Every August there comes a point when I realize the garden is a lot of work, and as I stand there with itchy bug bites, sweat running into my eyes, and dirt all over (with a little blood here and there too) I realize it’s not always fun either. To that end I told the boy that on second thought he’s got to take out a bigger loan for college, and I was going to go ahead and use that budget line to buy some mulch after all. Mulch is a labor-saver, it looks neat, saves on watering, and keeps the weeds down and would be an excellent way out… until it was dumped in the driveway and someone had to spread it. More work, and the boy was oddly standoffish when I suggested he help.
Agapanthus ‘Blue Yonder’ has survived transplanting and division, and I was even able to split a bit off for a friend… although deep down I still wanted to keep it all to myself since it’s such a cool plant!
So for the last week there’s been more sweat and blood given for the garden, and again I’m wondering why I’m allowed to make these decisions without any real adult supervision. It’s obviously my own fault, but in the meantime there’s been more rain (and a relentless blanket of heat and humidity) and even with additional purges for the mulch to go down the garden does look pretty good and at least now the suffering isn’t all a wasted effort.
Holy color! My latest crape myrtle addition (Lagerstroemia ‘Tuscarora’) has burst into bloom and I think it’s the greatest thing. Southerners will yawn but I’m quite pleased. Fingers crossed it can overwinter decently enough to bloom again.
Besides making my life easier by having a well-mulched garden, I’ve also continued on my quest to add an increasing number of border-line hardy plants which will need more coddling than usual in order to do well, and obviously this goes against any less-work initiatives. “Zone Pushing” is what some people call it, but I’m going to go all silly on you and claim it’s just me getting a jump on global warming. Argue any point you’d like but when each ski season is worse than the last I would suggest the zones are creeping North and sooner or later will match my horticultural hopes. Agapanthus have been doing well for a number of years (hardy deciduous forms, not the evergreen types), hardier forms of Crinum lilies have had no problem overwintering for three years, and now I’m trying Crape myrtle again. The ones I planted years ago at my parents’ house on Long Island used to freeze back regularly but are now taking on tree proportions, so I think I can at least get away with them being root-hardy if not top-hardy. The two dwarf ‘Barista’ series shrubs I planted last summer are back this year and full of buds, so there’s hope.
Our hot and dry stretch has singed most of the lawns, but for a sunflower in a crack at the end of the driveway? No problem. I’m stupid for not just growing a yard full of sunflowers.
Something which seems like it should be a lot of trouble and work, but really is not… and is also absolutely hardy as well… are the Cyclamen purpurascens which are coming into bloom now. Unlike the other species of winter-growing hardy cyclamen, these tend to be evergreen and will bloom in August over a nice cover of patterned foliage. I’m tempted to go on and on about them but I’ll spare you the rambling and just say give them a try, and if they’re not happy try them somewhere else since these took a while to find their happy place. The best patches are under the carpenter ant infested cherry tree where it appears the ants have tossed the seeds they collect after they’ve eaten off the sweet coating at the nest, and the seeds happily germinate and grow in what would seem like a terrible spot.
Cyclamen purpurascens coming into bloom in the shade of a weeping cherry. They should continue flowering for several weeks, regardless of drought or heat or humidity.
So that wasn’t bad. I was barely distracted by the first cyclamen coming into bloom, and I also didn’t even mention that I’ve been digging and examining and dividing clumps of snowdrops as I mulch my way through the garden… but I will mention the waste space instead. The weeds were neatly mown for June’s graduation party and then mown again… and again, alongside the rest of the lawn since I guess that’s what one does when you’re trying to keep things neat, but of course that’s boring. And work, and it being work isn’t a deal breaker, but when it’s also boring and pointless as well, then I must object. Better to pickaxe a shallow hole in the horribly poor soil and throw in a few pumpkin seeds. Or ‘maybe-pumpkin’ seeds since they’re seeds which have been sitting in cups on a garage shelf for years and I can’t remember which amazing pumpkin or squash or gourds contributed the seeds several autumns past.
The waste space is now a pumpkin patch. If the rains and heat keep up there might still be enough time for some kind of late season squash to ripen, and if not… squash are always fun to watch grow.
Starting a pumpkin patch wasn’t much work at all but then when the anonymous seed actually started to grow, I felt guilty that the soil was so bad. When it dried out, any attempts to water would just run off, so maybe a mulch of free municipal compost could help. Then another two runs for compost happened because there’s no sense in being skimpy with free compost… and might as well scratch in a little 10-10-10 since this is all just construction fill and even maybe-pumpkins need some help to not look anemic… and then when you’re not mowing the weeds they grow tall and might shade the maybe-pumpkins, so better pull a few… and here we are. I don’t suggest you reduce your workload by starting a pumpkin patch.
And with a pumpkin patch to distract, and maybe even a few more spur of the moment crape myrtles ordered and in need of planting, you can see how well the mulch is reducing my workload this summer. Tomorrow marks one week of it sitting in the driveway and all I did yesterday was buy another bromeliad, and all I did today was repot a begonia. I guess I’ll have to get back at it tomorrow. Or not. There are just a few more snowdrops to attend to before I can mulch, and snowdrops can’t be rushed. It will all be worth it though, no more weeding and I’ll finally be on easy street… right?
