Store your original plan in a safe location, and make copies of your plan for outdoor use. You can make a copy of your planting plan overlay and base map together on a copying machine because light will pass through tracing paper. Place a book or magazine on top of the plan and flatten it against the glass to provide weight while copying. Adjust the darkness setting on the copier so that the base map is clear on the copy. Adding color to a copy of the plan helps identify masses of plants, bloom colors, or a plant’s prominence in the design.
Base maps for large properties can be created by taping two 8.5 x 11 sheets of graph paper together and printed on a copier that accommodates 11 x 17 sheets of paper. If your property will fit on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and you would like space to write notes about your plan or add a plant key or plant list, then place your original plan in the center of the copier glass and copy onto an 11 x 17 sheet of paper.
Letter-sized sheets of tracing paper may also be taped together. Rolls of tracing paper can be purchased in various widths in the drafting section of office supply stores or
ordered from websites specializing in drafting equipment. You can choose not to use graph paper at all, but create the entire plan on a large piece of tracing paper if you are comfortable with using a scale.
