{"id":114,"date":"2008-09-22T04:37:36","date_gmt":"2008-09-22T12:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=114"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:33:01","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:33:01","slug":"successes-and-failures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/successes-and-failures\/","title":{"rendered":"Successes and Failures"},"content":{"rendered":"

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES
\n<\/font><\/font><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>The growing season is coming full circle.\u00a0 As I cut back the browning daylily and iris foliage, patches of bare earth emerge, and the garden begins to look more like it does in the early spring.\u00a0 The slow-moving stages of clean-up give me ample opportunity to think about this year’s garden.\u00a0 As always, some developments were caused by weather, others by the actions or inaction of the gardener, and still others defy explanation.\u00a0 The following are a few of the most notable successes and failures.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Hydrangeas:<\/strong> This was a banner year for hydrangeas.\u00a0 The absence of late spring frosts meant that the abundant flower buds survived to turn into bellowing flowerheads.\u00a0 The hydrangeas in my yard are overflowing their allotted spaces and need a bit of pruning in the next few weeks.\u00a0 One has become rambunctious, attempting to smother a long-suffering caryopteris, which I will soon move to a less crowded location.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Hostas: <\/strong>In the past I have bragged about the absence of slugs in my garden, certain that such a situation meant that I was a superb gardener and one of the elect of God.\u00a0 Now I know the meaning of the proverb “pride goes before a fall.”\u009d\u00a0 Despite an abundance of birds and other predators, the slugs came in droves.\u00a0 They feasted on everything, from the big, blue-leafed Hosta sieboldia ‘Elegans’ to the little mouse-eared hostas.\u00a0 For some reason the hostas in the front yard fared better than those in the back.\u00a0 Maybe the slugs in the back were more muscular.\u00a0 Sadly I didn’t have the time to put out traps, so I had to chalk the slug damage up to experience.\u00a0 The bright spots in the picture were the Hosta plantaginea or August lilies.\u00a0 They are reputed to be less palatable to slugs and that’s certainly proved true in my garden.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Roses: <\/strong>The slugs must have eaten the Japanese beetles, because there were many fewer than in years past.\u00a0 Normally in July Japanese beetles stage regular orgies amid the rose petals and I can dispatch four or five at a time in a container of soapy water.\u00a0 This year the orgies were either much more discreet or smaller and less frequent.\u00a0 I hope that adds up to fewer slugs next year. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Clematis: <\/strong>The clematis had a lack-luster year, with several producing fewer than the normal number of flowers.\u00a0 I assume this happened because I neglected to do the usual mulching.\u00a0 Clematis are like teenage girls–their needs are very specific.\u00a0 If you want to achieve optimal clematis conditions, you must follow another time honored maxim: “feet in the shade and head in the sun.”\u009d\u00a0 Mulching is essential.\u00a0 In contrast to the sulky large-flowered clematis, the Clematis terniflora or sweet autumn clematis surged ahead.\u00a0 Vigorous to the point of thuggishness, it is impervious to mechanical or chemical assaults and goes merrily on its way no matter what happens.\u00a0 From my point of view the best thing about sweet autumn clematis is the fragrance, which is exceptionally sweet and more than makes up for the eighteen self-sown specimens that came up in my lawn.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Miniature Iris: <\/strong>Last fall I bought a large number of miniature iris–Iris reticulata and Iris danfordiae–for my early spring display.\u00a0 Inspired by descriptions in Beverley Nichols’ Garden Open Today<\/em>, I planted groups of them under trees and in corners of the garden.\u00a0 They were lovely and a great inspiration in April.\u00a0 Unlike Nichols, I did not dig up entire clumps and display them indoors.\u00a0 I did make a modest bouquet and displayed it in a small egg cup.\u00a0 Considering the tiny cost of the bulbs, the little iris were an excellent investment.\u00a0 I’ve ordered more for this year.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Fruits and Vegetables: <\/strong>The blueberry bush produced a bumper crop, though a bumper crop from one dwarf bush is only about two cups.\u00a0 The blackberries were bountiful in about the same amount.\u00a0 I put the two harvests together and made a lovely fruit crisp.\u00a0 Growing lettuce in a large pot yielded some nice small heads, but not nearly enough, so next year I will rabbit-proof a bed and grow them in the ground.\u00a0 I love pesto sauce, and my basil harvest enabled me to make it several times.\u00a0 One of my little strawberry beds fell victim to an errant soccer ball (and its vigorous owners), but the other produced a handful of berries.\u00a0 Since this was the first year for strawberries, I’ll expect better things next spring.\u00a0 Each of the plants has sent out healthy runners. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For some reason there were fewer butterflies this year and fewer pulmonaria because the groundhog took a liking to them.\u00a0 The garden is not the showpiece that it was last year at this time when we hosted a wedding reception and a garden tour, but I am working to get things shaped up once more.\u00a0 Fortunately, the garden is endlessly forgiving.\u00a0 I am hoping for a few more glorious weeks of blooms before the frosts set in. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The growing season is coming full circle.\u00a0 As I cut back the browning daylily and iris foliage, patches of bare earth emerge, and the garden begins to look more like it does in the early spring.\u00a0 The slow-moving stages of clean-up give me ample opportunity to think about this year’s garden.\u00a0 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1669,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/1669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}