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elizillaIn early spring, I made an impulse buy at Costco. Spring bulbs. I bought three bags of different things. We planted them all, but only the gladiolas came up. The dutch iris haven't sprouted at all, and neither have the things with the pink and white leaves whose names I cannot remember. I guess if they don't come up we don't need to know their names. Also, if they don't come up the deer won't eat them. :)
(Edited to add: I went looking and the name I forgot is caladium. I think if I want pink and white leaves in the garden next year I should just get a tray of coleus annuals. No more expensive and perhaps less fussy.)
We planted a lot of locally-sourced perennials last summer, kind of late in the year. Not very many of them made it either.
Almost all the things we ordered from the garden catalogs, are doing great. Maybe it's because I tend to research them more carefully before ordering, and the orders get shipped at the right time for planting, with careful descriptions of what to do. They don't usually look very promising when they come in a box on the UPS truck, but they perk up and do well later. Whereas things bought locally tend to be chosen on impulse with a lot less information, and planted more haphazardly. Choosing things that are tempting there because they're already in bloom, offers short term satisfaction but doesn't work as well as a long term strategy.
The hanging baskets are lovely but man do they require a lot of attention! We were out of town for four days and the two on our porch wilted to the point that I thought one of them wasn't going to make it. But we came home and gave it a drink, in time, and it is recovering. The town we were vacationing in (Marietta OH) had hanging baskets on the lamp posts, hundreds of them. It has to be a full time job just going around town watering the darn things.
The distressed tree is still distressed. Or maybe it's really dead this time. Last year it leafed out in late summer, and maybe it'll do that again this year. But frankly a tree that doesn't leaf out until late, and then the leaves turn brown at the first frost but stay attached until the new leaves arrive, is a tree that's hideous almost all year round. I'm going to try for a replacement next winter when they send out the applications for new street trees. Some other kind of tree.
(Edited to add: I went looking and the name I forgot is caladium. I think if I want pink and white leaves in the garden next year I should just get a tray of coleus annuals. No more expensive and perhaps less fussy.)
We planted a lot of locally-sourced perennials last summer, kind of late in the year. Not very many of them made it either.
Almost all the things we ordered from the garden catalogs, are doing great. Maybe it's because I tend to research them more carefully before ordering, and the orders get shipped at the right time for planting, with careful descriptions of what to do. They don't usually look very promising when they come in a box on the UPS truck, but they perk up and do well later. Whereas things bought locally tend to be chosen on impulse with a lot less information, and planted more haphazardly. Choosing things that are tempting there because they're already in bloom, offers short term satisfaction but doesn't work as well as a long term strategy.
The hanging baskets are lovely but man do they require a lot of attention! We were out of town for four days and the two on our porch wilted to the point that I thought one of them wasn't going to make it. But we came home and gave it a drink, in time, and it is recovering. The town we were vacationing in (Marietta OH) had hanging baskets on the lamp posts, hundreds of them. It has to be a full time job just going around town watering the darn things.
The distressed tree is still distressed. Or maybe it's really dead this time. Last year it leafed out in late summer, and maybe it'll do that again this year. But frankly a tree that doesn't leaf out until late, and then the leaves turn brown at the first frost but stay attached until the new leaves arrive, is a tree that's hideous almost all year round. I'm going to try for a replacement next winter when they send out the applications for new street trees. Some other kind of tree.
