Time to Dream & Plan

It’s a new year and the dead of winter so that can only mean one thing for gardeners: we have the green light to delight in dreaming and planning for our garden. In fact, we Prairie Godmothers like to think of winter as a gift (and a perfect excuse) that gives us extra time to cozy up with our favorite catalogs, gardening books and all those magazine and newspaper clippings we so dutifully snipped and saved in 2010. We thought we’d provide some tips to help you get the most out of your dreaming and planning.

• First, grab your favorite hot beverage and get comfortable. That might be sitting on the carpet, curled up on the couch or at your favorite neighborhood café.
• Get all the ideas in one place. A notebook, journal, file, or even an old shoe box will keep things organized and accessible. We like to re-claim paper by using the “other side” to jot down ideas and sketch garden spaces. We drop drawings, pictures and articles in 8.5” plastic sleeve pages and put them in a three ring binder.
• Dreaming big is fun but starting small has its merits too. Make a list of 10 plants (try native varieties this year) and then do the research to see if they’re really right for your garden. What kind of soil do they like, how much sun do they need and are they a complement to what you’ve got? Knowing the profile of the plant makes the right plant selection much easier.
• A little budget tip: if you check out most of your gardening books from the local library or borrow them from friends, that means ever more spending money for new plants, shrubs and trees. A bigger tip: Allocate 80% of your budget for native and perennial plants, the remainder on annuals. Plants that return every year will cut your costs over time and you can still have the splash of color that comes with annuals.
• Gather with fellow gardeners to swap not only books and catalogs but also ideas and tales of victory and woe from last season. You might find that someone needs to divide a plant you’d love to have and you might find another willing to take that zizea that’s grown too big for its space.
• Consider starting a Garden Journal. This can be as simple as a spiral-bound notebook where you make a monthly entry or it can be an on-line record, like the free service offered over at www.greenthumbjournal.com. We like this article which explores all the options and articulates why journaling is good for you and your garden.
• Put on your coat and hat and go visit your garden. Even if it’s buried under snow, just walk about, stay as long as the cold will allow. And go ahead and dream some more.

We hope these tips will help and inspire you. Currently we’re smitten with natives like anise hyssop and bottle gentian. We always enjoy the “High Country Gardens” catalog for its botanical eye candy. Tessa Evelegh’s book “The Perfect Garden” provides creative ideas and inspiration to transform garden spaces. We’ll keep you posted on where we land between dream and reality. And we’d love to hear how you dream and plan for your garden!