How to build a perennial garden from the ground up?

Any other tips on building out a garden? Having spent the last few years doing an awful lot of gardening, I can't emphasise strongly enough the importance of (a) learning about plant propagation, and (b) getting to know your neighbours. Many, many plants can be grown from cuttings, by root division, and by various other means. Right now, for instance, I've a lavender plant that's maybe 18 inches in diameter. From that I could easily pull off enough cuttings to grow another 50 lavender plants, and you'd barely notice that I'd done it. And then of course, there's seeds! Growing perennials from seed isn't hard at all. For a few dollars/pounds/euros you can have a garden full of plants with just a little patience. I almost never go out and buy ready-grown plants any more - it seems like a waste of money - and if I do, I generally pick plants that I know I can divide up to give me lots and lots of little plants to grow on for the next season. Get to know your neighbours, especially the (generally older) ones who spend time working out in their gardens. We swap plants with friends and neighbours all the time - people are happy to stand and talk gardening, and they'll let you know what grows well and what doesn't in your soil. Several times I've mentioned to someone how much I liked a plant in their garden only to have them go round the back and bring me out plants in pots to take home. Gardening is a great way to get to know the community of people around you.

50 different plants!! no - that's way too many unless you've got enough space where you give enough room to plant a few of each variety. It might sound cool, but its not going to end up being aesthetically pleasing Don't bother propagating things unless you have seen someone else with the plant, they can speak to the pros and cons of the plant, you have a space specifically set aside to do the propagation, and you can't find it being grown at one of the better perennial growers. It just is not an effective use of time and money. Also not all things grow well from seed. Go to a local garden and look around at what looks nice to you at that point of the year. Go on garden tours and ask questions, hit up libraries for talks, read books on gardening. Take notes. Really its not very hard - but be patient - don't over plant. You really need 2-3 years for a garden to even begin to resemble what it will look like at maturity. Make sure you understand how big your plants and shrubs will be at maturity. Build in spaces to fill in with annuals for hits of color during high summer (if you live somewhere hot - like much of the east coast - the perennials won't be doing much in July and August for example) For buying perennials there are usually a few wholesale nurseries that do most of the growing for the garden centers - I'd guess they'll have their tags on the plants still. For example in NY/LI one of the bigger growers are http://www.bedsandborders.com/index.php. Also a lot of times there is a reason why things that look pretty in a book and are supposed to grow in your area aren't being sold. For general advice - bed prep, bed prep, bed prep. Everything else becomes a question aesthetics and understanding what plants like what sort of conditions - which honestly there are plenty of places to find that advice either from your garden center or preferably, other avid gardeners. My family business has been designing and installing perennial gardens for 25 years. (of course I haven't worked there in 13, but hey...)

I'm thinking that if you just ripped out sod, you've got grass roots and sadly depleted soil. Why don't you work on the quality of the soil this season, and plant some annuals for color and coverage this year. You're not limited to zinnias or marigolds. Try some sweet peas on the unsightly fence, and some sunflowers of different sizes. Ornamental kales probably won't bolt to seed as fast in Boston as they do in the south, and weird old Okra has the most magnificent flowers you've ever seen. One pumpkin can cover and shade a quarter of your plot in a few weeks. The upside is that you spend very little on these annuals. They build and loosen the soil, and they are dense enough that they will prevent a lot of weeds coming out. At the end of the season, they all go on the compost pile and prepare to be your green manure for next year. In the meantime, you can start inserting your perennials as they become available, and your garden won't look like a pincushion while you wait for them to catch on. The other thing is that I have better experiences with perennials when they are planted at the end of the summer and have all winter to be dormant and work on their roots. Nobody ever wants to hear that in May, of course. On review, JuJuB's grandmother is really smart.

> I mean, you never know what will flourish and what will thrive in your exact environs. ...or what will be eaten by bunnies and dug up by squirrels.

