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| Columbines with sword fern and alpine strawberries. |
If I were feeling rational about it, I guess I would come to terms with the fact that this is the time of year when the garden has growing pains--teenage gawkiness. Knobby knees. Cracking voice. But I am NOT feeling rational about it--I have a tremendous urge to salve my (visual) discomfort by buying a lot of plants to fill it up NOW. I did last year. By this time last year, I'd probably made frantic phone calls to a dozen small vendors who advertised plants that I wanted. I'd driven to every promising nursery within 100 miles. I'd placed numerous online plant orders. And I'd loaded up on annual fillers. Inevitably, plants played musical chairs for a while as growth happened and many of the extras that I'd bought were eventually relocated to the green waste bin.
I'm trying to do better this year. I haven't really changed the garden since the big shake-up last Spring. I know the number of annual salvias and "Diamond Frost" Euphorbias it took to soften the edges and to fill in the gaps. I'm trying to do the mature thing by waiting until the time is right to buy (with restraint) from this list. It's hard, though. Frustrating! Just call me Veruca.
But anyway, do you want to see what is going on at present?
Generally speaking, the back garden is looking fuller than the front. Woodland-y plants dominate in the shady and moist-to-swampy back garden. I call this the Arbor Bed and it features Astilbes, Hakonechloa, Darmera peltata, Persicaria polymorpha, Alchemilla, and Eupatorium cannabinum. Around the back of this planting are some Brunnera macrophylla--I've been appreciating their blooms for a while, now. Although I'm awaiting a lot of growth, I feel OK about this bed because the major players are all present and the ground is mostly covered up.
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| "Arbor Bed" |
Even further 'round back, the Enkianthus is blooming. I haven't seen any hummingbirds visiting it, but a lone bee did crawl inside one of the bells while I was taking photos.
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| Enkianthus |
A couple of Jack-in-the-Pulpits are planted around the base of the enkianthus. I think they are sited oddly--what was I thinking?--but maybe they will look more integrated once the shrubby things have grown up around them. Or maybe I should move them just down the way where they will be neighbors with the hostas and Asarum europaeum.
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| Arisaema |
I just planted this deutzia in the backyard planter. As it matures, I hope it will sprawl under the nearby shrubs and drape over the planter wall. Such a beautiful and refined plant! I just love the sprays of unopened flower buds--like strings of beads.
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| Deutzia gracilis "nikko" |
Out front, the first iris is blooming. This one must have been mislabeled or maybe it was a freebie, but I know I never ordered it on purpose. Wouldn't you know--it's the most vigorous one. Soon, the blooms of this iris will be joined by those of "Cantina" (purple with a brown sheen) and the all-brown "Gingersnap".
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| Unknown iris |
The iris share the same bed as the geum and the Ajuga genevensis--this has been an effective pairing and has been full-looking and blooming well for weeks. Just behind them, though--gaps. Bare soil. I'm waiting for some baby grasses and myrrhis grow up and claim their real estate.
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| Ajuga and geum--starting to get a little tired, but still looking good following weeks of bloom. |
And here's a photo in which I tried to capture both the first bud on the astrantia and the blooms of the Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata). The Sweet Cicely is going to seed already. I dead-headed a little bit. I don't know if that will actually help to prolong the blooms on this plant.
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| Sweet Cicely and astrantia bud |
But now...the real trouble spot--the front bed. I held the camera at about waist height, so it a appears a bit fuller than it is. In the foreground, the main players are: Amsonia "Blue Ice", Pennisetum "Hameln", and Sedum "Autumn Joy". Sprinkled around are: Lobelia siphilitica, Centranthus ruber "alba", and seedlings of Ammi visnaga "Green Mist". In the back are big gaps for the sleeping Joe Pye, the juvenile Hydrangea "Quick Fire", and a yet-to-be-acquired Miscanthus "Adagio". I actually wrote the name of the miscanthus on a stone and placed it in the center of the spot where I will be planting it--trying to keep its virtues in mind and to prevent myself from giving away its spot to any of the other bright ideas I've had.
