It's time to read and vote for your favorite article in the 2013 Write-Off Contest! The four finalist's articles are featured in the May 13 newsletter and can be found through this link. Hurry! Voting ends May 18.
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We have got to be soul twins. Except I had 2 daughters,now grown and now have 2 grandsons and one great grandson.
I still garden( mostly in large flowerpots) My Crocus are in bloom now.
Love your article.
Vickie
Angela--So well and thoughtfully written. You are quite the writer!
I know much soul-searching went into your article. Perhaps--even a tear or two.
Yes--it is moving and I found much similarity to how you describe your garden--and mine.
Especially the comment that close-up photos make it look like your garden is one of a kind.
It is how we want others to look at it...or think how it looks if they were here.
I am itching to get out there and see what i can do--but patience is a virtue--if you are a gardener.
Gita, sometimes it is those "single bloom" pictures that keep me going! My garden may not be what I want overall, but I wouldn't want to miss out on a single one of those blossoms. I got a little excited (and then worried) when I poked around in one of my beds and found hyacinths and crocuses starting to push their way through. Spring is on its way!
Vickie and Carrie, thank you! I hope that beginners don't come to DG and get intimidated! Hopefully they get inspired instead, and maybe if they get discouraged, they'll stumble across my article and decide it is worth it to persist, despite the frustrations!
Love your article. Your garden and habits sound like mine. I get great close ups too. Have lots of gardening books and buy the same way you do. I always make room for more plants. I start alot of my stuff from seed, keeps me busy in the winter looking for seeds, planning out what I need for my summer colour. Lots of annuals, zinnia, nicotiana, marigolds, not those little polite ones either, I love the big bold in your face flowers, they look great from the moment they peek out of the soil at me. I am even going to try dahlias from seed this year, supposed to bloom first summer and are not more than 24" which hopefully won't need to be staked!!
Am waiting to see some of these:
I bet the Dahlias you are referring to (growing from seed) are the Dwarf, border Dahlias.
They make a nice, round, compact plant about 12"-14" tall. They can add nice color to borders.
If you dig them up, you will see that they have started making small bunches of Dahlia tubers.
Keep them dry and dormant over the winter--re-plant them in the spring.
Each year, as you dig them up, the tubers will have increased in size.
Thank you for the article!! I garden very much like you. I tried a plan when I first moved to the house 6 years ago. I'd dig a few beds, plant the flowers, shrubs, grasses according to my plan and ~80% of them died. Now I peruse the catalogs, online, all nurseries and big box stores for what seems to fit into my basic theme. What I end up with is a mess and for awhile I would stress that it isn't picture perfect like my next door neighbors lawn but I do notice that when the alliums, clematis, daylilies, iris, etc are in bloom the walkers slow their step. Isn't that nice? Plus I will completely lose track of time watching a hummingbird on a cardinal flower. And seeing plants come out of the soil in spring is the absolute best part for me -- even better than the flowers -- because it means the plant made it through and has come back for more.
Another kindred spirit here. When I first started my garden, it was quite beautiful & picturesque, but with the years has become more cottagesque (new word : o). There are a few weeks during the growing season that I can take a full-garden shot, but, most of the year, its strictly close-ups. I plant perenials, self re-seeders,bulbs,bushes, & anything else I can get my hands on- particularly flowers not often seen- spider plants, canterbury bells, foxgloves, etc.
Good luck to you all !
I think not one person has a perfect photograph-worthy garden consistently. My "annex" is where my husband plants everything he buys; sometimes one lonely half-price dahlia and sometimes plants I've evicted from the back patio. It looks ok now, like a wildflower mini-meadow. Another spot where he built me a retaining wall, the fence has rotted totally away and the retained part totally collapsed, mushing what few plants were still there together. Sigh. When we moved in 20 yrs ago, the lawn was the entire property and now we have a few square feet left.
