Lazy warm days, iced tea, and plants dancing in gentle breezes reset my quiet winter thoughts to high-spirited thoughts filled with copious possibilities. The longer days seem to fuel these thoughts, stirring my superpowers for creating a gorgeous outdoor retreat. The fact that my gardening muscles haven’t been used for six months (or more) doesn’t matter; I’m feeling invincible and ready to bring an oasis to my slowly awakening landscape. No sweat……well, maybe a little a lot of sweat, but sweating is good, right?

Springtime is the time of year that tempts me to scurry off to the garden center without a plan. This is not a good idea, trust me. Yes, it’s true that garden centers can lift our spirits; they not only lift our spirits they touch all the buttons that answer our winter-long musings…. colors dancing as far as the eye can see, a greenhouse that is tropically warm and inviting, and a scent of fresh soil and blossoms filling the air, it’s all there! Everything our soul has been longing for at a long winter’s end! It puts us under an enchanted spell and it can send us into superpower-gardener-mode! If there is no plan in hand keeping thoughts focused, then that feeling of “YES! I can buy a car full of plants, compost, and soil and have a lush garden by tomorrow!” can override all human rationale.

I know all about this, because I’ve been there, many times. In fact, I don’t even want to admit how many years I succumbed to the garden center’s spell. I’d bring home a carload of plants before I was ready to plant. This just set the stage for extra stress in my life; it was a daily reminder that these plants needed to be planted, but I didn’t have time. It was a gnawing that wouldn’t go away. And since I didn’t have time to plant them, all the small containers would quickly dry out. Every time I passed by they would beg for my attention, days would pass and many could not wait for me. The slowly dying plants added more stress to my stress; on top of mourning for the plants was the money I wasted while under the spell.

That was then, times have changed. I now have superpower resistance. It has taken determination, but now I can enjoy the garden center’s spell while respecting my human restraints. If you’ve been following me, then you know my mantra is “less is more.” And this mantra is in everything I do and that includes gardening. Actually, it doesn’t matter what it is, if I get a wave of superpower mania, I repeat “less is more” until my enthusiasm is reset with easily attainable solutions that produce superpower results within my human capabilities.

Don’t get me wrong, I love lush gardens and the wildlife they attract. A lush garden can be a magical oasis that heals the soul in a matter of minutes. It can also be an eyesore that turns into a public display of weeds and plants struggling in neglect. Plants are living things, like pets; they require attention, time, feeding, watering, weeding, and pruning. To be fair to yourself and the plants, take an unbiased look at your schedule and prioritize. If there are other things than gardening that fill your evenings and weekends and your schedule does not allow several hours a week for plant care then rethink those springtime superpowers and get creative with your human powers. There are ways to have an absolutely stunning garden with fewer plants by planting a few eye dazzling plants in a few key locations! This actually creates a “less is more” stage. It’s inviting and it let’s those chosen plants have the spotlight while creating a simple elegance. It will look like you spend hours gardening yet in actuality it will cut your gardening time in half.

The plantings around our home are important. They embrace us and the buildings nestled among them. They invite us to slow down, relax, smile, laugh with friends, listen to the birds, feel the warm breezes, and maybe even play a game or two of croquet. They are extensions of our home and affect us much like our interiors affect us. Keeping them managed is crucial to how they nourish our souls and calm our minds. So making a plan as to how the exterior greets us and our friends will not only save you time, money, stress, and frustration, it will lift your spirit, lift the value of your property and neighborhood, which will lift your friends’ spirit and all who passes by, So here are some tips to help you make a plan that puts “less is more” into action while making you look like a superpower gardener.

  • First, decide where you want people to lookas they approach your house. Hint: the front door should always be in the main feature on the front side of the house. Everything leads to the front door. Next, decide the second (and possibly third) place you want people to look. These should support and complement the front door, not distract from it. Remember, “less is more” so the front door display may be all that’s needed on the front side of the house. To help you decide what the front needs, step out to the street and look at your house as if you were a guest seeing it for the first time. How does it welcome you? Is the front door easy to find and brightly lit? Does it have color and charm that makes you smile?

