My Plan to Transform 4 Borders this Spring - What’s Hiding Under the Snow?

[@GardenMoxie]

This spring I'm renovating my back garden. I'm working through the design now. I want to have a white and blue color scheme with grey foliage plants to hold the design together. I am very inspired by the gardens created by Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst. I'm currently researching evergreens and/or shrubs. If you have suggestions, I would love to hear them. This project needs to be done on a budget. I'm planning to reuse plants from other areas of my garden as well as grow many of the plants from seed. I received my first seed order of the season that I am sharing in today's video. I'm also showing how I visualize the placement of plants. I use Photoshop in the video, but you can also create collage images by hand with printed photos. Powerpoint is another excellent tool to help develop a garden plan. You don't need fancy software. I am already counting the days down until spring! I'll be sure to share the details as they unfold. Thanks so much for being here!

[@AJsGreenThumbLLC]

So exciting Sue!! And very excited to see the entire process and end result!

[@GardenMoxie]

Hello and thanks for your note. I appreciate the words of encouragement!

[@FlowerPatchFarmhouse]

It looks like you have a great plan started. Wow, 10 degrees. You are intrepid, hesitate to go out in 30 degrees. 🥶I will enjoy trailing along on this garden renovation with you.

[@GardenMoxie]

Hi there. I enjoyed your self-seeder video. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I laughed when you said you hesitate to go in 30 degrees. Summer is definitely much nice. I agree. Thanks for watching.

[@michellemccabe6888]

I am so excited to see this process and garden along with you! Thank you for sharing your seed order, I will be growing along with you :) MA Zone 7a

[@GardenMoxie]

Yay! I am glad to hear you are growing seeds this winter too. That has become one of my favorite parts of the garden season. Thanks for watching.

[@thequarrygardener5578]

Great idea using photoshop with your photographs and cutting and pasting plants to give you an idea of what the end result will look like. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season Sue, Merry Christmas 🎄

[@GardenMoxie]

Thank you and Merry Christmas!!

[@YalisCommunity]

Great drawing board with awesome selection of plants. It will all look so beautiful!

[@GardenMoxie]

Thanks so much. Merry Christmas friend!

[@YalisCommunity]

@ Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.

[@ChrisTinaShoemaker]

Thank You for the useful Information.. Goodluck with your seed.💮🌼🍀

[@GardenMoxie]

Hello and thank you for watching!

[@PeggyMills]

Looking forward to the renovation, Sue. I may try a few seeds this year too.

[@GardenMoxie]

Hi Peggy! I am excited to see what you grow! Thanks for watching.

[@peoniesandpuppies5197]

Have you planted Astrantia before? There is a white cultivar and it’s sun/part sun so it could work in several of your gardens. It’s probably my favorite small flower.

[@SusanMiddleton1]

Yes, one of my favorites. It's good as a filler cut flower.

[@GardenMoxie]

That is a great plant. I need to find a local source for it if I can. I think that is a great suggestion. Thanks for watching.

[@adelekasinskas2007]

I too have 4 areas with varying suns. Glad to hear your ideas, very inspiring. I need to be able to see my gardens from inside or my deck due to aging and medical issues. I am moving plants closer and esp the taller ones. I too have part shade. I took notes and do appreciate your suggestions so very much. Cheshire CT zone 6 is my area. Thx. Dell

[@GardenMoxie]

Hello and thanks for watching. I will definitely be planting taller plants too. I love your idea of moving things closer and using taller plants so you can enjoy your garden from the indoors. Happy gardening!

[@dustyflats3832]

Great idea! We couldn’t go outside this year because of all the rain and the mosquitoes that followed.

[@GardenMoxie]

@@dustyflats3832 Ugh! Those pesky mosquitos.

[@eileenchang2173]

Good morning on this frigid morning! Thank you, not only are you an expert gardener, you are an excellent teacher! I will definitely need to review this video as it contains excellent content for not only trying out new seeds, but also the software on how to visualize and plan a garden! 🥰❄️🇨🇦

[@GardenMoxie]

Hello and good morning to you! Thanks so much for the kind words and thanks for watching.

[@MrsB_734]

I love that you go out in the snow and cold... like me. I walk my dog every morning, unless its raining. F&F think I'm nuts, but when you're out daily, your body accumulates to it. Now for the question... I am planning my half acre backyard at our new house in Taylor and plan to start with Arborvitae, Redbud, Crabapple, and hornbeam for the perimeter. How far apart are your hornbeams planted? They look perfectly placed to just touch, but not invade each other. And how fast do they grow?

