The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

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I truly enjoy discovering signs of new growth on all of my plants each spring. You may even call it obsessive. But after another nasty winter, it is confirmation that we’ve survived yet again and all will “be OK”. I approach it like detective work and get all fired up to find even a single leaf sprouting underneath dead foliage (which of course explains all of the photos you’ve seen here over the past month or so).

Well, I’m ready to move on to the next phase in my spring ventures outdoors. Foliage growth has exploded over the past week or so and blooms have quietly emerged as well. I like to think of this phase as “initial interplay amongst the plants and rocks.” Yes, I need to work on that phase name and come up with something a bit more catchy but this will have to work for now.

While I love my trees, my shrubs, my bulbs and my perennials on their own, it is how they mix and match with each other that really inspires. That interplay changes from season to season and even from week to week and I can’t get enough of it. So without further ado, I give you the photos I’ve taken over the past few days that show the first mingling of my plant friends:

Sedum ‘Red Carpet’ and Spirea ‘Little Elf’. The contrast in foliage shape and color works and I could care less if either ever blooms:

Heuchera ‘Black Out’ in front of Summer Snowflake bulbs. Once the blooms are finished on the bulbs and the foliage starts to decline, the Heuchera foliage will hide the ugliness:

Arborvitae and Viburnum ‘Shoshoni’. I love the contrast in foliage shape and how the color on the tips of the Arborvitae stands out upon closer inspection:

I am lucky (won’t hear that from me very much when it comes to the landscape conditions) to have unearthed a ton of unique rocks over the past few years. They are stellar counterparts to all of the plants because of their different texture. Here are some of those rocks and the emerging plants:

Astilbe foliage and Yucca ‘Golden Sword’: 
Newly blooming Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’ and Japanese Boxwood. Truthfully, this combination looks best after the Ajuga’s have bloomed and their darker foliage appears:  
I’ll now go back and try to come up with a better name for this phase or maybe you have a better one?
John
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19 Responses

  1. Everything looks wonderful so far…I love using rocks in my landscape too…it adds something very natural to the yard….and we always have a tons of rocks growing here!

  3. I just call it hunting for spring! At least you haven’t found anything poisonous like I did. See my most recent post, yuck!!
    I do love finding new signs of spring. Right now though we are quite a bit ahead of you but you’re catching up! Nice photos!!
    Love Di ♥

  4. I envy you your crop of rocks. Nothing accents/contrasts a short-lived (perspective wise) plant as well as a rock as old as the ages. The only incidental ‘crop’ I can count on over here are golf balls in the lawn… Well, better to have the balls than the golfers, I guess… Is winter finally over???? ;-D

  6. Lovely lovely lovely as always! When I had flower beds I was very uncreative…I gave consideration to tall and short, bushy and skinny…but color not so much…since I believe all colors go together…however I’ll have to admit some colors make other colors pop! Your rocks are fantastic! What a wonderful (muscle building) addition to your flower beds!

  8. Hi John, the plants are bursting forth. My Joe grabs up rocks all the time to but we have them in one corner of the yard. Your rocks against the green does look good. olive

  9. Linda – I love that term, “growing rocks”. I am going to steal that one from you.

    Darla – must admit, I use that term “interplay” a lot. Like my kids don’t understand the concept of “interplay”.

    Diana – I’m on my way to check out your post. I am very intrigued.

    Kris – I am going to guarantee that winter is now over. Did I just jinx it?

    Cloudia – welcome to you as well and damn I’m jealous, would kill to be in Hawaii right now.

    T&B – the rocks are always a challenge but man they are worth it!

    Holley – love the perfect pairing. What do we call it when three are together?

    Olive – Thanks for stopping by and I’ve always liked the idea of a garden of only rocks.

  10. I really like your plant combinations. I try to work on that, but mostly I’m just thrilled to get things in the ground and hope they look good together. I guess there are a lot of rock people out there. We try to collect rocks when we travel, and have gotten some from quite a few states. (And maybe a few we shouldn’t have taken, don’t tell!)

  11. HI again! I am so pleased that you found my blog, how did you find it? We have alot of the same plants and ROCKS:) We have heuchera too. All of our arborvitae died though in past years due to heavy snows. Thanks so much for your very niice comments too!!!! Please come back again. My hubby and I ahve planted over 100 annuals so far and will finish tomorrow. So there will be lots more to see:):) XO, Pinky

  12. Plants going from Spring to Summer are kind of like a party: first a few show up, and then all of a sudden, everyone is there! They mingle a bit with the people they know, and then they get to meet some new people. Before you know it, people are mingling all over the place, in little clutches here and there.

  13. It’s as good a term as any…and certainly one of my chief delights in garden plannning. I love the interplay of different forms, textures and colors…and as satisfying as it is to have a combo that I planned turning out great, I love spontaneous combinations even more.

  14. I love the contrast between plants and rocks! You need some granite in there, for the sparkle of the mica! I agree with your comments about the Gate – i’ll be back to visit you too!!!

  15. I was just outside checking out my rock garden this morning. The sedum is just coming back and unbelievably, the ajuga that I removed years ago keeps coming back. Reminds me of that song “the cat came back”! Your garden is looking glorious.

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