The Plot I Planned to Plant: When your order is bigger than your garden. . .

It's the arrival of the postman with boxes and boxes of lovely plants. There is nothing as thrilling as peeking out the front window to see yet another carton sitting on my porch, begging to be rushed out to the garden and incorporated into the garden. Eagerly I slit open the carton, greedily I inspect all my new treasures and line them up on the sunroom floor to see what all arrived.

Some cartons hold surprises. My daylily orders all came with bonus plants, and in a few cases instead of the single clump I ordered there were two clumps. So instead of the anticipated 12 plants, I now have 18. An order from a bulb company held not the 5 Black Knight cannas I remembered ordering, but 10. One perennials order did not have one plant I wanted, but sent three extras of another to ease my disappointment. And when I casually asked a friend if he knew who carried a certain vine, he surprised me by sending me one, along with several dahlias. It's exactly like Christmas, full of unanticipated pleasures.

But pleasures quickly turn to problems when I get outside.

I take my box of bounty and race to the garden, digging knife in hand. And there I come to a screeching halt. Did I order these 12 yellow daylilies for the secret garden, or for the garden at the side of the house? And did I really think I could fit 20 white Asiatic lilies into that tiny plot in front of the garden wall which already holds two rosebushes and a rhododendron? And where on earth, given the colors in any of my gardens will this gorgeous bright pink daylily I lusted after fit in without creating a screaming clash???

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