Yeah--I know what you mean--it was...overwhelming.
I suppose there are many possible ways to spread it out.
One possibility is photo of the month--no categories--like, pick your 3 best plant-related (of course) photos of whatever you've got going on that month &/or wherever you visit--be it related to the plant weeks or not (a month behind or three months ahead
), be it a wildflower or a tropical or a container or a landscape or a macro or a tree or a frog in a blossom--no categories covers all categories and late bloomers! Quick vote at the end of the month and start over, then best of show at the end. Could go well with celebrate gardening--all of it--as it's happening &/or happened-- and all about fun.
No need for big year end catch up and agony...
but of course, people may really prefer categories, in which case, this is an idea for the scrap pile...