[@GardenMoxie]

I love being outside. How exciting that you are planning your new garden. I followed the recommended spacing on the growing tags for the specific variety of hornbeam I used ('Frans Fontaine'). They are placed 8 feet on centers. I bought the trees when they were a good size. They took a couple of years to really fill out like you see now. They grew plumper once I pruned them on top.

[@MrsB_734]

@@GardenMoxie Did you get them at Massab?

[@GardenMoxie]

@@MrsB_734 No. I purchased them from Milach Nursery in Novi. At the time, they allowed retail buyers. I am not sure if they converted to wholesale only. If they did, you can ask a Landscaper to go there. They have AMAZING trees.

[@MrsB_734]

@GardenMoxie Thank you so much.

[@lynnpurse]

Wonderful video, Sue! I think you will love the tall white ageratum - they are easy to start from seed and tend to self-seed over the years. I grow the blue and the red varieties and just love them - long blooming even in partial shade and completely deer resistant here. An undersung plant well worth growing! Great to see you using Photoshop this way - I've used it exactly the same way and it is really helpful - even better a few seasons later to see how reality matched the photo mock-up! Have fun with the planning process 🥰

[@GardenMoxie]

Hi Lynn. I am so glad to hear your experience growing the ageratum. That makes me happy to hear. I'm amazed how helpful Photoshop and even Powerpoint have been for my garden planning process. Happy gardening friend. I hope all is well.

[@jaysea4916]

This video was amazing. Thank you! I can’t wait to follow your progress! Today is cold and sunny here in SW MO, but I’m dreaming about redoing a small border garden in the Spring. Peace and Joy-

[@GardenMoxie]

Thanks so much and thanks for watching. That is awesome that you are redoing a border in Spring too. It's nice to have something garden-related to dream about in winter.

[@angelacross2216]

Lovely selection of seeds. They are going to be beautiful.

[@GardenMoxie]

Thanks so much. I am already excited to start growing the seeds. I am missing the garden season. Thanks for watching.

[@Melanie-s9d]

Thanks for this video, great you are still working in/on the garden in the winter time. I love your seed selection, especially the white Californian poppies, and notice that quite a lot of them suggest you plant in situ. Have you had much success with this or do you prefer growing in pots and then planting out? Melanie :)

[@GardenMoxie]

Hi, I have had pretty decent luck growing seeds in place as long as I remember not to disturb them. I have to be careful with poppy seeds because they go into the garden in winter and I get so excited when the spring comes I forget and disturb the soil. Now I make sure to mark the area with twigs.

[@aseasonalabode]

Super inspiring video 😊

[@GardenMoxie]

Thanks so much and thanks for watching!

[@ginchola]

I love your approach to gardening!

[@GardenMoxie]

Thank you and thanks for watching the video.

[@barbkenas5663]

I agree, the still photographs are so helpful and I wish I would have taken more! Tfs!

[@GardenMoxie]

Thanks for watching! I realized I did not take enough photos as soon as I started gathering images for the renovation. The other part of the photos I like is to be able to see what plants look like the entire growing season. All the gardening books show the flowers in their glory. Sometimes they only look like that for a week...ha ha.

[@BobbyMammoth]

Love this! I did the same thing using canva to plan out a space for my dads garden last year and it’s very helpful to visualize and to also see what blooms at different times ❤

[@GardenMoxie]

Thank you! That is another great idea to use Canva. Thanks for sharing that.

[@SusanMiddleton1]

I am enjoying your videos as usual. I thought it funny when you said "balmy". It's colder right now where you live than where I live in Southern Ontario between Lakes Ontario and Erie. I almost leapt to my feet when you showed the seeds for "Snow on the Mountain". That is a common name for Goutweed, a terrible invasive plant. Then I saw the botanical name and relaxed. Always best to use the Latin 😊. Goutweed is Aegopodium podagraria

[@dustyflats3832]

Lol, I did the same at first until I seen it wasn’t the horrible snow on the mountain.

[@GardenMoxie]

Ha! I know what "snow on the mountain" you mean. I would leap to my feet too. Sorry to scare you...ha ha. I have seen gardeners on Instagram growing the Euphorbia marginata and have been wanting to try it for a couple seasons. I hope I get it to grow from seed.

[@dustyflats3832]

@@GardenMoxie 😂

[@pambrewer9082]

I got my first seed catalog for 2025. Drooling over the photos.

[@GardenMoxie]

Yay! I love getting the seed catalogs.

