Change is inevitable. We often want things to stay the same. But at some point, changes will come. We can accept those changes, even embrace them if possible. Or we can fight against them.

As a gardener, you see your garden change from year to year. Plants die, structures deteriorate, and areas can become overgrown. Rather than becoming discouraged, consider how you can make the most of these opportunities for improving.

This year I’m choosing to make some changes to my garden. I’m not tearing up the whole yard and garden. But I’m rethinking how I garden. You might need a little garden refresh as well.

Why It Might be Time to Make Some Changes to Your Garden…

There are many reasons your garden might need a refresh this year. Here are a few of the top reasons to make changes.

#1—Winter Damage

One of the biggest reasons for change would be that you lost plants over the winter. Each spring, as the garden comes back to life, we discover plants that didn’t make it through the cold. It might be a tree, shrub, or perennial that succumbed to the freezing temperatures.

As you’re inspecting your garden plants, think about why the plants might have died. Could it be due to changing weather patterns? Or was the plant in a microclimate that got a little colder than the rest of your yard? Was the plant attacked by pests last year that made it more susceptible to winter damage? Did you plant something that was not recommended for your garden zone?

In my Zone 7 garden, it’s often the fluctuating temperatures of late winter that cause the most damage. The temperatures warm up a bit and the plants think it’s spring. And then we get hit with a late season freeze. All the tender new growth is damaged and often the plants don’t recover.

#2—Garden Style

We often design our gardens based on what we like. Maybe you fell in love with a certain garden style and you’ve tried to imitate that design. Or you developed your garden based on what you knew as a child. Perhaps you inherited the garden when you purchased your home.

Over time, your garden style can change. The change could occur because of a new interest, a desire for something fresh, or you have more or less time and energy to devote to it. As you spend more time learning about garden styles, plants, and techniques, you’ll have a better understanding of what you want your garden to become.

#3—Time and Money

Often, the choices we make in the garden are based on two things. How much time do we have to devote to our gardens and how much money do we have to spend? Both these issues can affect our gardens.

If you have minimal time to garden each week, you’re more likely to choose low maintenance plants to fill your garden beds. As your gardening time increases, you can select plants that need more attention. Plants that might need more pruning, harvesting and dead-heading.

Finances can impact your garden choices as well. If money is tight, you might select smaller sized plants and trees that will take longer to reach maturity. To save on costs, you could grow more of your garden plants from seed rather than purchasing plants from the nursery.

#4—Aging

Your garden might need to change as you age. Garden tasks that were once easy to do can become more difficult as you age. So you might need to remove fussier plants and replace them with low maintenance varieties.

While you might have more time to garden, a declining energy level could reduce the time you feel like gardening. So creating a garden with minimal needs might be necessary for you.

READ… How to Garden When You Have Annoying Aches and Pains

What Changes Should You Make in Your Garden…

Consider what changes you might need to make. Perhaps you’re not be ready for a complete makeover, but you have a problem area that needs to be addressed. Maybe you want to explore new plants to grow in your flower beds. Perhaps you would like to makeover your outdoor entertaining areas. Follow these steps to decide what’s best for your garden.

Step 1: Analyze

Take some time to analyze what works in your garden and what areas you struggle with. Each year I do a little garden walk through and think about each space. I ask a variety of questions about the area to see what might need to change. Here are some questions to ask yourself…

• What do you like most about this area?
• What do you least enjoy?
• What do you struggle with in this space?
• Are there plants you want to add or remove?
• What could you do to improve this garden area?
• Are there minor changes you could make this year?
• How does this area fit into your overall garden plan?

Step 2: Decide

The next step after you analyze your garden spaces is to decide what is most important? Removing dead plants would be at the top of your list. But after that, you’ll need to weigh your choices for change. What is your highest priority change? This might not be the year to build a new structure or completely revamp an area. You might need to just make some small changes.

If you decide to tackle that major renovation, consider what you’ll need to do to accomplish that task. Do you have the time and energy to complete it? If time is limited, you could break a project into stages and complete one stage at a time. One stage this year with more planned for future years.

It’s up to you to decide how you want to move forward. What will work best for you at this stage of life?

Step 3: Move Forward

Once you decide on what changes you want to make this year, create a schedule for those changes. Plan for a little work over the course of the summer or go all out and do the work all at once.

Changes Coming to the Garden…

After analyzing my garden, I’ve decided on three areas that need to change this year.

Changes to My Garden Style

If I had to pick a garden style, I would say that growing a cottage garden is my favorite. I love the overblown look of flowers and plants growing everywhere.

Our original garden was orderly and spare because that’s what my husband prefers. If you know my story, you know my husband was the gardener in our family. However, because of his job, I eventually I took over.

The original garden was created to be very low maintenance. We planted the beds and borders with evergreen trees, some ornamental cherry trees, and a few shrubs. River rock was used to mulch the borders. For flowers, we placed large terracotta pots around the yard. Each spring, I would fill the pots with summer annuals for pops of color throughout the yard.

Over the years, I’ve made a lot of changes to the original garden. I’ve added in flowering shrubs such as lilacs, snowball viburnum, and hydrangeas. I’ve tucked hostas into the shady areas and found places for a few peonies. As we’ve lost a few incense cedar trees, I’ve also been able to add in more flowers and herbs with my kitchen garden. But it’s not enough! I want more flowers, lots more flowers.

So this year, I’m creating a plan to remove some of the river rock and begin filling the beds with ornamental and flowering shrubs, spring and summer bulbs, perennials and even space for annuals. My goal is to work one area at a time and slowly create a lush, vibrant garden with lots more flowers to enjoy. Because we have so much river rock, this will be an ongoing journey.

Changes to the Cutting Garden

Traditionally, a cutting garden grows in an out-of-the-way area so you can cut flowers without worrying about how it will look. But because I live in a typical neighborhood, I don’t have the space to grow the size of cutting garden I need.

In order to get more flowers for cutting, I’m going to add more flowers to my landscape beds. I’ll still grow annual flowers in a specific cutting area, but I want to add in more perennial flowers that I can also use in my bouquets. More hydrangeas, peonies, lilies, and gladiolas, to name a few.

Most of us grow our garden beds to be beautiful, so we can enjoy the flowers all spring and summer long. And I’m going to do that, but I’m including enough flowers to cut from without having the beds look bare.

Changes to Garden Structures

There are several projects that need to be done in the garden this year. The most pressing is to replace our aging deck. We’ve been putting this project off because of the cost, but someone’s going to fall through if we don’t replace it soon. 😏

A few other projects this year include building a small greenhouse, adding pavers for pathways to the no-dig beds, and refreshing the firepit area. I’m not sure what order I’ll complete the projects in, but I hope that slowly over the summer I’ll be able to finish them.

What Changes are You Making in Your Garden…

So what changes do you want to make this year? Do you need to refresh your outdoor areas? Add a few more flowers to your borders. Or do you want to completely revamp your garden style? Are you going to add in a cutting garden? Maybe you need to remove plants that take too much time and effort to maintain.

Take some time to look at your garden with a fresh eye. If you could change anything about it, what would that be? Is there something you’ve always wanted in a garden but still don’t have? Make a wish list of all the changes you would like to see in your garden. Then pick one or two to work on this year. They don’t have to be major changes. But when you start down this road of change, you realize you can create the garden you’ve always dreamed of. One little change at a time.

Change doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It can help to improve your garden. Embrace the changes and look for opportunities to create your best garden ever.