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.