Some trial and error is to be expected while creating a garden that is satisfactory through the seasons. A superb garden in spring is easily devised, when dependable rainfall and moderate temperatures encourage splendid blooms and lush foliage. But, planning a garden to shine through the heat of summer is another matter. I have tried…
Category: Native plants
When good sense is ignored
I have some good sense, but at least as far as the garden’s concerned, it’s displayed only on rare occasions. In an effort to cram as many delights as possible into the garden, sensible design is occasionally overlooked (or disregarded). I see no reason to excuse or apologize. I will gladly sacrifice proper design to…
First shoots of the purple passion flower vine (Passiflora incarnata) pop up anywhere except where they’re supposed to. A steel obelisk stands above where the vine was planted, but the first sign of the passion flower in late spring is eight feet away, growing through gaps in the stone patio. These are plucked out, and…
The many or the few
I suspect that many gardeners are hopeless collectors of plants. Recently, I wrote about the collection of Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) in the garden, and the many irises, but there are more. Possibly, too many. There are a dozen or more dogwoods of various stripes in the garden. The native Eastern dogwood (Cornus florida) begins…
Good Samaritan
Some things, I’ll never figure out. I hope that I’ve learned a few lessons over twenty-six years gardening this plot, but many mysteries remain. Our native Eastern dogwood (Cornus florida) is an understory tree that will flower a bit even in deep shade, though it blooms heaviest at the forest’s edge with more sunlight. The…
In the mud and the muck
The spot of damp ground where ‘Arnold Promise’ witch hazel died a slow death is a work in progress. Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Duet’), black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), and sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus, below) will fill this void, but today the shrubs still have a few years to go before I’ll be satisfied with this space. In damp…
A lovely spring
For four weeks the garden has been superb. After a late start to spring that left at least this gardener muttering aloud, redbuds, dogwoods, and magnolias that typically flower earlier in March all flowered at once. Since, while one flower or another has been a bit tardy, there have been sufficient blooms to allow me…
What it is
“It is what it is.” I suspect I say this too frequently when one issue or another pops up in the garden. Most are relatively minor problems that have been years in the making, so why be too bothered about them today? And, show me the gardener who has not erred in planting too closely,…
Keep to the path
On this warm afternoon my wife prowled the garden looking for stray branches to chop, pruners in hand. But, before going further, I must admit that in late winter, in a moment of delirium I purchased these moderately priced, gear assisted bypass pruners to replace overpriced and undersized anvil pruners that often did more harm…
The koi pond in May
Along one side of the koi pond a gravel bog filter (below) is planted with tall, variegated sweetflag (Acorus calamus), yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus), pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata), and water lilies (Nymphaea). Pockets between boulders at the pond’s edge are planted with Japanese irises (Iris ensata), though a few clumps have been infiltrated by the…
Flowers in mid May
With a return of cooler temperatures I must take advantage to tidy up before the heat returns. The late crop of winter weeds is now mostly under control, but in this acre and a quarter garden weeding is an endless chore. Which is not to say that I work at it endlessly, but any time…
Along the highway and in the garden
Just a few weeks ago, the threat of frost delayed planting of several small toad lilies that were stashed in the garage for a few nights. Today, friends wonder if spring has been skipped over, and are we heading straight into summer? Of course this is typical, the ups and downs of spring weather, and…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 