If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen this little statement I made on October 5.
Yeah, well… I just finished.
That’s the cover and a sample page. There are 28 plants listed, and (unless I forgot about one) every perennial flower, bush, and tree in my garden is represented.
I culled photos and information from Monrovia, Nature Hills, Spring Hill Nursery, Michigan Bulb Co., and yes, even Wikipedia. I noted the source of information at the bottom of each page.
If you’re curious and would like to see the crazy project I spent way too much time on, you can download the PDF by clicking on the banner below.
[download#1#image]
jill
November 11, 2008 at 12:15 pmThat’s really quite inspiring!
kealoha
November 11, 2008 at 12:20 pmWhat a beautiful and inspiring project! Thanks for sharing!!
Samae
November 11, 2008 at 12:26 pmThis is a fantastic idea! I should totally do this when we redo our yard this coming summer. Thanks for the inspiration. This is also a great idea for all those recipes that linger in my kitchen. As a designer, too, I can do this I just get lazy once I leave the office.
BTW – I read your blog all the time. Its great! I never comment but thought I would this time. Thanks for sharing all your fun, creative ideas.
Nicole
November 11, 2008 at 12:55 pmSo amazing! We’re house hunting & I can only hope that the place we end up with will come with something like this… so I at least have a chance of not killing anything already there!
Kate
November 11, 2008 at 1:04 pmBeautiful, of course. This totally inspires me for a cookbook project I’m working on using my Great-Grandmother’s recipes.
Marisa
November 11, 2008 at 1:31 pmThat’s wonderful – and SO useful! And a great inspiration.
One thought: do you have a garden plan/diagram? I think that would be a solid addition to the garden book, especially when you are thinking about ordering plants while everything’s still buried under the snow.
Becki
November 11, 2008 at 2:15 pmThis is a gorgeous book which will be really useful to you and any future owners of your home. You may also want to add the date that the plant/tree was planted especially for those plants that require dividing, etc. Beautiful job.
Ryan
November 11, 2008 at 2:44 pmI have been thinking of doing this same type of project for the last few years because I can never remember things like when I should prune (fall or spring) how much (just the shape or to the ground) So I just call my mom and ask – but I keep asking the same things year after year ’cause I don’t remember. Since we’re both zone 5 I might steal part of your book as a jumping off point for mine. I agree with Marisa that a planting diagram is probably a good addition. And if you want to get super obsessive in the future a diagram that notes which areas get more sun, or less water, or what plants you find don’t do well.
Erin
November 11, 2008 at 3:10 pmVery cool. Makes me want to do this for my own home. The design is so lovely though, it makes me wonder if you could re-work it into a fill-in-the blanks and picture style workbook and sell it? I think you’d probably have a lot of takers! Time to start a new publishing outfit with all that extra time you don’t have… :)
Kylie
November 11, 2008 at 3:16 pmThis is the best idea ever!! You’ve inspired me to plant more things in my backyard, I just hope we have them in Australia. I’m sooo envious that you have a peony bush, they are one of my favourite flowers.
Carrie
November 11, 2008 at 3:18 pmthis is so fantastic! i have thought about doing something similar every time i plant new things but haven’t ever gotten around to it. seeing yours is really inspiring, great job!
Krysta
November 11, 2008 at 3:54 pmomg, you ae such a nerd. And I am exactly the same way!
This is really very cool (and beautiful I might add). Congrats on finishing the project!
Katy
November 11, 2008 at 4:15 pmThats so great, you must have a beautiful garden, you should get it bound into a book. What a great idea…
Janice
November 12, 2008 at 2:19 amThis so amazing! Very pretty. Though I dont have a garden of my own, it’s inspiring! Love the fonts u used for the headings….if you dont mind sharing, what’s the name of the fonts used?
Sandra@Botany's Desire
November 12, 2008 at 2:26 amLove Love! How inspiring. I may attempt to do something like next spring. Thank you for shairing.
Erin
November 12, 2008 at 10:31 amWhat a great guide! You did such a lovely job with it.
