A 'lawn' full of flowers
4:39 PM Thu, May 17, 2007 | Permalink
Email
 |
 |
Projo Garden Blog |
|
« Who else has sick-looking rhododendrons? |
Main
| Weekend plant sales: There's always room for one more »
Last summer In the beginning – I knew nothing of gardening or planting. I could not really differentiate weeds from flowering plants. I was not sure which end was supposed to be up when planting tulip bulbs, iris rhizomes, dahlia roots, lilies, etc. Many flowering plants died on me – too much or not enough water or, perhaps, too-strong fertilizer. I never tested the soil. Reading instructions and following directions from garden books never came easy to me. Trial and error, instinct, perseverance and a little bit of luck helped me through the years. This is my 20th year and I’m still learning. From the beginning, I knew I wanted no grass; thus the lawn, front and back, was replaced by soil. There are certain trees and shrubs I have always loved and must have. They were wisteria, Japanese weeping cherry, lilac, dogwood, rhododendrons, azaleas and bamboos. Some of these became so invasive, especially bamboo and wisteria, and the attempt to keep them manageable seemed endless. Next – planting flowers. At the beginning, I did not know perennials from annuals. I was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand and in that part of the world, everything is perennial. I bought my plants from different nurseries, all over the state, made some friends along the way and got different tips here and there. If something died, I replaced it and I seemed to be constantly planting something. I learned to ‘"deadhead" -- remove faded blooms -- and trim and prune and enrich the soil. One can never spend enough time in the garden! A rainy day gives me a rest; but plants, like all of us, need a lot of sunshine. 
CommentsLeave a comment |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
New comments
New photos
Authors
New posts
Projo blogs
Archives
I have been hoping one day to see what your yard looked like, ever since I noticed all your photos of wonderful flowers in the gardening slide show.
How about more photos? More views? The back yard? A sketch with notes about which flowers are where? More detail, more info, this calls out for a big article or a book.
(What do things look like in winter?)
Report Abuse
Pat, I have always been a fan of your garden. What do you do to prepare the soil and when?
Report Abuse