Cait's Garden

Ah, Catmint. How do I love thee, let me count the ways…. If I could have just one perennial in my yard, Nepeta “Walker’s Low” might be it. It forms perfect mounds of fragrant, silvery green foliage topped by plentiful lavender flowers. Deadhead after the long bloom cycle and it will flower till frost. They love sun but do fine in part-shade, they are not fussy about water, they don’t get diseases, you can divide them easily, and they are very hardy.  Just note that not all varieties of Nepeta bloom all season long.  Look for “Walker’s Low”  for repeat blooms and outstanding foliage.

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I had to dump out the contents of my rain gauge this morning because although it holds 5 inches of rain, it was nearly full. This is not a typical rainfall for our area, but it does happen. Sometimes in May, sometimes in August. Droughts and floods around here are quite unpredictable. We’ve had hot dry April’s and cold rainy July’s. That is why reading your plant labels before you buy plants is more important than ever. Drought resistant plants are all the rage, especially with the new interest in native plants. But make sure those plants are also moisture tolerant. A plant that loves it dry all summer will not be happy with our occasional month-long rainy spells. Likewise, a plant that requires constant moisture needs a great deal of babysitting through drought season. The key is to pick plants that are survivors, no matter the weather extremes…because we live in Illinois and things get crazy here!

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Centranthus ruber ‘Pretty Betsy’  is an old-fashioned plant that is difficult to find in stores, so grab it when you see it.  The particulars: Hardy to Zone 4, 2-3 feet tall and wide, lovely branching form with bluish-green oblong leaves, cherry red flowers from May through August (which are more plentiful if you deadhead regularly), good for cut flowers. It spreads from seed, but not aggressively. In fact, I’m going to skip deadheading this year to see if I can make more of this great plant to share!

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With garden success comes garden failure. I keep a list of  my current plants, as well as all those that didn’t make it. To be a  carefree gardener, one must learn to avoid the temperamental plant. My soil isn’t the greatest, temps and rainfall around here are unpredictable, and I don’t want to babysit my plants. (I mean you, Delphinium!) There are a few flowers that I’m willing to replace as many times as it takes to keep one alive, like lavender…which I finally found the right spot  for on the fifth try… and buddleia, for all those butterflies. With other plants, one strike and you’re out. I feel the same way about shrubs, which can be temperamental, too. You can research a shrub well, put it in the supposedly right spot, and still get a poor showing due to bad weather conditions, an ambitious chipmunk den under the roots, or some mystery you can’t solve. Those little plant tags are not crystal balls. In general, learning what works in your garden can be a painful process, and you can’t take it personally. We are working with living things and there is always a chance for the unexpected, good and bad. The trick is move on, learn what we can, and keep a sense of humor.

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You can’t get everything right in the garden the first time. Spring is a great time of year to fix mistakes in placement. Have a plant that’s taking over? Divide it. Fail to read that plant tag carefully and now have a 3-foot plant at the edge of your border amongst the short flowers? Move it! I’ve moved plants throughout the season, but now is the best and easiest time to reset your garden plan for the summer and fix those bloopers.

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My garden is a critter-friendly zone. We have the fattest squirrels you’ve ever seen (because we feed them), a large network of chipmunks, several possums, a groundhog, a few moles living under the compost pile, the occasional raccoon and skunk, and every now and then, a coyote. So far, my garden has survived just fine and we enjoy watching the critters. Rabbits (like the little cuties shown in the photo, courtesy of my mom’s yard) would probably cause me some angst with their eating habits, but all the roving outdoor cats on my block have made this a rabbit-free zone. I don’t condone letting cats roam outdoors, but I admit to being glad I don’t have to worry about bunnies nibbling on my flowers. My mother has made peace with them. She figures she has so many flowers, she can afford to sacrifice a few. A good attitude! And a necessary one if you live in a bunny-friendly yard like hers.

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I am a sucker for hydrangeas. A shrub covered in huge flowers for months? What’s not to love. In my yard I have Limelight, Pinky Winky, and of course, my old-fashioned favorite, Annabelle Hydrangea. But this year, there is a new Annabelle on the market, “Invincibelle® Spirit” from Proven Winners (shown in photo). Like the traditional white-flowered Annabelle, Invicibelle produces huge blooms, but the new twist is…it’s pink! Same great shrub, but a new color and, they say, even bigger flowers and stronger stems. Just planted my new little ‘belle last week. We’ll see how it performs this summer!

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While I admire the self-control required by gardeners who stick to a limited color scheme, I will never be one of them. Life is short, my garden is too small, and there is no way I am going to deprive myself of any flower in the rainbow. My garden started with lots of purple (my favorite), pink, and yellow. After awhile, I decided it needed some refreshing punches of white. And then I searched for a few exciting (and more rare to find) pops of red and orange. Red from plants like Red Valerian, “Fire Star” Dianthus, “Colrain Red” Monarda, and a Red Pincushion Plant called “Mars Midget.” I recently bought a Red Volcano Phlox, too. Orange by way of various coneflowers, Butterfly Weed (shown in the photo), and the adorable Orange Pixie Lily. I have even mixed in plants with silver leaves just fine. There is no such thing, in my eyes, as plants that don’t match. A rainbow matches everything!

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April is an exciting month for gardeners. For me, perhaps too much so. I get overzealous with my need to putter in the garden, and since the plants are too small to do anything much, I figure it’s a good time to weed. Trouble is, it’s easy to forget those new plants I put in last summer. I find myself staring at little leaves wondering what the heck that plant is. Is it a weed? I’ve made the wrong assumption a few times. Thank goodness I didn’t pull out all the roots of my dwarf purple balloon flower this year and the plant grew back.  Mea culpa. I renew my vow not to pull up anything unless it’s obviously dandelion or clover until well into May.

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I’m a fan of plants doing what they do naturally. And no shrub grows by itself into a square shape. It drives me especially nuts to see people trimming spring-flowering shrubs into unattractive, generic squares.  It takes away all the draping beauty of their natural shape. Even worse, many people trim them at the wrong time and ensure there will be no flowers coming out of those shrubs any time soon. One of the first things I learned when I acquired my lilac bushes was when to trim them…right after they bloom. Any earlier or later and I won’t be enjoying any flowers the next season. My advice to anyone contemplating taking a hedge trimmer to a flowering shrub: read up on it before you touch it. Or better yet, don’t touch it at all!  The shrub shown in the photo above is called a Bridal Wreath or Bridal Veil Spirea, due to the draping branches and white flowers. Can you imagine trimming this into a square? Not on my watch!

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