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My Garden, the Awkward Adolescent

© Carol Wallace

It all happened so quickly. One day I was looking at bare dirt and little nubs of green and wondering if that new garden would ever amount to anything. And then, in what seems to be only the blink of an eye, here it is, all gangly and awkward and totally out of control. That infant garden has become an adolescent - with all of the usual adolescent problems.

Some plants have succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. I know when I planted that white peony I carefully left the 3' planting area that the books recommended to give it room to grow. Only by year two I had doubts about the accuracy of that recommendation and things looked pretty bare - and so tucked in another plant or two. Naturally, all of these plants have done exactly as the book said they would and more. The result is that everything in that section of the garden looks as though it were being strangled.

Some didn't exceed my wildest expectations - they just went wild. Like the 'Silver King' Artemisia - you can see it in the picture that heads my topic. But you can't see it in my garden anymore - not since in year three it decided to creep through the peony, trot through the roses, then gallop through the penstemon and everything else in sight. There was silver coming up everywhere. And so, painstakingly I pulled out every last bit. That left a hole, but this time, being somewhat wiser, I filled it with a couple smaller perennials.

They, however,have not come up to snuff and so that area of the garden looks a bit underplanted and unbalanced. It would be nice if I could just move some of the overgrown stuff around the peony, but the height and textures are all wrong.

And then there are many perfectly healthy plants that have grown without a murmur for the past several years - except that they don't do a thing for me. They are just taking up space that I could use for something that really makes my heart go pitter-patter.

It takes tough love to straighten out an adolescent garden that has become this confused.

What kind of tough love? Well, in my case almost every plant in that garden is going to be dug up, temporarily placed in pots, and then dealt with.

I will leave the Miscanthus sinensis at the back of the bed, because it is where I want it, doing exactly what I want it to do. I will also leave the two Heritage rose bushes for the same reason. They, however, will get a severe haircut in late winter. The cutleaf Japanese maple that weeps so beautifully into the center of the bed is a definite keeper - I won't so much as touch it except for a light haircut. These are basically the bones of my garden, and I am still pleased with them.