At the end of each year I take a few minutes to review the gardening goals I’ve made and reflect on what I did and did not accomplish. Unfortunately several (if not most) of my 2011 resolutions failed to happen and thus are again on my 2012 list.  Maybe if I go five years in a row without accomplishing these, I should just take them off the list! Here we go…

·  I will take a deep breath and not buy every new plant I see at the nursery this year. (Is there a 12-step program for plant addicts?) I may have to stop going to the UGA Trial Garden because I want everything I see there!

Plant lust at the UGA Trial Garden

·  Before I step outside, I am going to vow to put on sun screen, bug spray, gloves and a hat! And, I will try to go through a complete gardening year without getting poison ivy. (I usually get my first case of poison ivy around March).

Who has time to do all this before going out into the garden? But I will this year.

·  I am going to garden a little smarter this year and do away with plants and chores that are time consuming. This fall I massed planted all my hydrangeas in a raised bed after spending the entire summer hauling water around to the various plants spread throughout the garden. – No fun in 100 degree weather!   

Bedraggled hydrangeas, needing water all the time. Now massed planted in a raised bed for easier maintenance.

·         I will love my truck! I don’t know how a gardener survives without a truck. Our truck will turn over 100,000 miles this month. I can’t imagine the pounds of mulch, manure, yard debris and plants it has hauled around over the years. Of all the vehicles we have had, I love this truck the most and vow to take better care of it so it will continue to haul my garden stuff for the next 100,000m miles.

I love my truck!

·  I will add more succulents to my garden this year. I tried succulents in pots this past year and loved the look. I am over-wintering them in the house and they still look great!

Enjoy all the shapes, textures and colors of succulents

· I will plant something to eat – tomatoes and herbs – and buy my produce and fruit locally.

Herbs in pots by the door make it easy to snip and add to your cooking

·  I’ll be “greener” in the garden – keep composting, collect water in rain barrels and use fewer pesticides.

This copper rain chain makes collecting water in a barrel a work of art!

·         I’ll try to propagate more plants from seeds, leaf cuttings or division.

My friend, Jo-Ann, inspires me to try more propagation techniques

·  I’m not going to be a perfectionist but learn to live with a little leaf spot, insect damage, droopy hydrangeas and leaves always falling in my pond. I will remember a garden is always a little messy, like life.

I say I won't stress, but am actually stressing right now about what is wrong with my Fatsia japonica.  Any ideas?

·  I pledge to stop and enjoy the garden in each season and not just see what needs to be done.

There is so much beauty in a garden you can miss if you are not looking for it! (Photo by Cubie Steele)

·  In my personal life, I plan to plant more kindness, patience and joy and tear out the worry, fear and stress that can overtake a life much as weeds and invasives can overtake a garden. Happy New Year!