Cait's Garden

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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!

If you’re like me, you have a garage full of garden gadgets for pulling weeds. We’ve come a long way since the day of the 3-pronged metal claw. Three tools have become my go-to tools for weeding and cultivating: the soil knife, the “Cobrahead,” and the “Circle Hoe.” The soil knife is what it sounds like. A thick, serrated steel knife that looks like a Medieval weapon. Mine was made in Italy and has its own leather holster. It’s great for slicing out weeds in narrow places and for dividing small plants. I am also covered if assassins should try to sneak up on me while I’m gardening. I feel quite bad-ass when I use it. The Cobrahead is a long curved hook with a flat, knife-edged oval at the tip. It digs out deep-rooted weeds with ease and breaks up tough soil, too. It is scary sharp. And finally, the Circle Hoe (which is just fun to say) is a little open circle of steel with a knife-edge at the bottom. It is available with three choices of handle-length, depending on whether you want to use it as a hand tool or while standing up. I find the long handle is most useful. If you want to weed your entire garden quickly without having to get on your knees, this hoe cuts through them like butter and loosens up the soil, too. I ordered all these tools online and they are quite affordable. No doubt they have made weeding easier…and more amusing!

Welcome to my blog! I decided to start this blog while hoeing my vegetable garden the other day. After three hours in the sun with a hoe, the mind starts to wander. And it wandered to a place where I have an outlet for all my hard-won knowledge and enthusiasm for backyard gardening. I am a flower addict. I have never met a perennial I didn’t like and want. When I moved in to my house from an apartment, there were no flowers in the backyard and I wasn’t even aware I liked gardening. Seven years later, there is no doubt I am a gardener.  I have more than 100 different kinds of perennials in my yard, as well as dozens of shrubs, and yes, the aforementioned tiny veggie patch. I have had many triumphs and more than a few failures. Perhaps some of you will nod knowingly as I relate these stories. Perhaps you might even get an idea or two from what I have learned. The growing season in Northwest Illinois is just beginning and I hope to keep blogging as the summer unfolds. Welcome and thanks for visiting!