Suite101

That Picture Perfect Garden


© Carol Wallace

Every spring I approach my garden full of hopes. This is the year I'm going to get it right.

And every fall I leave my garden with regrets because "right" just didn't happen. The Japanese beetles ate the roses, the artemisia overgrew it's space, the dahlias got lost in the buddleia and there is just too much stuff with ferny foliage planted together - except that it has no place else to go.

I find myself wondering if I'm the only person with this problem. I look at pictures of other peoples' gardens and they always seem so perfect - nice blends of color and texture and shape, not too sparse and not too crowded. With every peek I become more determined to achieve that in my own yard. But I can't.

Why? Impatience, I think, and the failure to believe that things will really grow as promised. That, and my unfailing optimism when I see a plant I simply can't resist and bring it home SURE that there's a spot for it, mean perennial defeat.

I start out well. I rush out to the garden vigorously to do my spring clean-up, taking inventory as I go. I move a few things and discard a few things. I plant a few more things. And that's where I ought to leave it.

But I forget how many things don't really take off until June or later. There comes a day in May when I look at the bare spots in the beds and can't stand it - the have GOT to be filled.

OK - honesty forces me to admit that those spots aren't REALLY bare. I can see a mist of little green specks everywhere. Common sense tells me that this is going to be a whole forest of Nicotiana alata which, by July will be huge. But it's May, and they are mere specks in the earth in front of a lot of tall stuff - and everything looks out of proportion. An excellent reason to go nursery cruising to see if I can find a remedy.

And of COURSE I find a remedy. I find maybe FIVE remedies, some of which I actually have spaces for. So back to the garden I march, trowel in hand.

The first big decision is which of my five acquisitions is going to be THE remedy - the one I set out to find in the first place. I select one, based on color and texture and plant it. Fresh from it's quart pot, it looks unbearably puny in front of the seven-year-old perennials behind it. So maybe I need TWO remedies. In goes something else that might work.

Go To Page: 1 2 3


The copyright of the article That Picture Perfect Garden in Virtual Gardening is owned by . Permission to republish That Picture Perfect Garden in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Post this Article to facebook Add this Article to del.icio.us! Digg this Article furl this Article Add this Article to Reddit Add this Article to Technorati Add this Article to Newsvine Add this Article to Windows Live Add this Article to Yahoo Add this Article to StumbleUpon Add this Article to BlinkLists Add this Article to Spurl Add this Article to Google Add this Article to Ask Add this Article to Squidoo


Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages

11.   Mar 7, 1999 9:56 AM
The newspaper topped by organic stuff (grass clippings, chopped leaves, aged manure and stable bedding, old shredded bark mulch, etc etc etc) has worked for me, too. But true lilies (lilium) seem to ...

-- posted by Cottage_Garden


10.   Mar 7, 1999 9:29 AM
REAL double lilies? Or daylilies? I never much liked yellow in the garden, but I do have a pale yellow double daylily that is so gorgeous it converted me - I've begun to sneak in more soft yellows, a ...

-- posted by CarolWallace


9.   Mar 6, 1999 9:01 PM
Thank you very much Carol. Your suggestions are great! I will try a smaller site this spring and in the fall, will prepare the rest for next year. I did want to plant Lillies, Asiatic and Oriental. ...

-- posted by Chola


8.   Mar 6, 1999 5:23 PM
Well, shall I confess that I'm not actually uprooting EVERYTHING??

The David Austin roses and the red-twigged dogwoods are fine where they are. So are the two Miscanthus gracillimus 'Morning Lights ...


-- posted by CarolWallace


7.   Mar 6, 1999 5:06 PM
Good story!

And good luck with your garden renovation. I've never had the nerve to do it to a whole bed at once, but I can sure see that it would be beneficial. ...


-- posted by mica





For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Carol Wallace's Virtual Gardening topic, please visit the Discussions page.