I have certainly been making progress over the last eight years. Routine maintenance chores that had not been getting done are more likely to happen now.
The dead are removed. The fallen gets picked up. I have even made some executive decisions and eliminated some things I don't like such as wild rose, some barberry, a bittersweet vine and now the Silver Lamium.
Bulbarella follows behind filling in the space I clear. The garden is getting fuller with cultivated things.
My goal this year is to get ahead of the annual crop of weeds so that the garden looks tended for the entire season. It is quite possible the ridge top garden next door is very very close to a level of manicured that will satisfy my maintenance gardener self.
We shall see. I had a full day of editing. It is much easier to feel satisfied before the Lush explodes.
I did get my inversion last night. It was twenty eight when I woke up. The freezing was kept to a minimum. That is much better than twenty two. The cold damage didn't look much worse than it did yesterday. All the Japanese Maples looked pretty good and they are wimps when it comes to late freezes.
Can you believe I try to maintain three acres of wild ground in my spare time? Expanding the gardens would be insane. That's why I need to do it now before my decrepitude ensues.
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7 comments:
I can't believe Decrepitude will ever stop you.
I doubt anything will stop you. I need some of your motivation.
I don't think I will ever stop. I just may slow way down.
Decrepitude happens when you least expect it. When I came to see your garden (how many seasons ago now?) I had a then-undiagnosed heart condition that kept me from seeing any other gardens, even your mother's. But it was yours I wanted to see most. I bounced back from the heart issue, although it has slowed me down. This past December I had a hip replacement, timed so I would be up and around by spring. I am, but I'm slower still.
So yes, planning ahead is wise. My son was helping with something yesterday and said I should learn to do whatever it was myself. I told him I was getting all the use out of him I could before he leaves the nest. I didn't tell him I was planning ahead for the days when he won't be here, and I can't do the rest. He's laying the foundations for my old age.
I have the strong sense of time slipping away when I think like that. So I try not to think...too much.
I remember meeting you Carol. I was impressed you came all the way from Kentucky for the garden tour. To come just to see my garden, wow. I hope you felt it was worth it. If you are up to it and ever want to come back just holler. I think mid-June when the garden tour is is our most plain green month during the time of vegetation. May with the rhododendron and late summer are much more colorful.
What I aim for is a period of time while I have the energy to have the garden look well maintained and filled with the more cultivated things. In my decrepitude I hope being retired, simple editing will suffice to keep it looking nice for a while.
It was very much worth the trip. I would probably have enjoyed the other gardens--and not gotten lost if I'd have followed the 'tour' and not gone renegade for the mountains--but yours was the one that most closely resembles not only what I have physically (vertical, a utility cut, invasive species) but also in the way you inhabit that space, the ethos you have as a caretaker for that land. I hope to have that here someday.
And I hope to have your mother's fortitude and stamina and plant daffodil bulbs for as long as I can.
And yes, I would love to come see the rhododendron. I so want to introduce native species here and cover the visible areas with variety and color.
And...and...you were right. My native asters did seed. There are little babies popping up beneath the parent plant. That's one of the most gratifying things to see: something I love replicating.
Ha. Getting lost in the mountains certainly makes it worth the trip. You would mot be the first to get lost in my neck of the woods. If you miss that turn at Ferguson General Store things can go horribly wrong.
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