My husband and I have a problem communicating about the flower gardens. It was OK when we just had the circle garden, and the ones directly in front of the house. But we kept adding beds and now have so many we have not named them all. Only one was originally by design and that was the shade garden we worked on for four years. Several were started by chance such as the log garden which was part of the Cottonwood tree that came down in a storm about 20 years ago. We hauled it over there and were going to have it cut in half and make a bench out of it. Never happened. I started planting around it and it became the hosta garden as the log finally went back to the dust it came from. My husband started a project in the lawn and had removed grass. I asked if I could just plant 3 peonies for a little while as I did not have room for them. That has blossomed into a large bed as yet unnamed. The electric company gave us a truck load of wood chips which I had them put on the front lawn. When we finally got those moved and used there was a bald spot on the lawn. Excellent place for a flower bed and perfectly round. The old willow tree my husband and his siblings and our children used to play under had to be cut down and we had most of it moved but the trunk of the tree was too big for us to handle, but what a neat place to start some vines so we have two clematis and morning glories, daffodils,and geraniums for spring, and Autumn joy sedum for fall. But one smaller branch still attached had a hole in it so I planted creeping thyme and on the ground under it is a Japanese allium that blooms in the fall. When the tree by the shade garden was cut down, my husband would not let them pile the chips on the grass. He said I would put another garden there.

You have long ago gotten the point. My husband is very helpful and I could not do gardens without him, but how to explain which garden I want the new plant in or old plant dug out of is difficult. I saw on TV where one woman had colored flags that she used to indicate which plants would be removed and where she intended to plant other plants. I think it is a good idea but still I need to send him in the general direction.

I think we will have a confab and name all the garden beds and then my husband, who is very talented, will make signs for each. I think the grandchildren would like that as well. There must be a game we can make out of it. They used to like to try to find all the bells in the garden. Best laid plans... we will see.