Nothing embodies my conflicted feelings about homeownership like our yard. I enjoy it immensely, except when I’m sick to death of taking care of it.

This time of year, my positive and negative feelings toward my yard are peaking. Because of that, I always take time in the fall to assess the year’s successes and failures.

I keep a garden journal, because I’ve learned I never remember things I’m sure I won’t forget.

The journal itself would not make Martha Stewart proud. I have never been remotely tempted to spend $20 or $30 on a cloth-bound journal with graph paper pages and sleeves for saving seed packets. My journal is a 39-cent, 8-by-11-inch spiral notebook with a garish purple cover. It works.

Some people keep notes in a pocket diary, some do it just with photos that record the date, some do it on the computer, with a blog or just for themselves. Do whatever works for you.

I always start with the successes, because in gardens — as in life — the key is to pay attention to what works well and try to do more of that. A lot of people advocate learning from mistakes, but I think you can learn a whole lot more from successes.

My first “Yes!” entry for 2009 is a row of three viburnums I planted in winter to make good across the front of the house to replace some hydrangeas that lacked the structure and formality in winter that you want from foundation plantings. These particular viburnums, of a variety known to me as “Clearance sale” because I left the wrong tag on the base of the bushes, have pretty sweet-smelling white flowers in spring and reddish-orange clusters of berries now.

They might be “Mohawk,” but I couldn’t swear to it and it doesn’t matter. The point is, you can never go wrong with viburnums.

They are beautiful all year long, you can prune them or not, and they can take full sun or part shade.

The next entry under successes is a category: “Planting things that flower in front of windows.” One of our daughter’s bedroom windows has a “curtain” of fuchsia crape myrtle blooms framing it.

One window in the master bedroom is fringed by pink, purple and blue morning glories. I planted them as a short-term solution until the climbing Don Juan red rose gets taller. The morning glories, a newer hybrid that stays open most of the day, are so pretty I took the sheer off that window so I can see them better.

Walking that fine line between out of sight and out of control is the view out the family room picture window.

Imagine 7-foot bronze cannas with hummingbirds feeding at their neon orange blooms, and then add moon flower vines snaking up the canna stalks, opening dinner-plate size white blooms in late afternoon and all evening long. If you open the side windows, you can smell their jasmine-y perfume. Heaven, and yet obscuring the view out most of the window for the last couple of weeks.

In the very short “Fail” category the top entry is: any evergreen that can get bagworms. We have a dwarf juniper that is not thriving. It has never had bagworms, but I’m not even taking a chance. It’s coming out. More viburnums!

The other “Fail” entry was architectural — my attempt at lashing 8-foot bamboo poles into tepees for pole beans. Out of four, one didn’t blow over.

That’s OK. Now I have a winter building project: sturdy cedar bean towers.