Armchair Gardening

I've spent a fair bit of time yesterday and today poring over gardening books and mail-order catalogues, trying to figure out what to put into our garden this year. Since last year's garden was pretty much a washout (thanks to the useless gits who delayed our shed reno), I'm determined to cultivate a nice display this summer. For a while there yesterday, I found myself growing ever more confused, given the many factors to take into account when choosing plants (amount of sun required, blooming period, hardiness zone, water needed, etc.). But I think I've made a few decisions at last.

Given how busy our lives are, it makes sense to focus on perennials - in particular, ones that are hardy in this climate (we're in zone 6a) so we don't have to go lifting too many plants for the winter. It also seems a good idea to choose plants with a long blooming period, like cranesbill, reblooming daylilies, mallows and coreopsis (unfortunately, some of the longest-blooming flowers, like dahlias and begonias, need to be lifted for the winter here). Another factor to consider is that much of our garden is partially or fully-shaded - so I'm looking at things like hostas, foxgloves, bleeding hearts, and toad lilies for that.

I think I'll order a few things via mail-order this year, but then plan to visit some local nurseries in April and May, in the hopes of finding some good plants there. And this spring I must finally get around to pilfering some cuttings from my parents' garden too - they've got beautiful roses, peonies and honeysuckle that I've been eyeing for several seasons now.