Can This Garden Be Saved?

I may just have to stop traveling south to the land of azaleas and camellias. It pains me to see a garden that was so magical for me as a child go bad. The maintenance gardener in me knows that with some routine effort all could be well. The trouble is the needed effort is hard to come by and there are not enough funds to purchase it in sufficient quantities.



This is just one of the problems in an old garden trying to go bad. There is an azalea beneath this potato vine. The potato vine has run amuck with a host of other vines and pernicious weeds. If only the weeds were pulled and the vines were cut on a routine basis, an old garden would see life anew.



You know I couldn't help myself. I pulled some weeds and cut some vines. It amounts to a single drop in a giant bucket.

I just may have to stop traveling south to the land of azaleas and camellias. It pains me to see a garden that was so magical for me as a child go bad. My maintenance gardener self is on edge.



I planted camellias in a new garden further north. I am pushing it zone wise. They are the newer cold hardy type, but I have pushed it to the edge of this breeding expansion. Maybe they will survive, maybe they won't.



If they live I can plant more. More is good. Then I won't need to worry about missing any camellias further south. The camellias my grandmother planted in a magical garden will fade to a fond memory. Her garden may disappear, but the gardener lives on in me.



It would be nice if the garden could hang on for another ten or twenty years. I would do it if I could.



My grandmother's garden needs a gardening angel right now.



Anything is possible. Decline is also inevitable and unavoidable and can only be held at bay with effort.