Not much advice to give in the sourcing- and number-of-plants departments, because I have created a most magnificent mess of my perennial beds by overbuying too many various plants, too. What is your plan for dealing with weeds and grass roots, though? You said you ripped out a whole yard of sod. If there's a chance the grass will try to come back, please divert a portion of your plants budget to a mulch budget -- if you value your sanity! I'm always in too much of a hurry to plant my beautiful perennials to prep my sites carefully, and end up with GRASS and THISTLE gardens :)

You don't want to buy 50 plants all at once unless you know what you're doing. Design wise, it's better to have swathes of many of one type of plant, rather than single plants here and there. If I'm designing a garden for someone I use about 12 different plants max, with more variety and unusual things in planters where people congregate. As the garden matures and people start to get a better idea of what they want, plants can be added. If you're in the west, buy a Sunset Garden Book. It has many useful plant lists, some basic garden designs to riff off of, and cultural information of tons of plants. As a gardener we always kept one in the truck for reference. Local nurseries are almost always better than buying online, especially if they are independent. they generally stock plants that work in your area, and can give you better advice than an online store. Many, many national catalogs and stores sell things that don't work in specific areas. The nursery I worked at would put together orders for clients, but remember, gardens evolve, they aren't built.

I really did well when I first planted a perennial garden by using http://www.jacksonandperkins.com/, which provides some great ideas in their http://www.jacksonandperkins.com/Category.aspx?sb=NAME&sd=ASC&c=JP-Gardens-by-the-Numbers&ss=&pgnum=&filter= and the plants too. (You can also just borrow their ideas and order elsewhere by clicking on the "more information" option on each garden's web page.) Unsure why they currently show all of them as "sold out" but I'm sure if you called/emailed they could help you out. Their roses are just gorgeous too, btw.

Thanks everyone. Good to know I'm on the right track. We spent most of last summer amending the soil with compost and peat moss and mulch, and put in some perennials towards the end of the warm season. I'll keep adding as I can, and fill out with coleus and sunflowers this year. We've already bought bags of mulch and will buy more as needed. I also found someone on Craigslist who is having a plant sale, and has offered for me to come over and poke around her garden, to see if there is anything else I'd like. Seems like an easy and local way to get a number of specimens.

Congratulations! I love gardening, and it's so exciting to start from a clean slate. Hopefully I can help. As far as I know, there is no tech solution. Maybe someone, somewhere, has created an app for that.. but not one that I know of. If there's no tech solution here, how have you done this manually? I've considered starting a little spreadsheet with the name of the plant, a few places it can be purchased, and price. This seems like a decent method for a few dozen plants, but not for 50+ plants at once. I think the key is to prioritize here. Which plants do you really want to get into the ground this year? Pick your top 3 in each category (rock plants, shade plants, foundation plants, vines, grasses etc.) then do a spreadsheet just for those. Alternately, you could prioritze by which ones vary significantly in price. Trees, for example, may vary by a significant amount depending on vendor, but marigold seeds are going to differ by a dollar at the most. Don't worry about putting your commodity plants on the list. I've never ordered plants online, only seeds, so I've usually just ordered from the most convenient site. I have one plant sale that I go to for all my vegetables, one tree farm out in the country where I buy trees and one exotic nursery where I go and lust after plants. Is that just impossible? Should I send the list to a local nursery and see what they can supply? Do people do that? I think that's a great idea. Send it to them and ask if they can do a quote. The worst they can say is no and at best they may order them in for you. If you are worried about pricing, send the same email to a few different places (including online) to compare. It's not imperative to buy them all now, and it would be totally fine to order a selection now, e.g. 25 which are available from one particular nursery. Is that the best way to go? I think that may be the best way to go. One consideration is that once you get all these plants, you actually have to put them into the ground. I often underestimate the amount of time this will take. Any other tips on building out a garden? Do a google search on "horticultural society""your town name". This will let you know where they meet, when they have their plant sales and who to ask questions of. They can be a great resource for local information, such as "which bug made this hole in my plant". To build up your soil, you may want to invest in a big bag of black earth. We got a cubic yard delivered to our house for about $120Cdn. This is the company we used: https://bigyellowbag.com/. You can also use compost, http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/soil/2000043150021580.html, manure or a combination of all these things. Generally, going with natural materials will give you better long term results than using a chemical fertilizer. In some areas, you can get great plants by going to garage sales. If there will be plants available, it is usually indicated in the classified ad. Most churches also have a yearly plant sale. These are the most price efficient methods of getting plants, especially ones that have acclimitized to the area. I hope this helps!