Sow In Hope

There is a Bible verse that mentions “sowing in hope”, and isn’t that the way of the gardener? It isn’t that we don’t try to hedge the odds as much as possible through planting according to our best information… we just like to gamble a little because you never know when sowing in hope leads to reaping good reward. So that is what I call my recent foray to the nurseries to buy off season sales.

I’ll tell you what encouraged me to intrepidly step out and spend (pry) the hard cold cash out of my hands for the off-chance that the plants would make it through another two months of possibly droughty weather: we had rain. Yes, we have had enough blessed rain to not fully break the drought, but make a big difference in the plants. So for the new trellis area I bought some ‘Winter Gem’ boxwood. Now that right there is the gambler’s throw of the dice. Although they say it is the hardiest of the boxwoods and I am going to plant it on the east side which is most protected; still, one winter like the last and it will go the way of the chestnut trees and roses that I lost to zone 4 winters in this zone 5 designation. But I’m chancing it anyway because I like the look of boxwood and it grows in some of the public show gardens in the Columbus area. We’ll see.

Also purchased some ‘Rosy Glow’ barberry– which I know will grow with no problem: a safe bet. I’m going to put it out by the ‘Prairie Fire’ crabapple trees, which are in proximity to the Diablo ninebark bushes. This all sounds very dark, but is sparked by variegated sedum and soothed by gray leaved lavender and creeping juniper. The year I planted a stand of bright zinnias in the middle was outstanding and I think I will do that next garden season ( 2008). God Willing. I also bought some grasses (finally) and some more Russian sage, which I am thinking about mixing into that area, but I’m not quite sure how I want to do that, or if I want the new plants in another area and add some into that outer reach of the hose later this year. (Then I could frugally take starts off the new plants, provided they survive the next two months.)

We bought more mulch, so I’ve been putting that down, and the yard is looking very much better – so long as I keep my eyes averted from my former front border. I need to resume work on that. I did prune away most of the deadwood from the frost damaged bushes. The Shasta viburnums took the hardest hit it turns out. The Burkwoodii viburnums were hurt, but recovered most of their strength with less dieback. The purple leaf sand cherry didn’t show it at first, but it was very badly damaged and I have to prune it down, still… just haven’t gotten to that part of the garden yet. I taking renovation in installments so as to get portions of the yard to manageable state of order. Which reminds me, the lavender walk is starting to look decent- I will be able to take pictures soon.

All in all I feel very hopeful and happy about the renewal of my garden. Which is a big improvement in my outlook:)

Technorati Tags: Winter Gem boxwood, summer planting,Rosy Glow barberry