Shirley White · Gardenality Sprout · Zone 8A · 10° to 15° F
John, thank you so much for this info. From your pictures, I could tell you knew your stuff when it came to Japenese maples. I have such a strong attraction to them and just drool over pictures of lovely gardens such as yours. I am going to give it a whirl and we will see what happens. I have just joined this garden sight and I can already tell.....it might just make a real gardener out of me! Thanks again...

Maple Tree · Gardenality Genius · Zone 10A · 30° to 35° F
You're very welcome. Don't hesitate to ask any other questions you may have.

Gardenality.com · Gardenality Genius · Zone 8A · 10° to 15° F
You're very welcome, Shirley. After 30 years designing landscapes and gardens the things I focus on most when deciding how plants will be arranged in a garden is texture, color and form. Basically, I alternate leaf textures placing plants with small leaves next to large leaves and shiny leaves next to matte leaves. I use a lot of ornamental grasses as well to provide unique texture. Then I use analogous and complimentary flower and foliage colors together and often mix in some neutral color. Then I alternate upright plants with mounding plants.

Here's a couple links to articles that provide some good design tips:

http://www.gardenality.com/Articles/977/Garden-Types/Container-Gardens/Tips-And-Ideas-For-Designing-Container-Gardens/default.html

http://www.gardenality.com/Articles/413/How-To-Info/Design/Do-It-Yourself-Landscape-Design/default.html

I'm glad you brought up "quality plants." There's a HUGE difference between the plants you'll find at a reputable independent nursery and garden center and big box stores...not to mention the quality of advice and the difference in care of the plants before you purchase and plant them in your garden. If I went into detail here about the differences in plant quality it would be several pages. Maybe I should write an article on it?:-)

Oh, by the way, here's a tip. When you have a comment to make, such as in responding to this comment I just made, rather than use the "Post An Answer To This Question" box, you can use the "Comment about this answer link" to respond to this or any other answer or comment another member has made. We need to make it where these different links are more visibly noticeable:-)

Gardenality.com · Gardenality Genius · Zone 8A · 10° to 15° F
Shirley - There's no better time to start gardening than now. My dad didn't start playing golf until he was in his 60's and he's still going strong now at 79...and also does a good bit of gardening. I'm finding out that the difference in gardening now to when I was in my 20's and 30's is that I have to be more patient...and that's a good thing. I used to go with quantity over quality and would rush to plant everything as fast as I could. These days I'm taking more time to choose the best plants, doing soil preparations, and caring for the plants...which is all important in gardening. Maintaining and caring for plants is the greatest pleasure to me. I hire out younger folks to do any heavy digging and such, as anyone can dig a whole to any certain size. But I do the rest. Am also growing more in containers and have built a much smaller vegetable garden that is more easily manageable. All in all, I'd say that later in life is the best time to get into gardening! Don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have and we'll be happy to answer them for you.

Maple Tree · Gardenality Genius · Zone 10A · 30° to 35° F
Wow, Brent is right on. The patience I have at 67 definitely helps to produce a more beautiful and rewarding garden than that of years back. Back then I wanted more in the landscaping and wanted everything to mature now. Half of those plants always seemed to die. Now I can take the time to look for quality plants, plant them correctly, care for them properly, and watch with greater rewards as ALL of them survive and thrive well. Unfortunately I can't say the same about my golf game.