[@dustyflats3832]

Nice choices so far. I can’t think of any that survive shade as I have very little in the fenced areas. It’s a struggle here because I like the shade, but those trees zap the moisture from our sandy soil. One flower garden is south of a rapid growing oak and it’s near impossible to keep watered. The lavender, blanket flower and butterfly weed don’t mind, but the coneflower suffer a bit. Suppose I will need to rip it up and add some bio char or something. I really don’t want to do that as there are spring bulbs and I’m good at finding them with a shovel😂. I was thinking of double blooming feverfew and then candytuft. Both creat a cloud of white. First year for feverfew and will see if it returns next year. I liked that it had a good proportion of flowers to greenery. It gets afternoon shade. I think you already have Rozanne Geranium but it’s not true blue which is tuff. If you’re not afraid of morning glories 😅there is heavenly blue for climbing. I think if you could get blue and white delphiniums they would give height. Sweet peas on an obelisk? I haven’t a lot of conifers just arbs under fencing, but I did see a moonglow juniper that looked silvery blue and wondered if I could plant outside the fence. 😂most people it’s think outside the box-me it’s a fence.

[@GardenMoxie]

Thank you and thanks for your suggestions. You might try epimedium under your tree. That plant loves dry shade. I am also amazed at how tough my dusty miller 'New Look' is. I have it growing under the canopy of the tree out front and it is doing well. I've also had great luck growing Geranium macrorrhizum 'Bevan's Variety' under the canopy of my red buds. It only blooms in spring, but the foliage looks pretty all season.Thanks for watching.

[@dustyflats3832]

@@GardenMoxie nice choices I’m not familiar with and just did a Quick Lookup. Dusty miller and lambs ears have great new varieties. I just picked a newer low growing lambs ear this year and hope it does well. Thx!

[@GardenMoxie]

@@dustyflats3832 Thanks so much!

[@gardensenglishanddance]

Goodness me, you already have snow! It's snowed a little here but it's been so warm (about 0/+2 Celsius) that the snow's melted quickly. Your garden transformation plans sound exciting, good luck! I remember my aunt, father's eldest sister, used to grow euphorbias in front of her cottage. PS. I do wonder how you film without your hands, the camera is probably taped to your head ;-)

[@GardenMoxie]

Hello. The weather has been a bit strange here so far. It got very cold and today, we returned to spring-like temperatures. All the snow is melted just like yours. Thanks for watching!

[@UpstateGrammy]

How brave you are to go out in the cold! We have similar temperatures here in Upstate New York. Are all of the plants that you are starting from seeds annuals? Thank you!

[@GardenMoxie]

It was nice and sunny most of the day which helps when it is cold. It is supposed to be 52 deg F on Tuesday so Michigan is doing its normal up and down temperature routine. Most of the plants I will grow from seed will be annuals, but I am planning to add perennials too. I will likely purchase the perennials from a local family-owned nursery that has excellent prices on plant material. Thanks for watching.

[@lisajelle714]

I enjoy your videos very much! Just wondering if you are consciously going towards an all white blooms plan in your back garden for a calm aesthetic, but are okay with more color in the front? I love tons of colorful flowers, which would probably drive you crazy if it were your garden! 😂

[@dustyflats3832]

I think she’s going for blue and white. She has some good choices so far with shade restrictions.

[@GardenMoxie]

Hello and thank you for your kind note. I decided to try a blue and white color scheme for the back borders. It is fairly shady so I think the white will look nice. I love bright colored gardens too. My pollinator garden in front has lots of colors so I know I would LOVE your colorful garden. Thanks for watching.

[@dustyflats3832]

@@GardenMoxie impatiens are super bright in the shade, but no blue 😏.

[@jefwalte76]

Can you tell us where you purchased the large plant cage for your hydrangeas? I could use some of those on my incrediballs!

[@GardenMoxie]

Hi, I had the supports fabricated from a welder. They are awesome and stay in the ground all season. They do a great job of holding up the Annabelles. It is made like an oversized peony support with a cross hatched top.

[@jefwalte76]

@ awesome! They do look sturdy and fit for purpose! I’m going to be on the hunt for something similar. Thanks for the idea

[@AnEmmeni]

Ii think it's going to look great, do you have white agapanthus in yr area ? We have them here in Australia and they look beautiful in summer

[@GardenMoxie]

Thank you. The white agapanthus are so pretty. They are not hardy here, but that is a great idea for something to add in a container. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@emmalavenham]

Sissinghurst must definitely be your happy place… I can definitely see the lupines (and immortality bearded iris) here.. Thought about black cohosh in shadier spots? I am particularly excited about trying out Henry Eilers skullcap Prairie Snow for our pollinators next year - but this plant is definitely more prairie than cottage…

[@GardenMoxie]

You are right about Sissinghurst being my happy place. I can't even imagine how wonderful it must have been to live at a place with such a beautiful garden. Black cohosh is a great idea. I actually got some seeds stratifying now. Although I would like to get plants so I don't have to wait long for them to bloom. Your new plant selection sounds wonderful.