by Irvin Ettienne
It was for the most part a rather glorious spring. A bit rainy at times, a bit cool at times. Some plants didn’t perform as they should, but overall quite good. The flowering trees and shrubs lasted a very long time. There was even a good Magnolia bloom. I never had a real frost at my house once spring kicked in. My bleeding hearts, (Dicentra spectabilis), were wonderful. The pink and whites both reached my chest by the time they were finishing. My gold foliaged one, ‘Gold Heart’, reached two feet tall and over five feet across. For the first time, I got seedlings to germinate from it. The normal green foliaged types seeded in from the house all the way to the street. They have always been fertile, but this year seemed to be on some sort of reproduction hormones. I am not complaining. I will share.
At work I had a less than stellar experience with the pansies. I planted a lot of pansies. The cool weather was fine but ... You knew that was coming. We both knew that was coming. But where I had them planted was heavy on the clay side of the soil texture pyramid. The rain kept coming and the pansies just didn’t grow. Open ground remained between each plant. They bloomed pitifully, enough to make a presence but not enough to put on a good show. I don’t know why I always feel I have to tell people about the bad plantings. Must be all those years of Catholic guilt.
But as I said, it was mostly good. My yellow Magnolias were covered in blooms, the best ever. At the IMA the redbuds bloomed heavily and for a prolonged time. Witchhazels likewise did well. One large shrub that is always in a fight with frost and freeze is the flowering almond or flowering plum, Prunus triloba var. multiplex. This is different than the more common dwarf flowering almond. The plant I am talking about has deep pink fully double blooms, a gorgeous spring color. It gets rather large, 10 feet tall and nearly as wide. This year it was spectacular. No frost and the cool weather kept the blooms fresh a long time. The spring bulbs, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and anemones, all put on a great show too.
If only summer would be so great as well. No way to tell that as I write this. I just got my overwintered plants out of the house June 7th. That is, the plants in the “Plant Room” and the basement. These are mostly tropicals kept growing (sort of) or dormant (sort of -- sometimes permanently dormant) and bulbs kept dormant. I use the term bulb loosely here. They might be bulbs or they might be tubers or rhizomes or corms. They could have come out a couple weeks earlier, but they didn’t. Usually these are plants that I want but if it doesn’t work out ... well, that happens. One tries to do a little better next year and goes on. Don’t beat yourself up too much if not everything made it through the winter. Look at it as an opportunity to buy something new -- a chance to try that super new cultivar that is completely different from anything ever available before. Well, that could be a lie or just good marketing from the plant company. But why not try it anyway? You don’t wear all the same clothes for years.
Don’t forget to spend some time enjoying your garden. I have made a quiet little promise to myself (and now you) that it won’t be all work and no play this year. So I’m looking forward to some leisurely walks through my gardens with a cold glass of fresh squeezed lemonade perhaps. Some time sitting on the bench in the backyard. A few minutes in the chair on the front porch. Heck, I might even snap and eat supper in the garden. But only if there is a breeze.
See you under the banana tree.
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