The only hobby I have which I truly love is the art of flower gardening, mainly perennials; alpine type gardening. Over the years I have figured out through trial and error what works and what doesn't - I never gave up, no matter who died! :}

All the photos on this page are MINE, make no mistake; I didn't go grab these off the internet somewhere. These are MY babies.

Matters at hand:

I found that before you start digging, you should have a *basic* idea of the size and shape of each garden. Each year now mine all go out another 6 inches or so but that's beside the point.

Straight lines are a big fat no no in my book.They never look natural, they never let the plants be themselves (ever catch your jacobs ladder dancing with your black-eyed susans under the full moon?) And you are not going to see it either if you have any STRAIGHT a** garden - they won't be dancing for your delight.

I suppose if you live in the Burbs and your lawn is straight and your planter boxes are square, you went and made a garden against the side of your house or something like that. For me, that is basic no no #2 - NO Flower gardens against the Buildings!!

OK - now that I have insulted half the readers (I am sorry). on I go....

As a rule, don't cut in the spring unless you just totally couldn't get to it in the fall. When November (here anyway) comes and the snow is staying; THAT is the time to cut back everything. Cut back or off, let's start with tall the really tall flowers.

The purple cone flower - also known as the all important sold in every pharmacy echinacea. A purple cone flower is an amazing flower. It is a simple wild field flower that spreads like mad if you let it, that's up to you. Mine are about 4 feet tall and the cool thing about these flowers is 2 things.

One, they last and last, a slower can and does last 4 - 5 WEEKS. The 2nd cool thing about this flower is (I don't know why but year after year I see it) - white spiders, yes, totally white spiders will take one leaf on the flower and curl it up over the top of themselves. Purple cone flowers attract bumble bees like crazy and so...Mr. white spider springs into motion and grabs a bee that is at least 6 times its size, fangs it and dinner is served. It is one of MANY things that happen ALL THE TIME in gardens everywhere, and yet, so few people take the time to SEE it.

I remember the first time I saw it - I just sat there, jaw gaping in amazement...ok, enough about that - it isn't helping you make your gardens!

Cut back ALL your tall flower and leave 6 inches. Why? Because I said so. LOL! No, because in the spring when everybody is starting to grow those hardy twigs you left give the new shoots a lot. They give them protection from being stomped on, from being blown down by a storm; it gives them a fortress of safety and they will grow up past those twigs so fast you won't even notice they are there.

Tall flowersthat are common and sturdy and come back year after year, a short list to start with: the purple cone flower, tiger lilies, day lilies (they come is several colors and as a plant, they get HUGE), Hydrangea's, black-eyed susans, daisies, irises.

To make a garden visually stunning, you have to be sure of the obvious; the tall plants need to go in the back. If not, you won't be able to SEE the short plants. The wide plants are for the corners; hosta and shrubbery are great corner stone plants. If you have a walk-way path it is nice to have consistency sometimes such as go hosta, astilbe, hosta, shrub, hosta, next, hosta....and so one. The Giant Blue Hosta is my personal favorite.

Texture is also very important. We tend to think of texture as something you feel with your skin however that is not all there is to it; texture is also quite obvious to the eye, spikes, you know they will *feel* sharp, lambs ear, just looking at it, you can see it is very very soft looking and sure enough - you feel it and it is soft as its name.

Onto a new type of plant - I am a great lover of foliage am so it stands to reason that greenery is as or more important to me as the flowers; so, the diversity of the color green is important. I think i have every shade of green there is (well maybe not every). Deep dark sheen to the luxury of the soft lamb's ear silver mint...there are SO many types of green.

Hostas are one fine example - you can leave til spring, they really don't care as they are a very easy-come easy-go kind of plant. The only thing they are totally committed to is STAYING where you put them! Digging up a well-rooted big hosta is a real job.

No, I am NOT kidding. Anyway - they look like crap after they have gone to sleep for winter, so, what I do is pull off ALL the leaves and lay them on top of the plant. It protects it and then in spring I just rake it all up into my compost pile with the rest of it because that is what I do with ALL my cuttings. I just pile it all under a pine tree or where ever. I know you can't do that in the city so I guess you need one of those black containers, why? You do not want to waste the soil that will become! You could never ever buy soil like that.

Anyway - over the years, here is whats happened. Every 3 to 4 years, I rake away from the pine tree what is left, in this example the pine tree, and underneath is the most AWESOME soil and so, a new garden is just born. I figure out what shape I want it to be and these are the easiest of any garden to make because what you need most (GREAT DIRT) is already there. I til it up a little bit and then shape the outer parameter - in this case a figure 8 - and then I decide what to use to line my shape.

With this one I used slate rock, which is easy for the finding around here, they also make excellent stepping stones and placement stones to either set something one or to step on to get to a part of the garden without stepping on something trying to grow.

Cool part....aside from the FEW plants I put in there, the next year it is FULL of flowers from all of the seeds that have been raked into the mulch pile over time. So then I can pull out and move what I don't want right here and there and put it elsewhere.

I once brought back an entire large zip-lock from Quebec' full of seeds, pods, whole flowers with stem parts still attached - I created a shape, put in soil and manure and the seeds that fall. Come spring the seeds were growing and now it is July (And a really cold summer too) and this *thing* took off like crazy; I can't tell yet what is what so I am letting it grow until flowering begins and I can see what it what. 2 types have buds so it won't be long until i know. I sure do remember how the anemone looked; it is like an orchid. A very amazing plant.

I could go on and on but I am just going to give you my list.

*Cut back everything in the fall if you can; if you can't do it the earliest in the spring as possible.

*Use your compost!

*Shape your gardens in different and interesting ways and put stepping stones amongst the garden.

* Keep *nik-naks* to a minimum and have a theme - ex: I use mainly copper and stone gargoyles.

* Water-gardening - a whole different concept I didn't even mention; be SURE to drain and cover before freezing.

* Keep the seeds from everything you like. In 2 years they will have already become PLANTS.

* Anything you want to keep for next year that can't winter out side, dig it up and store in paper bags (NEVER PLASTIC) or an uncovered pot; split up the tubers and bulbs, they tend to triple each year so you get more an more.....and more. (Your gardening friends and neighbours will Love you for it!)

* Along with shape, decide it you like to have room around each plant or have everybody touching.

* Shrubbery is great - just remember to give them room as they tend to get very WIDE.

* Small trees such as dogwoods are nice for their color (I have a dark purple one and a variegated one) - they provide a small amount of shade and now a days nearly everything needs some.

SO...these are a few tips/ideas from a gardener who has been at it for about 16 years.

P.S. I have NO idea why these photos look *blurry* - they are crystal clear but not on here....bums me out.