The rain isn't giving me any real chance to get out and weed or mulch - but so far most of the plants are growing well enough to hide whatever isn't neat. Eventually the rain will stop and the heat will fry my lovely garden... and I know this. Yet every spring I'm so hopeful. That's almost poetic, I think.
The water still standing outside the trenched flowerbeds
long after a morning shower.
The great thing about establishing a perennial garden is that even when things get mostly ugly and struggle to survive the mid-summer droughts - all is not lost. I know that when the cooler fall months come all of those straggly plants will put down new roots and come back even bigger and even more beautiful the next spring.
My daylilies are a prime example. Bought exclusively from spring clearance sales or in unsorted bulk from various internet suppliers - the first couple years with my new daylilies usually produce little more than a yellowed strap of a leaf.. marking the spot where there will someday actually be a plant that flowers. (And how they will flower is a total mystery until it happens. Even if I did know what variety I planted at the time - after a couple of years I completely lose track. It's okay. I like surprises.)
We have dozens of varieties of daylilies in the yard - but this one
is my absolute favorite. I wait every spring to see this bloom for the first time.
This year's payoff for my patience includes a pretty little hybrid Lantana in the front yard. I planted it three springs ago and at the time it was a tiny plant with about four leaves and no flowers. The label said it was a 'hot pink' variety but I had no way of knowing if this was true or not considering the above-mentioned lack of flowers. It didn't flower that first year.. or second... Actually it didn't even grow. It languished. Today I've got a nice 24" x 24" mounding clump of gorgeous - complete with real hot pink flowers. It was worth the wait.
My fantastic hot pink Lantana. It's truly hot pink!
I've gotten pink varieties before only to end up
with light orange flowers... But this is the real deal.
I have an enormous amount of respect for gardeners who use annuals in the flower garden. I wish I could be one of them. The fact is though - when I try I never get anywhere close to a season out of those plants. They're totally temporary.. like paper plates. I plant my annuals and they look great the first day - then they take a couple of weeks (if I'm really lucky) to die. And that's why I gave up. I started looking for perennials.. for natives.. for naturalizers. I need a garden that grows itself.
There's a trade-off for sure. I often envy the beautifully sculpted and color-coordinated (and nearly instant!) annual gardens I see around town. I get no instant gratification... For all the work I put into the garden I usually just have dreams to show for it.... In a few years - it will be what I hope for - barring drought, flood, holocaust or Japanese beetle invasion. However, I don't get the sense that I'm sculpting a garden... making a garden.. decorating my yard... Instead - I feel as if I am participating (albeit in a tiny little way) in nature.
It's not a formal garden - but it is earnest. Yeah. I like that. It suits us just fine.
Suggested resources:
The Color Encyclopedia of Daylilies
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