I have been at it for the last two weeks. I’m talking like, psychotic. Long sweaty stretches of moving plants, weeding, cutting back and cutting ties with plants (some that required a chainsaw) that had seen better days. Also, short dashes of five- minute weeding sprints between work meetings, ten-minute watering’s before the work day kicked off and three minutes hyper dashes spent moving a Joe Pye Weed a few inches to the left and a boxwood a foot forward because my OCD won’t subside until it’s done. If any increment of time was found, it was spent outside.
The motivation? Simple answer: panic. Panic is the motivator in all aspects of my life. With the garden, it was panic that things were getting away from me and soon I’d throw in the towel and give up like I’d done the previous few years. Not this time. I’ve come too far to not see this through to the point where I’ve envisioned it going for the better part of two decades.
The routine:
Open garage door while shoving a protein bar down my throat.
Slip on boots, hoping no snakes, mice or spiders found their way inside. Boots never tied. Time saved too vital.
Pull on nitrile gloves, fully aware poison ivy juices still reside on the palm and fingers.
Grab orange Home Depot bucket, chuck trowel and pruners inside.
Grab spade and twirl to show I meant business.
Head outside and wait for the inspiration to wash over me.
Kick ass.
I should also add that we’re expecting rain every day for the next week or so and that provided additional inspiration to get as much done as possible, physical well being be damned. I snapped the photo below to try and capture the impending bad weather which is really awesome weather as I can’t wait to sit back and watch every plant drink the H2O while I revel in my accomplishments.
The funny thing is I feel like I’ve done so much and transformed the garden for the better, but the common eye wouldn’t notice a thing. I imagine my wife thinking, “You’ve been working out there for hours on end and honestly, I see little difference.” She’d never say it as she’s too kind and knows I’d never recover, but I know she’s thinking it.
For example, this is the view at the end of the driveway. I’ve mentioned previously that I didn’t like how the “legs” of the Baptisia were exposed. Well a few weeks later and the Baptisia exploded; legs for days. For whatever reason, I had planted three here a few years back where there was really only room for one. I wonder how I can be so dumb after all of these years gardening.
As you probably know, moving a Baptisia is impossible. The taproot digs way freaking deep. So instead of taking on that herculean task, I … gulp … cut them all to the ground now that they’ve finished blooming. It killed me but I couldn’t take it any longer. The results:
I added a bunch of new annuals at the front, exposed three grasses that had been buried by the aggressive Baptisias and even found a white coneflower that had been growing inside one of the Baptisia plants. I also dug up a Clethra that had suckered badly and was half dead. That gave me room to add a Smokebush I had sitting in a container on my deck. Here, I hope it will be sheltered from the deer and thrive.
I’ll deal with the long term ramifications of the Baptisia at another time.
This one had me hot and bothered for a few years. Another example of not thinking long term when I constructed the vignette. Zebra grasses, IMHO, are fine as specimen plantings but are too much when grouped together. Here I had planted three when they were tiny plugs and they took off overnight. I hated how they looked.
So out went two, as did my back on multiple occasions, and we ended up with this:
Five mountain mints and a Little Bluestem ‘Chameleon’ in its place. This is going to kick so much ass when done and after the plants have been established. I can’t wait to share with you all.
BTW, the two zebra grasses I moved … here’s what I discovered to my horror a few days ago.
Might want to stay on top of the watering next time wanna-be-master-gardener.
Quick aside: I’m obsessed with all type of Mountain Mint. I’m still not sure what this one is, but it spreads freely all over my garden and I let it do whatever it wants. An absolute critter magnet and tough SOB.
I went hog wild on the annuals and right back to what I had planted last year in the pic below. I can’t get enough of the verbena and love how they look with a bluish grass (in this case a Panicum ‘Cloud Nine’) behind them. While I planted six of these, there were three others in the same area after seeding from last year’s plants. The gorgeous purple gift that keeps on giving.
There’s a lot going on here but I’ll spare you all the details. I moved around the Meadowsweet for maximum viewing pleasure and to ideally, to layer the garden bed appropriately by height. I like, so far.
Two notes:
- The window all the way to the right is the window I stare out of 8 hours a day while working from home. Because of that, this is the section of garden that is the most critiqued.
- The container in the lower right is a grass gifted from my brother-in-law who lives down the street. Aren’t I a lucky dude?
In:
- Annuals that should spill on to the sidewalk. I can’t remember the name because I’m annual clueless.
Out:
- Three Liatris that never thrived in this partial sun spot.
- Four Speedwell that had seen better days – RIP
- A variegated Northern Sea Oats that had become no longer variegated and seeded like a mutha f’er.
And here’s where the Liatris was relocated to a full sun spot.
I should also add that the Liatris blooms reached towards the sun in their old spot and that drove me insane. I need them to be more upright. Hopefully no problem, no more.
Also, forgot to RIP the variegated NSO. Look how pretty she looks in this photo.
I removed a ton of poison ivy all over the garden and paid for it with a rash on every appendage. I haven’t addressed it here yet. It’s comingled with almost all of my Catmint and I need to make a call soon. Eradicate it all and start fresh? Or try to save the catmint and keep the poison ivy at bay?
To be continued …
I love these Carex. Hold on one second.
Pause, pause, pause.
I’m back. Ran to the garage to find the tag and can’t locate it. Inexcusable. Not sure of the name but I will find it and let you know ASAP. They do claim to deal with full sun and if that claims holds true, I’ll be loading up on it as a groundcover all over the garden.
Have an awesome weekend my friends.
