Change is good! It’s a good thing I don’t mind it, as Cowboy and I sold our home in a day and needed to be somewhere else in 30 days! I packed, purged and kissed my sweet lil home and yard good bye. Like children – we don’t notice their growth until we are gone for a bit… Looking back at photos of our “Before” and what we left… well, seven years of joy made things better for sure. (Did you know “7” is the number in the Bible for Perfection…Completion..?)

Fall is a great time for planting shrubs and trees. If you are in a home you plan on keeping for a while I would suggest making a LANDSCAPE PLAN. Get yourself some 1/4′ graph paper. (One square would be a square foot) Take large strides (@ 1yd) through your yard measuring as you go. Divide your yard into areas easily identified and make rough notes. Later sketch in what is where. Photographs taken throughout the year help too.

Keep those plastic picture tags! Trim the point off/punch a hole in the top and slide them on a large key ring. I write the year on it as well – another use for my permanent marker! If the plant dies or just never comes back I go back & write THAT on the tag later. (DIED :/) Making sure the pictures are ALL facing the same direction cuts stress later on as well. Your space will be more organized and under control. And next Spring, when you are busting to get new things you will know where the perennials you planted THIS year are hiding. Happy digging! BA