Tell your garden story in a journal
“One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.” – W.E. Johns, creator of ‘Biggles’, 1893-1968
W.E. Johns was the creator of a series of books geared towards young adults featuring an adventurous pilot. But it seems he also had a handle on gardening as well.
Just like any big project, half of the fun of gardening is in the planning, preparation, and anticipation. Think about all the fun you have dreaming and planning. Most of it comes from the days preceding the big event!
Dreaming and planning
The beginning or the end of the gardening year is the perfect time to collect garden ideas and journal them. I have three sections to my yearly winter gardening journal.
- Things I want to change that didn’t work out so well last year.
- Ideas I have seen from other gardeners on the Internet (Flea Market Gardening) that I want to try this year.
- A section for pictures and sketches.
Old door inspiration
This is a picture of something I plan on duplicating, in part, this year with a little bit of a tweek. I loved the picture, but I want the door outside.
Since the space I have available is along a solid brick wall on of my home facing the east garden, this addition will bring beauty as well as unexpected character to a very plain and underdeveloped area. So, I am on the search this winter for an old door with a window that I can set up against the brick wall, adding curtains to give the illusion of a passageway. I am very excited about this project and believe I will put some morning glories seeds at the side to sort of meander around the top of the door. Maybe even a short and curvy path of stone in front of the door to give an illusion that there’s an entryway there for sure!
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Many of my online gardening friends have sent me seeds in the past and some of the areas where I planted them were perfect spots. Some were not. So I have written down the names of the new seeds my friends have sent and made notes where they need to go, or not! I planted some cosmos too near a side walk last summer and although they were very
Too ‘friendly’ cosmos
This picture, below, is of a winter garden plan in 2011. I knew I had this bright yellow daylily that bloomed so beautifully every year in my front garden bed. I picked up a wrought iron, 6 foot tall, piece at a yard sale that had been discarded from an old carport, so I journaled the idea to place it behind where I knew the daylily would be coming up and added a note for reference there, to search for a contrasting color vine that would make the daylily pop! In the spring I found this pretty white mandevilla, with a bright yellow center. You can see the result was absolutely stunning!
Plan for color echoes
Have some gardening fun this winter and do some planning. Although some of the prettiest gardens happen by accident, many are planned that way! If you have a way of planning for your Spring garden, please share it in the comments! ~~ Jeanie
More by Jeanie Merritt:
Jeanie’s suitcase fairy garden
Jeanie’s garden dresser drawers
Jeanie’s enchanted fairy forest
Winter’s rest is spring’s promise
Flea Market containers: If It Will Hold Dirt…
My yearly winter gardening journal
7 Comments
Welcome Jeanie to the FMG team !! I have enjoyed your articles in Down the Rural Road and I am excited to see more here ! I love the planning and journal ideas. I save things to a file on my computer but I may do a journal because I can be anywhere with it even outside in the spring. I love the door idea of a passage way kind of like a secret garden. Keep up the great ideas and writing !!
I <3 that Mandevilla with the yellow center planted with your Daylilies! Also I am a sucker for old doors (& windows)!! Sounds like you have a great plan in mind! Yes, the cold Winter days bring out the 'journaling' & planning for me, too, pouring over my gardening books & visiting the library to see what's new on the shelf. ~~ Such fun to share ideas with each other here on FMGing! So, thanks, Jeanie Merritt for posting on our FMG website!
Love your journaling ideas, especially the door! Our Habitat For Humanity store has tons of windows and doors in every age and condition. Thank you for all your contributions!
Very nice article Jeanie. You’ll be a wonderful addition to the FMG site. I love how organized you are in tracking your gardens. I’m already planning in my head what I want to plant in the spring. Hope you find the perfect old door for your future project.
Hi Jeanie,
I love your door idea, and I agree a meandering path would help pull off the illusion of an entryway. I have been dreaming of spring and saving ideas I like to my computer. I like the journaling idea.
Jeanie, now I want to find a place for a door inside!
Welcome Jeanie! I look forward to your ideas and photos.
Garden journaling is something I know I need to begin this spring!