Jan

DO consider ease of mowing when designing bed or border shapes.

DO research mature plant sizes so they don't outgrow their space.

DO make walks a generous width and put them far enough away from the house to leave a reasonably sized planting area.

DON'T use lots of squiggly shapes for beds or borders. If you want a curve, make it a large, bold curve.

DO choose plant characteristics, such as size, form, texture, foliage color, flower color, bloom time first, then find the plant that most closely fits the description.

DON'T forget about fragrance. The smell of spirea, for example, under a window can be awful, whereas the scent of lilacs wafting in from the bedroom window can give you pleasant dreams on a warm spring night.

DO go bigger than you think you need to. If you think you need a 3 1/2 foot border, go to 5 feet. If you think you need a 18 inch container of annuals, go up to 24 inches.

Patty

I digress. My do/don't would be: If you have moved into a place with an existing garden, don't do anything except edge and weed only what you know are weeds, thru 4 seasons. See what you have.

Thank you all very much.

Jan

I agree with foxesearth -- contrast your list of "do's" with some "don'ts" that you learned from personal experience, if you have 'em. You can begin by talking about general rules in theory, and then show examples that reinforce why those rules exist.

nice!, I was insulted and I was in the maint biz back then.

The many "dh" comments on this site are very sexist and usually do not apply to me - a male. But I still enjoy the comments and understand that they do apply to 'many' males. I am never insulted.

Lighten up!

Jan

DON"T think you necessarily need wall to wall shrubs around the foundation of your house.

DO take into consideration berries, fall color as well as bloom.

DO try to vary texture. (BTW, when I work with groups or clients, texture seems to be the most difficult concept for people to get.)

What would make you (or Tracy, for that matter) think that they would NEED encouragement, or that they DO hire someone to do it? Is it because they are "ladies"?

If nicethyme was insulted, that tells me that there was something in her tone or manner that was provoking. This might be a topic for another thread.

Men and women alike shop the farm stores and garden centers, and I've yet to find a gardening tool that is made to fit the hands of men only, or women only.

Of course, there are folks who hire their landscaping and maintenance done, but they are not likely to be in my workshop.

Go ahead and continue this lively repartee, its good for the literary folks who can debate anything that won't matter one bit after they've slept on it.
Gotta go, the garden's waiting........

Jan

Remember that they have a right to landscape their own yard and they may not want you to be doing it for them.

This is being posted here by someone who has a neighbor who has planted Pampas grass (a 6 to 10 ft wide plant) right on the border next to a fence which it will probably uproot in a year or so at the rate it's growing. Also, a tall and wide climbing prickly rose bush has been planted on the border. What fun and nice thoughts I have of her while I'm getting stuck by thorns pruning a very large climing rose bush planted a foot from the property line. I have to do this every week during the Spring. Oh joy, oh joy! Have to prune during the rest of the year also but not quite as often. (Just venting here hoping it might be on topic.)

I did think at the time, that it was a regional thing for her to not understand... In Ohio, women were niether common nor respected in the landscape crowd. My internship at a large company there - I was the only girl on crews out of 90 employees. Contrast that to being 1 of 4 female crew leaders at a company on Nantucket Island at the time.
I figured it to be a cultural thing, she evidently didn't know her audience in Boston.

Have you considered asking your neighbour to do the maintenance for you? As in "your rose needs pruning on my side" or "your pampas grass is breaking the fence." Depending on your relationship this could be done via verbal request, friendly note, or notarized letter. I haven't tried it yet, but I swear I plan to ask the conifer neighbour to clean its debris out of our gutters... one of these days.

DON'T set up an elaborate abundant garden unless you have time to maintain it or pay to have someone maintain it for you regularly (biweekly). You don't have to fill every nook and cranny of your yard. Remember landscaping the "emptiness" is important too. Need the diversity of plants AND "space" for a really beautiful garden IMO.

Jan

Which dos and don'ts did you eventually decide to go with?

Oregongirlie --- it sounds as if you have had experience with Roundup. Did you spray, or your neighbor?

Thanks, again, for all your help!
Jan

I think C. Colston Burrell has a good site needs survey in his book "Perennial Combinations'? I can't quite remember. It's great if you can give them a checklist to take home so they can use it to do their own site assesment.

No one ever puts enough consideration toward maintenance.