I have a garden! My mom let me "take over" a garden she wasn't really using that's right outside my bedroom window. I spent two years working on it, but now that I'm in college I don't have much time to tend to it anymore. It has a lot of different things in it, but I'm not so great at garden planning and just sort of stuck things in various places as I got them, so even at its fullest, it looks a little sparse. If nothing else, I'd like to get more ferns and hostas to fill in some of the bare spots. Here's an incomplete list of what's in it:

• Ferns
• A Japanese painted fern
• Hostas
• Purple Irises
• Lily of the valley
• Daffodils
• Live-forevers
• Lamb's ear
• Hydrangea bush (alright, it's on the other side of the pathway, but close enough!)

Aaaand a couple of things I've forgotten the names of. One of them is this ground cover sort of plant with spotted leaves and little purple and pink flowers. It's ridiculously cute. Here's a bad picture. It's blooming now, so I ought to go take some photos of it tomorrow.

Sometimes I plant annuals, but I just really don't like bothering with things that don't come back. Just makes me sad.

As for tips, I read one piece of advise from a landscaper once that I've found to be very true: always plant in groups of odd numbers greater than one (excluding big things). One plant looks bad, so does two, four looks awkward. 3, 5, 7, that's the way to go.

If you're planting perennials, account for the fact that they'll get bigger as the years pass. But if you space them out too much, it'll look barren for the years until then. Account for that when you space, or consider filling blank spots with annuals.

Be really realistic with yourself when it comes to how much time you're willing to put into your garden, and research plants before you buy them. Don't buy an ultra fussy plant if you know there are going to be periods of time where you're not going to want to do more than water them a couple times a week. If you want low-maintenance, look no further than the sides of the road. If there's a flower you see absolutely flourishing along the highways come June, you know that plant is good for your area without any more care than mother nature allows it. Don't underestimate wildflowers.

Plant flowers that attract bees! Do it! Do it now! Bees are dying out like crazy, and planting flowers for them helps.

Get in mind some rough idea of what colors you want in your garden. Nature will look good with nature, but doing plants that are all dark-leaved can look better than a mish-mash of all different shades. Likewise, flowers. All different colors will look nice, but if you plan it out to be colors that complement each other (like purples and whites), you can get a look that's more cohesive and visually pleasing. Or if you dig the every color look, keep that in mind when you're shopping so you can get colors you don't have yet.