LJWorld.com

I have always kept a gardener's journal. It gives me satisfaction to sit in a comfortable chair in a quiet corner of the house and celebrate what the garden produced the past year or lament the disappointments of some plants.

I pontificate on my hopes for new growth in the coming season. I beam at the latest additions nestled among old favorites and the prospects they hold for next spring. My gardener's journal is a wonderful way to personalize my outdoor living space through words rather than just disheveled fingernails, a sweaty brow and sore knees. It is documentation for family members and friends to read about a vital aspect of my home.

Initially, what interested me in gardening was my grandmother. While on vacation, we would walk down the streets of Belize and she would spout off the names of these amazing tropical plants as if they were growing back in her Colorado yard. We could be in any climate on any continent and she would be able to tell me the names of most every plant we ran across. I aspired to be as well-informed about plants as she was. I'm still striving to learn and retain my garden knowledge, and I find that keeping a garden journal is an extremely helpful tool in my education.

I usually start with a vision in my journal, how I see a section of my yard and my plans to transform it. I sketch out the space with the buildings, walls, fences and walkways -- any hardscape that is permanently there. Using colored pencils, I then imagine what plants would work well in that space and sketch it all out in my journal. This method is much simpler than actually planting species and later realizing they will never grow in the allotted plot. If you don't draw, you can cut and paste pictures into your journal instead.

A gardener's journal is useful during the planning stages. What will work well in the space? What colors go together nicely? Which textures play well off one another? How large will any given plant get when it is mature? Is a plant invasive? Does the area get a good deal of sun or shade? Is it boggy or arid soil? These are all important questions that are easily addressed and then properly mapped out in a journal.

Once I put plants in the ground, I also record them in my journal. This is helpful because if I forget what I planted and where I planted it, I have a reference point to find the answers I seek. It is also useful if the plant ends up being unhappy and needs to be transplanted. Making a note in your journal will help you remember never to put that plant there in the future. Since a lot of gardening is layering and adding, this is invaluable to a cluttered gardener's mind as the years pass.

I plan for the future of my garden by constantly ripping out pages of catalogs and newspapers showcasing plants that attract my attention. At a later date, I can dig out that clipping of the perfect chartreuse vibernum plant, and viola! Envisioning future goals for your yard is a great use of a gardener's journal. For instance, do you want a water feature, a sitting area, a fire pit? What about a vegetable patch for next fall? Brainstorm with a journal in hand and come up with a feasible plan.

A gardener could even organize his or her journal by month, highlighting tasks that should be conquered each month and typical weather patterns to expect.

A journal is a lovely way to remember a plant your children gave you for a Mother's Day gift and where it was planted. Or maybe a tree that was grounded in celebration of a child's birth -- or any other plant that has a special meaning to the gardeners that live in the home -- should be recorded in the journal. It will provide an oral history for the plants.

Keeping a journal may invigorate gardeners and keep them excited about their outdoor space. It often gives me an added sense of well-being to ponder the idea that my project might end up looking like something I've see in a magazine or a coffee table book.

Whether a gardener's journal is a leather-bound book or a spiral notepad, its purpose is to record cherished memories, plans and even disappointments. It's as personal and private as any other diary meant to trace the days of a person's life. The only difference is that it is a testimony to the earth that frames your home and all of the sweat and tears you have sprinkled in the dirt along the way.

Jennifer Oldridge, a Kansas University graduate, is an avid gardener who previously operated a landscaping business.