Oh those lazy days of summer. I hope you’re enjoying them as well!
sorta like suburbia 
I have some Cyclamen purpurascens. I should go check to see if they’re blooming.
They should at least think be thinking about putting up leaves!
Gardening is work and that is why only crazies like us do it and even LIKE it. I keep claiming it is good for my health… so what if I drop dead from heat exhaustion? 🥵
I guess sometimes I like it… and good for your health? Maybe that as well but I’m also keeping the heat exhaustion exclusion open! -although next week seems more reasonable
How could such an experienced person forget the cardinal rule, there is no project, no matter how small nor how efficiently undertaken, that does not generate three other projects logarithmically more complicated and time-consuming?
Yes, but the idiot in me keeps thinking this time will be different!
I was actually astonished this weekend when I decided to refinish a table top and all that was involved was finding a solution in the garage to dissolve the finish, picking up a scrapper to scrape it down, grabbing the sander to sand it and then opening the container of varnish to put a new coat on it. The table was back inside by nightfall and there wasn’t a single hardware store run or search for neosporin and bandages.
There’s always work to be done and, sure, we’ll get to it at some stage! I’m with you on Cyclamen purpurascens, an excellent plant and now seeding about gently for me here in southeast Ireland, home to the man who must cut grass, edge lawns, add all to the compost bin, take out the now too old Broad beans, cut down the foliage of the potatoes as they got blight in the last few days and I have a few snowdrops to plant as well – ‘Standing Tall’, that fine American cultivar which I have admired for some years and am now looking forward to growing here.
Oh no do you make a list? I prefer the excitement of not knowing what any given day will bring until I wander into the next job! -but that also explains why the tomatoes have splayed out into a wide mess and the weeds in the daffodil bed are nearly as tall as I am.
Good luck with ‘Standing Tall’! I have yet to make it happy here although it does do very well for friends. Snowdrop planting doesn’t need a place on the list, it’s always more of a treat to get a new one in the ground… and if it isn’t held against me there might be an admission that three new drops are waiting for a spot 🙂
Lists? Occasionally only! There’s always something to be done but most of it is routine so reminders are unnecessary. New snowdrops – very nice! I haven’t added any/very many this year, just a few from friends. Grass to be cut this morning!!!
A friend just sent off a small box today and I am quite excited. There are plenty of nice ones here already but a few more never hurts!
We’ve grown snowdrops for over 30 years and, really, have enough. An odd new introduction attracts me but I place more value on those which come as gifts from kind friends.
Ha ha ha, that list of things to do never seems to get shorter, does it?
Even in the middle of winter new things keep adding on!
Haha. Funny how one project seems to lead to another…. and another… and you end up with twice as much work as before! Still, you might get a Halloween pumpkin. 😃 I love that bright crape myrtle… I have never seen any here in Bavaria. Maybe too cold and damp in winter? Good luck with keeping them over winter – I am not tempted to try zone pushing myself as it would be just my luck that we would get a hard winter then! LOL!
We have really had a string of mild winters, each one weaker than the last, and it is such a difference from when we were locked in the deep freeze for weeks on end. I don’t think you’ve seen anything as extreme?
Perhaps people here are more willing to experiment since I’ve heard more than one story of a trip South to the beach and then a crape myrtle came home with them. They do well down there and it’s easy to find them, so why not bring one home!
We have had winters where it is below freezing for weeks at a time. The coldest I have ever seen was -23°C with a daytime high of -18°C!
Maybe later on you’ll be glad of it (the work?). Or not. I’m having a furious month trying to get the garden under control and I’ve decided that it’s good I have such a big garden because, at 67, I would be in danger of never taking exercise because I’m very happy sitting on my bottom and either painting or reading. I so wish I could grow crape myrtle here (or anything else for that matter!!!). I have one in a small pot. It’s been the same size for three years. Something in the water? Something in the place? (Something in the gardener?). Anyway – lovely to see the garden looking so lush in August and hoping that when you get all that lovely mulch spread you’ll feel it’s been worth it!
Hi Cathy, always nice to see you on because hopefully that means a post! The mulch is down and I am a little happy to be done with it at least. I’m sure in a few months I’ll be more grateful when there are less winter weeds coming up in the mulched areas, but for now I’m tempted to just sit around. We’re in the midst of rolling rain fronts the past three days, and tomorrow promises an all day washout as a tropical storm moves through. I think we have had three inches so far with at least that much again tomorrow…
Oh my gosh, if it weren’t for this garden I would surely look a lot different! I am NOT one to enjoy a visit to the gym.
That’s surprising the crape myrtle isn’t thrilled by your care, I’d think a hot, dry spot would make it happy enough but who knows with some of these plants. I would get angry with it and stuff it in an out of the way spot and use the pot for something more appreciative! I just had to do that with a lazy caladium 😉
I’m wondering about planting it and leaving it to sink or swim. But our winters are cold. It would be like leaving a baby on the side of a hill. Glad to hear the mulch is in place – hopefully it will live up to expectations!