Notice how all the colors and container placements work together to lead guests to the front door.

The colors create an alluring contrast with the house color, taking guests on a delightful journey to a spacious portico. 

Credit: provenwinners.com

  • Once the key locations are determined, select the color palette.Look at your house’s exterior paint colors. Decide on one dominate color that complements yet contrasts with the exterior color. This will be the color that everything will be built on. Next, select two secondary colors that enliven the dominate color; this will add dimension and interest. The dominate color will be the key that ties the front to the back of the house. Use it with other colors on the back deck/patio, or at a side entrance or back gate, or in a special location in the backyard to create a focal point.

Creating contrast guides people’s attention to the places you want them to look.

If the house has a light palette add a splash of vibrant color; if it has a dark palette use light bright accents.

Credits: provenwinners.com; bhg.com, Carson Downing; redwinedragons.com

  • After the color palette is decided, notice how the sun plays with these locations. Your plant choices must respect whether the location is sunny or shady. Read the labels at the garden center. The labels not only provide the kind of light the plant needs but also the mature size of the plant. Tall plants go in the back; shorter plants go in front. If you’re planting containers, think of the container as a living floral arrangement. Should it be a mounded arrangement, or a tall slender arrangement, or a cascading arrangement? Will it be seen from all sides or just one or two sides? If you are uncertain, look at other homes or search the internet to see how other people have created an easy and inviting welcome to their home.
  • And lastly, make a list of plants needed to bring your vision to life. This is the list that needs to be in your hand when you visit the garden center. With that list in hand, you can then relax at the garden center. Enjoy the garden center’s enchanted spell; let it whisk you away for a mini-vacation, while you calmly and strategically select only the plants that are on your list. HERE”S THE KEY FOR MAKING THIS WORK – even though you may have several locations selected to spotlight at your home, buy only the number of plants you can plant in the time you have allotted! After those plants are planted, return to the garden center with your list and buy the plants needed for the next phase of your plan. This eliminates all the self-imposed stress and lets you celebrate the gardening you’ve completed while keeping those high-maintenance containers at the garden center for their staff to manage until you are ready. Additionally, this keeps your home clutter-free and reduces your stress. It allows you to breathe and enjoy each phase as you have time to create it. This also brings peace, joy, and love to the plants you are planting and they will respond accordingly.

I highly recommend giving this a try. Planning is essential and that can be done while the weather is still too cold to garden. Besides, thinking of warm spring days and summer breezes can warm your soul as those windy early spring winds swirl around. Then as you feel the May nights steadily warm anticipating your tender plants, your list is anxiously waiting for a mad dash to the garden center.

Even though I have honed my “less is more” strategy, every spring my superpowers tempt me, trying to sway me from my otherwise normal life. It’s easy to be tempted, because superpowers are everywhere; plants emerge from frozen soil, people purge closets and garages, joggers run marathons, etc. But over the years, I’ve finally concluded that starting projects based on my human powers actually empower my superpowers, because the feeling that comes from completing a lot of little goals leads to completing the overall goal. That is a great feeling of accomplishment which keeps my energy fueled. It’s a win-win feeling instead of a failing one.

It has taken years, but now I can happily return from the garden center feeling content with buying what I can plant in a single weekend. Another win-win is that by the time I’m ready to plant, garden centers have plants on sale and those savings can help with the replacement costs for the plants that didn’t survive. And as an Interesting side note, planning for replacements creates another positive, and helps me accept the losses and gives my mid-summer garden a new shot of lusciousness.

And so goes the superpower vs. human power tug-of-war….. even so, staying focused on my human powers energizes me to find solutions that are easy to do yet give superpower results. It’s challenging to focus on my humanness when feeling invincible, but it can be done! Accepting my humanness allows the “less is more” technique to create a sophisticated yet simple elegance that will allow the dog-days-of-summer to find me with an iced tea enjoying the dancing plants in the midsummer breezes. Hooray! It’s a plan ….. hand me a spade the day is waning!

What plans do you have for super-powering your Springtime Human Powers?