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.
Click to enlarge
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.
Click to enlarge
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.
Click to enlarge
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.
Copyright © 2011. Elaine Reese, Real Living HER. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.
When Mom’s not looking, I take over her laptop and search for doggie articles on the Internet. Specifically articles on dachshunds. That’s why she had to spend a lot of money having her laptop fixed because my dog hair ruined some of the parts. The repair shop told her to keep “THE DOG” (that’s me) away from it. Hah! Fat chance of that happening.
