'Thanks in part to this spring's unusual rains, I am focusing instead on what I can grow more than what I can't,' Barbara Ellis writes
The zinnias are coming up, from seeds originally given to me by a now-deceased friend who would proudly show his own flowers to guests; a new dwarf apple tree is pushing out little shoots of life; red and orange poppies are thrivingin a partly sunny spot where nothing would grow before; baby boxwoods are staying green along a newly rebuilt fence.
And I marvel at the survivors: two 15-year-old Rose of Sharon bushes that have decided to overwhelm a little side garden but get chewed up by beetles each summer; a Japanese red maple from a Massachusetts stand of saplings nurtured by my long-gone father, a tree that for years struggled to make it in Colorado’s climate but now looks like it might stay for a while; vines of concord grapes and blackberry bushes that grace me with sweet fruit every season; and the north-facing lilac that flowers...
They are supplemented by some hardy annuals that most years can withstand my attempts to kill them: flowing calibrachoa, spreading petunias, spiky dianthus, leafy coleus and feather grass. And look at me go: I even saved some heirloom seeds from last year’s tomatoes and actually grew seedlings this winter, which are now 4 feet tall and fruiting in giant pots and in my raised beds.
Next year, I may try a new perennial somewhere, recommended to me by Denver Post gardening columnist Betty Cahill: mountain mint . “It attracts the most pollinators I’ve ever seen in my garden, ever,” Cahill said. “It’s not a huge head turner in blooms, but the shape, gray/green leaves and subtle flowers make it ideal to plant in any sunny to part shade garden.”
Will I ever learn to pass by that periwinkle hydrangea in the garden center that so reminds me of summer back home instead of condemning it to a horrible death? Probably not. Cause that’s part of what gardening is, too, amirite? Dreaming of what we
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