Occasionally, plans for the garden are successful, nearly as often as joyful accidents and blunders that eventually work out for the best. Discussion of failures will not intrude on this beautiful spring day.

Two Pagoda dogwoods (Cornus alternifolia, above) are evidence that I do not only cram plants into any available open space. The two native dogwoods also demonstrate the differences in growth of the same plant in varied conditions. Both are shaded, but one is in slightly damp soil, while the other stands above a stone wall with superb drainage. The dogwoods thrive in both areas, but the one standing above the circle patio (below) has grown a few feet taller in three years.

And here is where my plan has succeeded. The horizontal branching of the Pagoda dogwood by the patio could obstruct the adjacent path, but the branch is just high enough for me to duck under, just as I intended. For whatever reason, I have a thing for duck-unders, I suppose, in part because this allows planting more trees, sometimes under other trees.

When a Seven Son tree (Heptacodium miconioides) snapped in a downburst several years ago, I debated its replacement, finally settling on a red horse-chestnut (Aesculus x carnea above). I understood the change from a relatively small tree to one that will become much larger, and now that the horse-chestnut has gained considerable size, I couldn’t be happier.

In a few years, I’ll have to remove a few of the lower branches, but the tree is glorious in flower. And neighboring plants are not bothered by its shade.

I was concerned in late summer last year when the red buckeye (Aesculus pavia, above) dropped its leaves prematurely in our prolonged drought. Happily, I report that it recovered to leaf and flower fully this spring despite a continuing shortage of rainfall. While the horse-chestnut enjoys its nearly full sun location, the buckeye is very shaded and thriving as planned.