June 28, 2013

The Flower Garden

Last Saturday I looked at my flower garden and couldn’t stand it anymore. So I spent an afternoon weathering bouts of searing sunshine and misty rain to dig out almost every plant within it and move them all around.
When I inherited the garden last spring, it took some time just to clear out all the plants that didn’t belong in it. I’m not sure how many years it had been left to run wild, but it was overgrown with weeds and had a short row of cedar trees in it I didn’t care for. Half of the garden had been in shade, but now it’s all in complete sunshine all day long, so some plants simply haven’t made the transition.
I took what was left and moved them into more pleasing positions, then realized what the overall problem was. Almost every one of them is of medium height, making for a rather uniform – and boring – garden. Now I need to go buy short plants and tall, spiky plants. My dahlias coming in will at least help fit the latter bill, but I really should run out and get a ton of annuals.
But here’s the problem. In a matter of weeks I’ll be heading out to New York for most of the summer. Do I plant flowers that will be gone by the time I’m home? Or just leave it for next year?