Of Cats and Cardstock: Spring Gardening

19 May 2019

Spring Gardening

It's been a weird spring: Very chilly and slow to start. Some parts of our state have had extreme rainfall resulting in catastrophic floods. I'm very grateful that, although we've had our share of rain where I live, it hasn't been excessive.

Because of the cool, wet conditions, I hadn't even felt like venturing out to the greenhouses until this past week to start thinking about my gardening. It's hard NOT to get inspired when you see all this beauty!

We are lucky to have many wonderful greenhouses in this area, just a short drive from me. There's no shortage of plants to choose from, but you do have to be sure to get there before Mother's Day to find exactly what you're looking for. Since I only had a vague idea of what I needed, I did just fine. 😊

So in the coming days, I thought I'd share some of the gardening projects I've been working on, starting with the skinny garden behind our garage.

When I had the gardens re-planted two years ago, I had a feeling I wasn't going to like this particular area. But this is what it looked like before we started (YIKES) so there was really nowhere to go but up! LOL

I didn't love the plans that I had drawn up for this garden, but I decided to trust the professionals and see how things went. Obviously, clearing it out made a big difference. We added a peony at the right (which is beautiful, BTW). We thinned and moved the cranesbill geraniums to the front. That also helped the overall appearance.

Then trouble ensued. LOL The back of the bed was planted with Asiatic lilies which I love but before I realized it, the guys had put them in a very straight line rather than in more natural looking clusters. I knew right away that wasn't going to work for me, but I decided to see how things shaped up over the summer, knowing that they have a tendency to spread anyway. The planting was done so late in the season that they didn't bloom so I had to wait until the following season to assess things.

Last summer, the lilies came up just fine but as they started to grow, they leaned WAY forward toward the sidewalk and eventually were lying flat on the ground seeking the sun. Obviously the overhang on the garage was providing way more shade than they like. The garden guy suggested that I could tie them to the fence then move them in the fall.

Strapping them to the fence made the poor things looked like they were being held hostage. It was NOT A GOOD LOOK! In addition to that problem, I didn't like having them all lined up straight across the back of that narrow strip. So in the fall, I dug them up and moved them to the side of the house, not far from my grandma's tiger lilies which need a similar amount of sun.

I was pleased to see that they all came up this spring! You can see them in the photo below, just to the right of the coral bells. They are leaning slightly but not nearly as much as before. They look like they're going to do just fine in their new location!

So back to the skinny bed. After moving the lilies, it was looking quite bleak!

The garden guy suggested trying astilbe in that spot because they have a more upright habit. I've had good luck with them, so I ended up buying three plus two Jacob's ladder plants for a little more variety. Once I put them in and mulched the area, it already looked much better.