August 6 , 2009
From Linda: 19 January 2025
Okay , for you guys out there , this one is about relationships . But do n’t get scared off yet !
As nurseryman , one big - metre relationship is with our soil , the plants , and the weather . We have only so much control over the soil , and none with the weather . To some degree , we can control the plants . But pick the incorrect one or put it in the wrong bit , and it stump off in a fury or whimper . And the small sapling or tiny shrub spring up up , with a mind of its own that changes our kinship with the garden .
I have it away that extended drought has many gardeners thinking about an overhaul . But as in any family relationship , is it just some hard metre that you ’ll get through , or is it the wake - up call to move on ?
It was only a few years ago that I thought I ’d examine caladiums again . I know better , but I gave them three tries . Three strikes and you ’re out , veracious ? apparently , the snails were just as sick .
If you ’ve coddled acid - get laid , weewee - loving , or cool - temp plant that thrive the 3 weeks or so a yr that puzzle out for them , okay , it ’s time to move on . If they ’re something you truly love or were a passalong from your grandmother , put them in a pot and baby them .
If you ’ve implant thing in the wrong spot , okay , move them in December or early next spring . The Iceberg and Mrs. Oakley Fisher roses I move to former photinia - ville are very happy . Of course , they do get water , but not a boatload of it . They ’re hunkering down . Still , they promise to bloom like this again .
If you ’ve discovered that a native works need too much water or less water or different soil to fly high for you ( because it is n’t native to your place ) , give it up or give it off to the right home . Do n’t grab a plant just because its tag claims autochthonic heritage . Is it native to limestone , mud , shade , Dominicus , bog , moist woodland , or a cracking in a rock ?
After four effort at four - cheek daisy , ( Tetraneuris scaposa ) , also calledHymenoxis , I gave it up . It ’s not native to my clay filth . I could baby it , build up granite hummock for it , and rearrange life in world-wide to suit it , but was it deserving it to me ? No . I admire it in garden where it thrives , just as I look up to pictures of azaleas in Houston .
But if you ’ve stupefy a compatible kinship with your plants most of the time , and right now they ’re simply miserable , like you , be patient and caring . This oregano is pretty fried , but I have high hopes for its return .
Believe me , the hard inter-group communication endure this trial . A lot of my plant could compose this blog about the dry , hot summertime they ’ve been through . They could also tell you about the times when they were wilting one day and freezing the next . Or when we cause our 3 - calendar month quotient of rainwater in a week . Like this spuria iris . It ’s in hiding right now , but in fall will grow like mad to blossom again next spring .
Although rough times are hardest on new gardeners , old hand are not resistant . February ’s optimism can fool away like momentary thunderclouds by August . When August lasts for two year , our passion for gardening can shoot , too .
So , what do we do ? Well , for one thing , we make a sturdy inventory . Along with what we can see , this is where a garden diary comes in ready to hand . When our retentiveness is suddenly - circuit by heat , it reminds us that some affair that look pretty gone now will recoil .
Some thing we ’ll turn a loss . I ’ve determine that some perennials are n’t really incessantly , like my columbine . I call back this one will make it , but as always when warmth and humidness collide , I lose a plenty of them .
But they matter to me , so every few old age I regenerate their population and enjoy them for the years of spring delight they give us .
In my mulched garden , I rarely see the tax return on their populous seeds , so I envy the masses who get them coming up everywhere .
Like any kinship , the garden is n’t a done mickle , ever . And like other relationships , the best affair to do is to recognize what we ’re up against and respond to it . We make changes , small I and openhanded . We compromise . We accept that today may not be a champagne moment , but if we ’re patient , one is just around the corner . We learn from the joy of birth and the sadness of expiry . We explore , and find out renewal and growth in new directions .
And we learn to recognise the joyousness that comes our elbow room , just in this minute .
So guys , that was n’t so speculative , huh ? Until next hebdomad , Linda
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