That Picture Perfect Garden
I uproot a nicotiana seedling or two in the process of planting, and because at the moment they are so very small, I feel as though I have done proper thinning. The new plants still look underscaled - but something (thank heavens!) stays my hand from adding the other three new plants I have at hand. I'm saving those for my favorite game - the one where you wander from bed to bed looking for a space that suits the plant in your hand. Usually this means you get to dig up a few other things and move them around. When I do this, it also means that I move them into too close a proximity to each other because I can't seem to get it through my head - these things GROW!
I also forget about dormant plants, and end up slicing a sleeping hosta or three into wedges by accident, thereby creating several new hostas that need spaces and which will all grow larger than I anticipate.
I believe it is some ancient curse that says that whatever dormant plant I have forgotten about will grow up with the same sort of shape and texture as the plant I am putting next to it - but probably with clashing colors. This creates an exceedingly boring space in the garden - but on the bright side it will give me something to do in July when I decide that everything needs to be moved again.
The dahlias will also contribute to my usual midsummer malaise. Dahlias are wonderful for cut flowers in fall, but in spring they always look so innocent - naked of greenery or signs of life. How can this potato-like thing every get to be 5' tall and three feet wide by August? Surely there is room for it between the giant delphiniums and the buddleia. There may even be room for TWO!
July comes.
Not everything gets moved as planned, but not because of a lack of willingess on my part. The two plants that I put in with such careful consideration for height and foliage texture and color have disappeared into the nicotiana, probably never to be rediscovered. I lost an entire dahlia - a tall one - like that last year until, in desperation, it thrust its head (and one spindly blossom) right through the buddleia behind it trying to get a peek at the sun.
What it boils
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