garden lessons: flexibility

If you want to have a plant oriented garden like I do, and especially if you want a garden that is focused of flowers, you have to learn to be flexible. I'm not sure if this is as true in other parts of the country, but it certainly is true here in New Mexico. We had an unusually large amount of precipitation the winter of 2018-2019 and despite this, or perhaps because of this, a large number of plants have died this summer. Strangely, a lot of them didn't die in the spring, when you would have expected a winter rot to show its damage, but in the summer, after a couple of months of drying out. I have to admit that I still have a lot of learning to do, in terms of flexibility, because these changes in my garden have led to a certain amount of depression on my part.

One of the biggest issues I have to deal with is the death of many of my lavenders. Some lavenders have been there for years and have been fine. Others suddenly wilt and turn crispy. Almost none of my newly planted lavenders have survived. I grew this one from seed, and it was growing quite well until I noticed today that it is wilted. Soil is moist (but not soggy) and we just had a rain, so I know it is a goner.

It's sister plant that I grew from seed is slightly yellow today, a sign that it will soon join its sibling. So what to do in those spots? To try again (and again) or to try something else?

Here, the empty spot to the left is where I removed the Salvia transylvannica, which although growing strongly, really wasn't very impressive, and self seeded with abandon. There was one tiny sprig left, which you can see in the center right of the photo. I planted  the space with a purchased lavender, which grew strongly for a month, and then one day it was dead. Yes, I check my plants daily. You can see the lavender in the upper left which is mostly dead. I had just cut out most of the dead stems. Not much left. One option is to let the Salvia transylvannica re-inhabit the spot. But I removed it because it looked rather weedy. Decisions, decisions.

Here, one of my beloved Acantholimon halophylum plants suddenly died this summer, after having a glorious spring. I've left all the spent flowers on the ground hoping that seedling will come up. I'll have to remove this one and figure out what to do.

Some surprises are rather happy ones. This clematis suddenly collapsed this summer, right in the middle of peak bloom. Leaves turned crispy all the way to the ground. I decided that I would replace it with a honeysuckle, but to my surprise new shoots appeared and it is now  blooming! Fingers crossed.

I replaced my planters which were rusted out, and during the process cut all my rain lilies to the ground. I thought this would be a good thing since there was so much thatch buildup and the bulbs were crowded. It should have been a relatively dormant time anyway. But then they failed to regrow, and failed to bloom during their normal time of the monsoon rains. Two days ago, they suddenly sprang up with bloom, a month late. So not killed. Maybe I'll have to use them elsewhere in the garden, since they clearly are tough plants that aren't affected by the soil fungi.

bath water

Recently, I started using the bath water in the garden. What has impressed me most is how much effort it is. What a luxury it is to have modern plumbing, with pipes to effortlessly fill a tub with hot water, and a drain to empty it. I can't imagine what a luxury a hot bath was when the water needed to be heated on a stove and emptied, bucket by bucket into a tub, then when done, the tub emptied by hand. Our tub takes me about 15 bucketfuls before the water is too low to be worth scooping (I use a smaller container to scoop the water into the buckets when the water level gets low), and I pull the drain to empty the last of the water. It's over 50 gallons of water in our 70 gallon tub. I use 3 gallon buckets since they are the biggest amount that is reasonable to scoop the water in a full tub, and reasonable to carry. 5 gallon buckets are just too big to lift out of the tub and risk back injury. The process is also very messy. Water splashes everywhere. I spilled water down my front carrying water today, looking like I peed in my pants. Setting down the buckets in the garden means that mulch and twigs and leaves stick to the bottom and get carried into the house. The sides of the tub and the floor need to be wiped down afterwards. I get enough water to water maybe 10 roses. The whole process makes me appreciate water so much more.

autumn begins

Autumn has come with a bit of relief. It's not the calendar that says it is autumn, but the change in the weather. After months of temperatures in the upper 90's, the daytime highs are finally coming down to below 90, and the nights in the mid to low 60's. I feel like there's a bit more spring to my step. I've historically dreaded autumn, that winding down season that means the end of the growing season, and even though there is a little of that, the relief that is a break in the heat has overridden that autumnal depression. In the garden what also comes as a bit of a relief is that the garden chores wind down also. I have to admit that in the heat I have been less than attentive to garden maintenance, and now that autumn is here, I have an excuse to let things go, literally, to seed. The roses shouldn't be deadheaded now, to encourage them to slow down their growing in preparation for cold weather. If they were to put out a lot of new growth just when the weather gets cold, it will all freeze and the plant will be damaged. Some of my roses did just that last year, putting out new growth that didn't mature before the freezing weather came. This new growth froze way back. It didn't kill the roses. They were fine. But it is a sad thing to see.

Autumn is also a good time to take stock of the garden. This has been a particularly tough year in the garden. I lost a lot of plants this year, and some of them were quite surprising. One of the big surprises was the death of one of the junipers that I had planted last year. I had taken out the Colorado Blue Spruces last year, as well as Vlad the Impaler (English Hawthorn), both of which were not particularly attractive, and were outgrowing their spaces. I replaced them with 5 plants of the columnar juniper 'Spartan', which to be brief, is easily obtainable, fit the space, and to my eye retains some of the character of the New Mexico landscape. It is a similar color to Juniperus monosperma, the native one-seed juniper, and although 'Spartan' is a columnar juniper, it seems not to be as  columnar in this climate as the photos. Another reason for choosing juniper is that I am trying to morph my garden into plants that are easy to grow in this climate. So it was a surprise that one of the junipers died this summer. It was a slow and painful decline. Perhaps I caught it too late, once I noticed that the plant was turning an off-color, I tried giving it more water and care, but it was too late. I replaced it this weekend.

the new 'Spartan' Juniper

Also surprising was the death of many lavenders and penstemons this summer. Many seemed to be doing well and then suddenly wilted and died. This is likely a soil fungus although strangely these deaths occurred at various times through the summer, and during dry spells. One of the Acantholimon halophyllum died also after years of stalwart performance. This was quite a surprise and a disappointment, as it is one of those plants that Agua Fria Nursery doesn't carry anymore.

