cross vine

I’ve long given up New Year’s Resolutions — but I do make some to-do lists.  If I call them to-do lists, I seem to get around to them better!

This year I have a long garden to-do list.  Perhaps committing it to eternal, world-wide view on my blog will help me check things off my list!

So, here goes:

 1.  Plant more trees outside the back fence in front of scrubby cedars.  I love this smoke tree and planted one for a client this fall, wishing all the while that I had one to enjoy. 

 2.  Have an a corner arbor build to showcase my tangerine cross vine and my wisteria.  The cross vine winds along the fence and then climbs  20 feet up into a tree where I can’t see it.  The wisteria spends most of its time hanging out on the opposite side of the fence — hiding from me — to be closer to the morning sun.  A tall arbor would give them both plenty of room to keep growing — growing where I can enjoy them!

 3.  Replace the pride of Barbados that I lost over the last two winters.  I love the explosion of color these trees bring in the late summer and I’ve missed mine.  I vow to find some great hot spots for them to thrive.

4.  I will buy more bigger starter plants this year.  I’ve bemoaned the fact that my newer plants struggled to come back from harsh winters and scalding summers.  Some years they even came back smaller than when I planted them!  When I can, I want to invest in more established plants.

 5.  With too much on my plate, blogging and scrapbooking have waited in the wings too much this year.  I love those creative outlets and want to give myself more opportunities for gathering inspiration from them.

 6.  Divide, divide, divide.  I have irises, bi-color irises and lilies that really need dividing.  In fact, they needed dividing this fall.  This will be the year of dividing, replanting and sharing.

 7.  Prune, prune, prune.  My cottage garden, cutting garden and hot southwest garden all suffered from overgrown-itis this year.  Yes, the plants were all beautiful, but I know that pruned properly they would have complemented each other and showcased their individual characteristics better.

 8.  This year I will plant my bulbs before January … oh, wait … that means today!  Yikes – better go find them and get to planting!

 9.  I WILL make homemade pesto from my basil “trees” this year.  I say that every year when my basil gets out of hand — I mean stunning — but this year I really mean it.

10.  And last, well, there never is a last, but I plan to dig up most of this and rebuild the dry creek with moss rock and other, larger stones.  The recycled glass will come out and I will raise up the bed to help plants thrive there.  With very little soil and a berm to avoid soil on the fence, the plants don’t get enough water and the soil just isn’t deep enough.  The solution — protect the fence from rotting by putting hardy board against it and rock in the front to add good soil.

That’s the list — for now.  As with everything in gardening – it’s organic and will change a thousand times over the next year.  But it’s a good start and I feel good about making decisions to tackle some of my current and perpetual problems.

Guess we’ll see where I end up this time next year.

What’s on your garden resolution list for 2013?