my questions are:
1) Can I easily plan on ws'ing 3000 plants worth or perhaps 1,000 jugs because I can avg. 3 plants per jug? I realize I'll have some failures & some will give me more than that. Is this a good estimate to start with?

2) Is it reasonable to plant out 12" apart so 3000 sq feet= 3000 plants? Should they be closer? Farther apart? Is there a general rule of thumb to use?

3) How do you plant out for the best looking beds visually? I know shortest in front/tallest in back but should I plant in rows, circles, random shapes through out? I really don't know what to do come planting out time as far as spacing & layout & I've tried to google it but I don't think I'm asking the right questions or using the right search words. HELP! :P

Thanks you guys! I have learned SO MUCH from all of you experts!! MUWAH!
Jodie

If this is your first time laying out beds, I'd suggest buying/borrowing some design books. Also, bhg.com has a lot of garden plans and articles. Including a link :)

I wish I could find the lecture online where Hinkley showed gardens, then digitally removed accents (called them exclamation points!) from the garden photos to make his point, the difference was amazing. So far I've only found the link to a description of the lecture and not the actual lecture but I'll keep trying, U of WA TV repeats it in their broadcasts every now and then so I know it's on film somewhere and you'd love it.

And don't even plan on getting the whole thing right your first try. That kind of garden is going to change and evolve with your tastes and trials every year for years...have fun with it, don't stress - I haven't found a plant or group of plants yet that can't be moved :)

I have landscaped before with the aid of a landscape architect and a crew of landscapers. We had 3 acres of paths, beds, ponds and streams and I never sowed a single seed or planted a shrub, tree or flower myself. We downsized, had a new home built and started over with a blank slate - a lawn that had just been seeded and builders quality foundation plantings. Although what we had in our previous home was picture perfect, I want to do this project myself. We started with the front first. All the foundation plantings were removed, replaced planted elsewhere on the property and we put in a "real" lawn. This year we want flowers, flowers, flowers and vegetables.

I am a compulsive list maker. I have made a spreadsheet of every seed I have sown that includes height, spacing, sun requirements, color and bloom time. Like yourself, I am planning between 3,000 and 4,000 square feet of planting - doing sort of a raised bed necklace around two sides of the new property.

People at this site are so gracious and helpful. I will watch this thread and take advantage of the good advise I am sure you will receive. I admire what you are doing in your garden despite the responsibilities you have as a young mother.

Best wishes...and let us know what you are planning.

Dorothy (Meadows)

I also started a database of my seeds. I even numbered each type of flower & wrote that on all my ws jugs. I made a column for flowering time, spacing, sun, water etc... Been trying to fill it in but time constraints haven't allowed me to fill in all the columns! I know I will need it come planting time. (sigh) I guess I posted this as to find a "way out" of filling in all my database cause I just don't know when I'll get to it! I have to get my seeds ws'n & start hauling dirt come mid-late March. No worries, somehow, someway it ALL GETS DONE!

Thanks for the links too guys! I browsed them some last night & hope to do more tonight! GREAT INFO!!

I can't find my pic of all my cups and jugs sitting in my bed but here are some of the others.

Right after planting out.

A little time later

later that summer

I can't find a single pic of it all grown up and overflowing the edges but it did.

Because I had perennials that stay small the first year I planted annuals between and around them to take up the space and protect them from weeds. It worked really well and kept things nice and colorful.
This year I am expecting first blooms from my perennials and there won't be as much room for annuals. I did keep areas for some though so there will still be color as things mature. : )

I have a huge full sun bed to fill this year that already has multiple mature peonies, 30 established clumps of daylilies, bearded iris, clematis, Russian sage and a pure white rose of Sharon. I'm drawing in my WS perennials and at the same time attempting to design a pattern or theme. It's not a snap-of-the-fingers effort but I think it'll come out looking fantastic in the long run. If I get the chance today, I'll take a photo of the drawing and post it here.

I second meadows in thanking Jodie for this post as it's something many of us will be scratching our heads over in a few weeks.

1. We haven't used much. Our prof is a big fan of it though. They have garden plans laid out, and you can see in their plans the center of each plant. Gives you some idea of each plant's eventual spread

2. Haven't used it yet. However, one of our assignments in the class was to find articles online or in magazines, and the author of the book wrote one of the articles I used. It was basically a list of plants, when to prune, what to pinch to get rebloom, etc. The article went into a file of stuff I'm keeping for reference material for myself, so I'm guessing the book is even better.

3. I suggest you buy this one. It has hundreds of pages on plants divided by species. It has info on bulbs and other perennials, but not woodies. Has chapters on design as well. There's chapters devoted to soil improvement, what kind of mulch and when. Also, there's design info in this one as well. Basically, it's an all around good informative book for a perennial garden. $15.40 on amazon

Still looking for ANY ideas on planting out my ws plants so if you stumble across a good link, PLEASE share it with me!!! THANK YOU to those that already have shared info!!

My problem is that with SO MANY I'm not sure I'll have time to carefully plan out & draw my beds so it will have to be a combination of "intuitive planting" (as someone else called it) & ideas I see off the internet! :P And realize this is a process & I'll modify in years to come as things change & grow. :)