Vica (Flying Umbrellas)
November 12, 2008 at 1:27 pmThat is very beautiful idea :) Each time I go home, I love to spend time in my mom’s garden full of beautiful flowers and taking photos of them. I dream of my own garden too and definitely your nice guide will be a very good starting point :)
Thanks for sharing your great ideas with us,
Vica
Meghan
November 12, 2008 at 1:41 pmI loved looking through your plant palette, I have one for my parent’s house that I did over the summer. I love the Coreopsis rosea, but they aren’t always reliably cold hardy. I planted 3 in Naperville, IL and 1 died, 1 struggled and lived, and the other was perfectly happy the whole time. Also, I hope that you plant the false dragonhead someplace with restrictions because it’s other name, Obedient Plant is like a horticultural joke as it is anything but that. Anyway, good luck with the landscaping, it’s going to be beautiful!
Keren @ ChicTip
November 12, 2008 at 1:51 pmHow do you find the time???? I love your graphic designs – I think you are very talented!
One day my blog might make enough money to hire you ;)
Elissa
November 12, 2008 at 2:17 pmBeautiful! This sounds like something I would start and then never finish. Congrats on getting it done! I’m just starting to lay out where everything will be in my garden- let alone compiling it all into a guide. Keep an eye on that Obedient plant, though- it’ll start popping up everywhere.
Amy I.
November 12, 2008 at 2:18 pmWhat a great idea! I just came across your blog (and added you on twitter).. your style is impeccable, i’m inspired just looking at your blog’s design :) Looking forward to following along.
Anne (in Reno)
November 12, 2008 at 3:11 pmThis is a great idea, but make sure to keep it updated, those things can get away from you really easily, especially if you plant lots of different stuff! I keep meaning to do something similar but I have so much stuff in my garden now that I don’t know if I’ll ever catch up!
Jessica
November 12, 2008 at 3:58 pmOk Nicole. This is insane. And oh so wonderful.
Nicole Balch
November 12, 2008 at 4:05 pmOoh, so many good ideas! I have a sketch of the garden from awhile back – it wouldn’t be very difficult to make it into a garden plan.
Janice, the fonts are Archer and Scriptorama Hostess.
And yes, it’s totally insane. And I’m a nerd. ;)
Miss B.
November 12, 2008 at 5:53 pmYou so need your own show or something, lol! I can not wait to have a garden of my own, this is well…lovely!
Lori M.
November 13, 2008 at 2:34 pmSomething to aspire to! And here are a few things to look forward to in the spring…
The Oak Park Conservatory has a plant sale – maybe in early May? I went crazy there buying lavender and herbs and other plants I found I couldn’t resist. I also went to the Cheney Mansion plant sale – late spring, early summer. I bought tons of Sweet Peas and built a little tower out of bamboo sticks for them to grow up. What a sweet, old-fashioned scent they had.
If you like bulbs, I’m very taken with the Old House Gardens heirloom bulbs (www.oldhousegardens.com). They have the dates different cultivars were introduced. I was thinking of getting bulbs only from the 1920s, when our bungalow was built.
Ashley S
November 13, 2008 at 7:57 pmHey sis, that guide beautiful! However, being the little sister that I am I feel that it is my duty to inform you that on the lily of the vally page I caught a typo! Lol, no biggie, just thouht you might want to know since it too you so long to make. In your mini-description you put “teh” instead of “the”. K, that’s all! Keep on being awesome!
xoxo
knittinglizzie
November 14, 2008 at 8:51 pmI passed this along to my mother who is a fabulous gardener–
I printed this off and I am going to start mine this weekend! I love this! Love, Mom
Thought you’d enjoy that!
moderneve
November 17, 2008 at 10:26 pmi desperately want a green thumb, but my backyard has literally been covered in plastic for 6 months. i don’t even know where to begin with the landscaping. i have been following th evolution of your backyard for some time now, and am always so impressed. i love this book and wish i some of my own plants/flowers/tree to catalog.
Hygge House » Blog Archive » Where To?
January 21, 2009 at 4:13 am[…] Plant Reference Book Yet another great idea from Making it Lovely. […]
Coopers+mama
December 4, 2009 at 12:48 amDid you take down the reference. I had bookmarked this page and was planning to come back and check it out. Preety please ‘reactivate’.
p.s. i LOVE reading your blog.
Jess
December 20, 2009 at 7:57 pmDo you still have the PDF available anywhere? I just recently discovered your blog, and have been reading from the beginning. I’d love to see more on your garden!
prosesh
May 24, 2010 at 7:09 pmHow can I download the pdf?
Jen N.
July 25, 2010 at 12:16 amNicole,
You inspire me! My husband and I just bought our own little bungalow just outside of Denver. I would love to adapt some of your outdoor thoughts into our own space. Is this pdf still available somehow?