Nov. 5, 2005:Planted 100 Queen of Sheba Tulips.
Can we have them bloom along with the native columbines and red-orange oriental poppies?
Dreaming dreams, I guess...
And, wouldn’t it be nice to move the little yellow and orange leaved spirea to that area! We shall see… come spring!
For the rest of the story, read on...
Spring, 2006:The reality is... the spirea never got moved to the different location, the tulips bloomed earlier than the columbines and poppies - which did a fair job of overlapping their bloom times. See photo below. So much for daydreams.
But, don’t you think perhaps, with another year behind them and their settling in, they might sing their chorus of spring together in harmony NEXT spring?
Yes, right… dream on, oh gardener!
Spring 2008 - Time Is Moving On
Last year we moved two portions of the little shrub to the Queen of Sheba's area. The shrub is a small one that never gets very tall. The mature shrub size can be seen in the photos. Two little low branches had touched earth and rooted. Those are the ones we transplanted.
In the photo second from the top you can see its spring color. I think it is Goldflame spirea. The new spring growth is that yellow & orange color. Notice the tulip peeking through. That is one of (previous owner) Mary's old bulbs that keeps coming back year after year (and we have been here since 1989). She must have planted them around the shrub when it was new. This shrub turns green later; actually, it turns different colors and shades and tints during the growing season. I should do a through-the-year post on the little fellow. Its autumn color is the most beautiful.
The transplants are not very large this spring. A drought set in as soon as they were moved. I tried to keep them watered, but I do work with a very skippy memory. I think they are still alive, but nothing worth taking snapshots of this spring. At least they were finally moved.
I may never get it all together. Tune in next year for the rest of the story.
Spring Foliage
12 comments:
Perhaps not what you had planned, but still very very lovely!
Plans always seem to fall to the wayside some how .. but this is gorgeous all the same !
Joy
What everybody else said, Barbee'! How lovely!
It does seem everything I plan does not do so well. All the other plants ignore me and go about their own way, perking along just fine without me. "Who is she? What's she doing in our space?" I try to be the one in control, but you see how it is. Thank you for the encouragement.
I just planted a Goldflame! I love the spireas as they are easy. Yes, very easy.
I see you are in Lexington? A few hours from me in the Clarksville area, but I am PLEASED to meet you. I have added you to my sidebar. Had to put a thingy in there for Tennessee and now Kentucky bloggers since we are fairly close. I think you are the only other KY blogger I have seen? Not sure.
Don't you know, Mother Nature always controls us? :)
The playing around and experimenting is half the fun. Then, the waiting to see how it comes together. I love your woodland garden, the combinations are great. I'm trying to develop a woodland garden on a smaller scale.
I'm laughing out loud at the notion of being in control Barbee :)
I'm probably not the only gardener who often feels like "the garden slave" :)
However, it's a labor of love, isn't it?
Your garden is very beautiful, planned or not!
Don´t worry too much, gardening (life?) is a Sisyphean task , I don´t think it is possible to realize all your plans, at least you do have some for your garden. Your garden looks beautiful ,it has that certain touch of manmade intended wilderness I love. And I keep it with Karl Foerster, a famous german perennials´gardener, who said: "Wer mit seinem Garten schon zufrieden ist, verdient ihn nicht". "The gardeners that are happy with their gardens don´t deserve them" ;-)
Enjoyed your blog...took the tour...beautiful land! Looks huge! How many acres?
Hi Tina, see comment I left on your blog.
Northern Shade: Yes, I saw that on your blog. You did a lot of work there. By August it was looking lush.
Hi Kerri, don't get strangled on your coffee :) laughing at me.
Bless you, Sisah, for your kind, thoughtful comments. I think the naturalistic style is much more difficult than most people realize. Sisyphean? Yes, but I would love to work this garden throughout eternity, that would be heaven for me. I had never read the Foerster quote and it is a very good one to remember, perfect for this moment. Thank you.
Lin, Hi, thanks for visiting. We have a little over one acre - I think. The deed says one acre. But, I know they survey on a horizontal plane and believe me, this is no flat horizontal plane. Therefore, I think it is a bit more than an acre, but we must remember the house sits on part of that, so maybe it is an acre to garden and mow. Did you see my post "Student Helpers"? It tells of the different sections of the garden.
When you said you took the tour, I'm wondering if you took the tour on my web site. Or, did you mean reading on this blog? Not every one finds the tour on the web site, it was a fun thing I did for those who really read it - not everyone has time to read that much, though.
I love the unexpected. When we plant we have a vision but the plants do not know that! Lovely, wonderful gardens.
Titania, how fun to hear from you! In this one, the unexpected is often more charming than the original plan. I am so lucky! Thank you for your kind words.
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