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Why Did My Plant Die?© Marge Talt
Jan 13, 1998
The refrain from Geoffery B. Charlesworth's delightful poem (featured inside the back cover of the 1997 Plant Delights catalog) "Why Did My Plant Die?" offers some answers to this gardener's lament.
"You walked too close. You trod on it.
You dropped a piece of sod on it."
He goes on to chide us for all the usual reasons our plants die: no roots, no drainage, critters, insects, drought, the wrong soil — things we've all run into in our gardens. But, there are other reasons.
The Right Place for The Right Plant
After we've gardened for a few years, we learn that some plants want sun and some hate it; some are hardy for us and others aren't. Some plants grow too well, devouring their neighbors and becoming weeds in the garden; some languish, no matter what we try to do for them.
As we curl up in our favorite spots and dream over the beautiful plants displayed in full color in all those nursery catalogs, plant lust hits us and we find a plant we've just got to have. We can see it in our gardens or we mentally build a new garden around it. The catalog says it will grow anywhere and bloom all season, so we order it, plant it and wonder just why it doesn't live up to the glowing catalog description.
But, do we know just where in the world our unhappy plant originated? Most nursery catalogs don't tell us. The best ones do, but do we pay any attention to this information? After all, what does a cryptic "China," "Japan" or "Europe" mean to us when we're in the throes of major plant lust? Interesting, but not vital, we think as we dream of lush foliage and glorious flowers.
Beth Chatto
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Beth Chatto's Books
The Dry Garden
The Damp Garden
Beth Chatto's Garden Notebook
The Green Tapestry
Plant Portraits is out of print, but can be found using one of the best book search resources on the net, Bibliofind
Dear Friend and Gardener is a year's worth of correspondance between Mrs. Chatto and Christopher Lloyd (another of my favorite authors). A most enjoyable book that provides insights into both authors lives as well as their outlook on gardening and noteworthy plants. A must for fans of these authors.
Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden : Drought-Resistant Planting Through the Year is newly published in April of 2000. Can't wait to read this one!
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Hey, Mary....I answered you on the other topic thread! Not that it was much help :-)Marge
Gardening in
Shade ...
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That's interesting. I finally bought some of the new varieties including some longifolias and they have been sitting around (in pots) in the past twelve days of rain waiting to get planted. The longi ...
-- posted by Cottage_Garden
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Mary!Don't say that those longifolia varieties are that persnickety. Please. I just bought my first one last week and I'd like to hope it will survive in my garden.
-- posted by Barb_Dorsett
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Any idea why the pulmonaria with the wide leaves grow up a storm for me, almost no matter where I put them, while the longifolia varieties seem to die when they see me coming? Even when they are place ...
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Carol, I've often wished for just such a book. Now, why doesn't someone get busy and write it! ?Being a consumate procrastinator, I think about moving plants but often don't do it in time ...
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