A perennial garden is the tantalizing vision of perfection: the sky is impossibly blue, the grass a brilliant green, a slight breeze carries delicious scents across the bejeweled scene. The ideal color and texture, every plant thriving, the beds and borders interwoven seamlessly with the paths and furnishings. Our perennial gardens are lovely in our minds!
Creating The Artistic Garden and Garden Aesthetics begin to explain the mystique and mechanics of turning plants into fantasia.
It is difficult to achieve perfection. At first our gardens fall short of the ideal no matter how much effort we put in. Certainly there are the all-too-often encountered vagaries of weather to contend with, the immutability of hardiness zones, and the little details of soil and microclimate to blame. But in the end, we know enchantingly, hauntingly beautiful gardens are possible everywhere, so why don't ours turn out the way we hope?
Some of the answers are here: So, You're Starting A New Garden!
Most of our gardens suffer from one or more of these to varying degrees: inadequate observation, analysis and planning; little or no soil preparation; uninformed plant selection; poor shopping practices; ineffective maintenance; lack of persistence and not enough patience. Not very flattering, is it? Just remember you are not in this alone!
Take heart! The enduringly successful perennial garden evolves through a sustained effort, created by way of a learning process over time, and it is an interactive being. Here's an unsentimental tidbit from Gazebo Gardens: Is Perennial Gardening for You? Time will tell!
So the garden is not static and we must learn to take advantage of the happy surprises and work with the occasional less happy realities. Most of all, we need to visit good gardens and talk to other gardeners to share our wealth of experience and observations. It never hurts to read up a little on basics, but the most useful things are what you will learn by doing and seeing first-hand. For instance, only you can make up an accurate bloom chart for your own garden! And honestly, there is no need to worry if you can't handle these silly Perennial Arcade Quiz Games for Know-it-alls!
Most of all, we need to keep dreaming. There is magic in a garden and there is a special personality to each garden, the fortuitous result of that interplay between gardener and time and place.
The gardener who fails to understand that should stick with simple, standard bedding out schemes of spring bulbs and summer annuals with perhaps a few mums, cabbages or pansies to round out the seasons. It will look just fine, the lawn care people can probably install it and the neighbors will admire your dedication, taste and investment.
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