~Grandmother Never Bought a Plant~
I suppose that is not literally true since in the beginning she bought vegetables and fruits for eating and then used their seeds to start plants.
Grandmother's garden was filled with many plants--I wish I could remember all of them--including Sweet Gum, Peach, Fig, Weeping Willow, and Magnolia trees; white and blue Hydrangeas, Azaleas, various Roses, Bleeding Hearts, Ferns, Periwinkle; Weigelia, Privet, and Barberry shrubs; succulents, and a vegetable garden.
Grandmother's garden was developed from "found" items, so to speak. My grandmother knew that plants could be started from the seeds they produced (no sterile hybrids for her). She also exchanged plants and cuttings with her neighbors. If she liked a plant, she made as many as she wanted from cuttings or seeds. Her neighborhood was filled with open fields (nowadays, almost gone for the rest of us), and these areas were great places to find plants.
Obviously, one of the things my grandmother brought to this garden and learned from it--was patience. In this era of instant gratification, we forget that good things are worth the wait, that patience really is a virtue, and that there is nothing wrong with frugality, either!
~Biographies~
*My grandmother started me down the garden path and Gertrude and Jim push me along. I do know that while all my mentors are deceased, I hear their voices loud and clear -- know the environment in which you want to garden, gardening is hard work, gardens take time to develop, start plants from cuttings, and that nature is not always on our side. In other words, be realistic, be frugal, and have patience.
*Gertrude Jekyll (1843 - 1932; photogragh from her book: Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden) has had the most pronounced influence on English and American gardening. She studied the landscape and designed flower borders, woodlands, and specimen tree and shrubery placement with regard to color, vista, soil, and year-round pleasure. Gertrude Jekyll approached the garden as a canvas. It has been said that Monet planted his gardens to paint them while Gertrude Jekyll's garden was the painting.
*James Underwood Crockett (1915 - 1979; photograph from his book: Crockett's Victory Garden) was the original host of PBS's The Victory Garden, then called Crockett's Victory Garden. I was fortunate to see his weekly shows. He showed that while gardening was work, it was also enjoyable with great rewards. While reading gardening books is informative, it was great to see and hear a gardener in action and see the results. It was good for morale! Jim made a statement on a show about asters that has become famous in my family because not only does it apply to gardening -- it applies to many things in life: Life is too short to stake asters.
*Painting of a child who reminds me of myself and grandmother in her garden: Monet - The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil.
~Gardening in Connecticut~
The Ice Age was not a good thing for gardeners in this area. On its march to Long Island and the sea, the glacier removed the soil down the bedrock and then when it melted, it dropped terminal moraine (rocks) in its wake -- except for southern Long Island where it was nice enough to deposit a glacial outwash plain (sand).
My family gardened on Long Island. When I moved to Connecticut and wanted to garden, I bought a shovel. What did I know? Quickly after that, my husband bought a pick axe.
Gardening here means "digging" out rocks and then going off to buy a truckload of topsoil--and while you are at it: sharp (not play or all-purpose) sand, and a ton of peat moss--to fill in the holes so that your plants may live long and prosper.
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The Summer Perennial Border
This border will be on the right of a large oval grassy area going from my living room French doors to my gazebo near the back of the property. The oval was orginally bounded by two perennial borders, but this time around the left side will be a shrub border. I started by staking out the border. Once I was happy with the outline and size, I drew the border outline on ledger size graph paper, at 4 squares to the inch and each square represents a foot. From my research, I made lists of all the perennials that I want to plant, including substitutes in case I can’t get my first choice. I also made a list of annuals to use as filler wherever there is a temporary bare spot--although many annuals are worth the effort to replant every year in a permanent spot. I also included in my perennial list any perennials recommended as companion plants and combinations I saw in pictures. In my research I found that many perennial borders incorporate shrubs and herbs. I like this idea. Now I am really having fun. I am looking through all my books and notes and trying to decide which plants I want where in the border. I love a lot of plants so I am struggling to keep the list of different plants under control. I would like to just have a dozen or so and then repeat them throughout the garden with different companion plants—different in color or in the same color but different plant shape. Also, some plants will be for “accent” and some for massing.I have flexible guidelines for the placement of the plants. The first row will be 2 foot deep and contain plants between 1 ½ to 2 ft tall; the second row will be 2 ½ foot deep and contain plants 2 to 3 foot tall; the third row will be 3 ½ foot deep and contain plants more than 3 foot tall. Depending on the individual planting, spacing may change.The length allotted to a specific plant in a specific row is variable. The first row will have plants mostly in long variable streams, with some accent plants, maybe. The second row will have massed plants or accent plants, so that the length will be anywhere from 2 ½ to 3 ½ feet. The back row plants are allotted 3 to 4 feet. Some plants will be planted in “drifts” as Gertrude Jekyll did in her gardens. A drift goes at an angle across rows so that the viewer sees the plant along the walk rather than just at one spot. I will be trying a lot of Gertrude Jekyll’s ideas. (I really recommend her book, if you can find it.)I like the following two layouts as starting points. The top shows Gertrude Jekyll's "drifts" and the bottom scheme allows plants to merge into the neighboring plants. Both schemes let plants "be on the move".
One thing that I was never happy about in my previous border was how to get enough plants and in the right places to have a bloom season from spring to fall and have the border look full and interesting. I decided to take Gertrude Jekyll’s advice–"don’t do it". She suggests making a complete garden for each season (even if the garden has to be small). She had a spring garden, a June garden, a summer garden, and a fall garden. Also consider making gardens of just one color: whites, blues, yellows, greys, etc. There is a lot of variation in any given color family to make a very nice display.Since I want my garden to be viewed in all its glory in summer, I shall plants perennials that bloom then, and if some bloom across seasons, all the better. My garden will contain some plants grown for foliage only. These are good as companions as well as being always in “bloom”. I hope to find a few shrubs for the back row that are either evergreen or have some winter interest. Well, enough for today.
This border will be on the right of a large oval grassy area going from my living room French doors to my gazebo near the back of the property. The oval was orginally bounded by two perennial borders, but this time around the left side will be a shrub border. 
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