My beloved Penstemon linarioides (above, left)  has been dying back in patches, and the Acantholimon halophyllum (above right) that has given me years of joy is now brown. I had two of the Acantholimon so I have one left, but it doesn't have a friend. The Penstemon linarioides self-seeded like crazy this spring, so I have many baby plants to replace them, but the garden is definitely looking more messy as there are self-seeded plants in places I did not plan, as well as the half-dead or dead plants and empty spaces where the dead plants were removed.

There are some highlights in the garden, however.

'Bishop's Castle' is proving its worth.

I aways wonder if I should keep Aster 'Purple Dome' because the color is on the redder side of purple and I like the more violet colors better. Of course those asters like Professor Kippenburg keep dying from fungus, but 'Purple Dome' has no problems.

Although Aster x frikartii 'Monch' is looking a bit messy, I'm okay with it since it has been blooming for more than two months, as opposed to the two weeks that 'Purple Dome' will bloom for.

keep or toss

'Savannah'

I'm at that point in my garden where if I get any more roses, I will need to get rid of something. Some of my roses I'm not terribly happy about, and those are relatively easy to put on the chopping block. Some roses have their qualities, even though they have their faults (don't we all?), but they are more "gray zone" roses. They don't quite have the qualities that I'm looking for, but they are not roses that are particularly bad. So I have to judge whether or not they are worth their rent.

'Alexandra, Princesse de Luxembourg'

'Alexandra, Princesse de Luxembourg' is on the chopping block. After three years of struggling with her, I finally got her to grow. She's been putting out long canes and putting out flowers. The problem is that I find the flowers to be rather boring, and without much scent. They are also very susceptible to damage from thrips and wind, so they only time I get nice flowers is when I spray insecticides. I'm having the same problems with 'Earth Angel'. 'Earth Angel' can have very beautiful flowers, and has a wonderful fragrance, but such thrip damage. It is also a plant that needs coddling in my garden.

'Earth Angel'

At its best, it looks like this:

What I'm looking for in my garden is a very specific kind of rose. I want roses that are pale pink, darker in the center, pale blush to white on the outer petals, very fragrant, cup shaped, and tolerant of thrips and the intense sun and wind that we get here. Not too much to ask, is it? Well, yes, it seems that it is indeed too much to ask. At its best, 'Earth Angel' is pretty close to what I want. But how much do I want to struggle, and how much insecticide do I want to spray?

'Fabulous!' was indeed fabulous with the first flush of blooms in the spring, but since that, it has been quite a bit less than fabulous. It took a long time to rebloom, and in the heat, the flowers were deformed, and the white flowers were damaged by heat and thrips. So 'Fabulous!' is likely to be removed this winter.

'Savannah' (top picture) is a grey zone rose for me. It is a Sunbelt rose, a rose that the company Kordes says is especially tolerant of heat. This year, with enough water, it does seem to be able to tolerate the intense sun fairly well. It does have a good fragrance. But the flowers are very flat, and don't have much grace. The color is not really what I want. I guess it stays for now.

'Sonia Rykiel'

'Sonia Rykiel' certainly has her faults, but she's staying. Flowers are more pale than I want, and the flowers don't last long in the heat. But this year, she has been very productive and charming. Flowers are deliciously scented.

'Abraham Darby'

 You'd wonder why 'Abraham Darby' would be a grey zone rose since he is such a beauty, and his fragrance is among the top 3 of all the roses I have ever smelled. He is the whole reason I began growing roses in the first place. But Abe can be very inconsistent. His flowers can sometimes be stridently orange, and sometimes very pale, and the orange bothers me. Worst of all, is his total intolerance of the intense sunlight here. Flowers don't last much more than a day. Still, he has my heart.

'Evelyn'

'Evelyn' in June

'Evelyn' and I have a history. I bought 3 plants that arrived completely crushed. There was almost nothing left of them. But I nurtured them to some health and planted them. In the wrong spot, which was too shady and with too much competition with tree roots. Still they struggled on. I moved them to a better spot and they have taken off this year, producing a number of lovely roses with the fragrance of fresh peaches. Why is she a grey zone rose? Because she is more orange than I'd like. And because her flowers also don't last long in the heat. But when she is "on", she is just gorgeous.  I'm keeping her.

'Radio Times'

'Radio Times' in May

When I look at the qualities of 'Radio Times', I'm a little amazed that he has been on the chopping block a few times. I'm realizing that his previous poor performance was not his fault, but mine. I had failed to give him decent water and nutrition. Since then, he has been an impressive performer. First flush flowers were an example of near perfection. He has slightly cup-shaped flowers displayed with a sense of poise, darker pink in the center and pale outer petals. The warm pink is just the shade I'm looking for. Best of all, the fragrance is intense, and beautiful (although not "delicious" like Abe). Or...is the best thing about him his ability to produce flowers through intense heat, flowers that last for a few days before having heat damage. The top photo is from today, after weeks of temperatures in the upper 90's, and against a south facing wall. You can't have much more challenging conditions than that. So I feel a little guilty about putting him on the chopping block in the past. Apparently David Austin is not as impressed, as he has discontinued this rose, and it is not available anywhere.