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| Disappointing front bed |
Thinking about it rationally, I know that I will eventually find a M. Adagio to go in the empty spot that I am holding for it, and I know that the baby hydrangea will bulk up in the next season or two. There's nothing to be done for the Joe Pye, though. It doesn't make a presence until June, at least. But I want the bed to look fuller and I want the ground to be covered up. NOW.
I'm taking suggestions for ground covers that might work here. The successful candidate will be unfussy, short (<6"), will allow perennials to grow through, and won't smother the foliage on my Digitalis parviflora. I've got Galium odorata in the same area and I'm thinking of adding more of that. Or, maybe, some more of the Ajuga genevensis that I have on the other side of the entry walkway. Alison, of Bonney Lassie, visited a while ago and she suggested using a saxifrage. I'm not sure which species she had in mind, but Saxifraga stolonifera looks like a good option.
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| Image Source: Wikimedia commons |
Or, maybe it will be something early emerging and truly ephemeral that I can yank out at the first sign of die-back.
Ideas?
12 comments:
It is so hard to wait for things to fill in and grow up. I think when I suggested a Saxifrage I was thinking of London Pride. There's a couple of others that have interesting foliage, too. Personally I do think the Jack in the Pulpits would be better off with Hostas and Asarum (but that might just be because that's how I have mine planted.)
Hi Alison--well, I think the London's Pride would be too solid for what I have in mind. I do have a patch that I could raid, though. I broke down today--minutes after I made the post--and bought some Salvia snow nymph to fill-in around things in the front.
I sympathize, but I'm used to waiting until June for a garden to appear. It's very hard to find satisfactory ground covers for all situations. I've been working on that for years. My most successful ground cover is Miscanthus, but that obviously won't work for you.
Hi James! I laugh at the idea of Miscanthus as a ground cover but, of course, it is. You do have to specify the element of size in order to get what you want, ground cover-wise.
Dear Varuca,
Patience is a virtue but who really wants to be known for her virtue? The reason spring produces so many flowers on trees is to keep our eyes from seeing how awful the beds look. Yours, by the way look beautiful and well thought out. Mine are a mish mash of various thuggish plants trying to outdo each other and kill every well behaved plant i ever try to grow. Hey, is that an Empress tree in full bloom...
Ha! Peter, I know better than to try to get a lecture in austerity from you! Good thought about changing the focal point, though.
If it weren't for the weeding, I actually like seeing a little nicely mulched space around some plants to show them off to advantage. Sedums make good ground covers. I have one area with a mixture of dark sedums in combination with golden creeping charlie that I like quite a lot.
Isn't it the nature of gardeners to never be satisfied? It's the artist in us.
Hi Ricki! I definitely think it is harder for gardeners who are motivated by design rather than those who are motivated by nurture. For me, I have, in my mind's eye, the best possible picture from last year and I hope to exceed that picture each year through critical assessment and correction. And that doesn't sound very much like a true gardener's attitude, but it is what it is...
I know exactly how you feel. I waited years to get a good-sized garden with sun and I'd like it to be everything I visualized while I was restricted to gardening a tiny, shady patch of land. The need to remove large sections of grass, combined with heat, drought and wind, has presented complications. I know I need to avoid spring planting here due to the the unpredictable rainfall and temperatures but finding everything I want during fall planting season is difficult (impossible). Still, after recent losses, I'm trying to exercise more patience. I think I need to try your rock placeholder idea!
For what it's worth, in your climate, I'd definitely add Saxifrage.
Hi Kris! I've been watching you fill up your newly developed garden areas. They are really coming along nicely. But I know the danger of trying to establish baby plants in advance of a hot, droughty summer. I make that mistake, too, but at least we have adequate water to keep them well watered. The placeholder thing works well. It actually helps with visualization and makes me a little more patient about the gap in planting.
Looks great Emily. One plant that I really like for early spring flowers and foliage the rest of the year is Pulmonaria or Lungwort.
Hi Grace--I agree. Pulmonarias are good and useful plants. I used to grow quite a few at my previous garden, which was 100% woodland. But when I moved here (sunnier garden), I was determined to do something completely different and I shunned all the plants I'd once grown. As time has passed, though, I've become more realistic about the amount of shade (or, at least, part sun) I have and the woodlanders have been creeping in again. 'Cause you gotta do what is right for the conditions...no matter your chosen aesthetic!
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