blog will help me become a more patient gardener who actually has a plan and sticks to it. Or maybe it will be more of the same and you can laugh at me. Either way, I am going to enjoy the hell out of it.