I enjoy landscaping. Perhaps I should say that I enjoy PLANNING landscaping more than I enjoy doing the actual work, but then who doesn’t. I’ve made mistakes over time but that’s some of the fun.
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When I had my first home built in 1987, I had an empty pallet to work my magic. I bought some plant books but soon became frustrated because everything I liked was for Zone 6 or higher, plus, all the choices for Zone 5 was just very confusing. MS Excel was new and a valuable program for my job at that time, so I decided to create a spreadsheet of ALL the plants that would/could grow in central Ohio. I set it up so I could easily search for various parameters that were important to me … height, width, sun/shade, spring/summer/fall flower color, spring/summer/fall leaf color, deciduous/evergreen, and whether the plant attracted birds. I worked on it all during the first winter of owning that home. When completed, I had entered over 500 plants complete with botanical name and the common name.
Before you make fun of me, remember the Internet was very limited 24 years ago.
Although I used the info from various books, the one I liked the best was The National Arboretum Book of Outstanding Garden Plants. I’ve used it so much that most of the pages have become unglued and are now loose.
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When I wanted to do a section of my lawn, I would merely set up a data sort of the various columns in Excel according to the “look” I wanted to achieve. I would then print out my options and take my list to Anderson’s (on Bent Tree Bl) since they had a better selection and more likely to have the “less common” plants.
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As I said, I made some mistakes in my selections, mostly the plants that were to be “vigorous”. I wanted quick growth to transform my vacant lawn, but I learned that “vigorous” really means that the plant will soon overrun everything! I now take that descriptor much more seriously. 
I did end up with some really interesting plants, that professional landscapers may overlook or typically not use.
I still have that old Excel spreadsheet and always make sure that I convert it to the newer version when I update computers. At some point, I suppose it will no longer be able to be accessed, but for now it still works. Specific plant varieties have changed over the years, some improving for disease resistance, so I must allow for that when making my choices now.
Occasionally, I drive by the “old” home and surprisingly the current owner has left many of the original plants. That’s amazing, because by now the home stands out next to the neighbors because it looks like a jungle. I guess they also like the privacy.
See landscaping renovation of my current home.
Side Note: That’s my beloved, sadly missed Rommel, my first Doberman, in those photos. It was this yard that skunks seem to favor for their winter retreat in October. Rommel got “sprayed” too many times as the skunks tried to make their winter home under the deck.
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Checking off my bucket list
Do you have a bucket list? Is a bucket list different from life goals or is it just a new name for the same thing? I had goals or “things” I wanted to do or experience. A couple of my goals bordered on obsession if you were to ask those close to me, but I managed to achieve both of them. There are quite a few other things I’ve been able to do throughout the years so I’ve checked off many of the things that otherwise would qualify for a bucket list.
When I was a girl and people would ask what I wanted “to be”, I told them I wanted to race cars. That wasn’t a career option for girls then, so I live vicariously through Danika Patrick now. That also probably explains the number of times I was stopped by cops during the 10 years I owned sports cars. If I had a chance to run a fast car on a race track, I most certainly would do that and put a √ next to that bucket list item.
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Posted in Central Ohio, Commentary, Transportation
Tagged bucket list, helicopter, motorcycle, racing, sports car