Hope you are enjoying the lovely Spring weather. It's been great to get out and work in the yard, though again I find myself frustrated that a certain tall, yellow perennial has gone bed-hopping once more and is appearing in additional places around my yard.
Didn't that bed over there used to be filled with purple and blue things? Lupine, Salvia, Campanula, Delphinium...I distinctly remember planting them. Now it's just full of YELLOW. Helio-somethings.
For I am a very accidental gardener. I've learned through trial and error (mostly error), what grows in my yard and what doesn't. What spreads when I don't want it to. How tall things get--obscuring what's behind them. When in the season things bloom and when they just look like all the other weeds around. And which weeds actually bloom and aren't half bad, so "Andrew, please don't run over them with the push-mower because I kinda like the tall, poker-shaped weed with the silver-green, fuzzy leaves".
But the time has come to be more educated in my planting attempts. We are having our front walkway re-done in gorgeous granite cobblestones. I'd like to have some perennial beds alongside, but I'm not sure what to get. I have learned (again from error), not to trust the local nursery for advice: they sold me the 30ft tree at the end of my porch that was supposed to be only 17ft tall and the Holly bushes that grow to be 15ft tall when what I asked for was a "hip-height evergreen shrub for a low hedge beside my walkway". Ooh, weren't those fun to dig out and transplant? Sorry, Andrew.
I've been burned by plant catalogs as well---those Helio-monster plants were part of a 'pre-planned perennial assortment', complete with planting diagram (which I followed meticulously). Yet never once did the catalog or planting instructions mention that from year 3 forward, the Helio creature would be the only thing you could see. Everywhere. In. Your. Yard.
Thus, I am extremely gun shy where these new beds are concerned. I don't know what to pick. I know what I like, but I don't know how to arrange them for proper height display, a variety of colors and bloom times. And I am particularly afraid of plants that spread--either by viny root system or by self-seeding. I don't want to spend time and money planting a beautiful assortment only to end up with one attention-hogging bully plant taking over. I am being stricken with the biggest case of indecision I have ever experienced.
Can you feel my pain? Have you ever not been able to choose when faced with multiple choices? Well, here's a test for you: This week I am offering 3 pairs of earrings, rather than just one. Because I just couldn't decide which one to feature and which two to hold for another week. My indecision is now your problem. Ready, set, choose! See them on the website---link below my signature.
Until next week---(when I fortunately have someone coming to help me with plant selection!!!)
Kim
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