My garden has several problems that I need to figure out, plus the usual challenges we face every summer.
#10 One of my personal problems is that I feel terrible when I discard a living plant. Last year my iris struggled with pests and took over the best garden spots. When I cleared the plants out there were several of tiny plantlets struggling to live. How can I say no? Yet if I don’t say no we have more of this problem:
Sickly Iris in Prime Spot
#9. Iris. My iris are pretty when they bloom and not so pretty the rest of the summer, plus we have too many.
Iris Blooming May 28, 2015
I know what I need to do with my iris: Discard at least half, leave one each of the so-so wimpy colored plants and 2-3 each of the pretty yellow ones, replant. Here’s where my common sense collides with pity. What do I do with the discards??? And where should I put the keepers?
#8. Peonies. Incredible as it sounds, we have an overabundance of peonies. I moved 18 plants, which somehow morphed into almost 45 plants, healthy and blooming and beautiful. Peonies take up a LOT of space! And they are too close to the front of the bed, leaving thin strips near the back edge for all the other plants.
Felix Supreme, White and Large Pink Peonies June 2015
My plan is to replant them in groups – vs. taking over half the garden space – and leave space between the clumps for other perennials. My challenge is to replant without leaving behind little roots that grow into more plants.
#7. Yellow summer to fall group. We have 1 perennial sunflower, 3 rudbeckia and 1 light yellow achillea that are scattered in the third plot from the left in the photo above. They need to be closer to give flower power and I bought a Coronation Gold achillea and gaillardia to add a bit more variety and color. Once I move the peonies there should be room to group these yellow to gold plants. I want to add some helenium too.
#6. Daylilies. My daylilies did great since we planted them, lots of flowers and color. Mine are mostly apricot to gold with a few red and pink ones. The problems here are making sure that they are grouped nicely (there is a theme here) and that the volunteer wild orange ones get separated and planted out back.
Volunteer Orange Daylilies to Move
#5. Overall grouping for best display. I had a garden plan when I started and vowed to follow it for a change (never followed plans despite good intentions), but once the peonies and iris multiplied into hordes and the phlox we moved died out the plan wasn’t any good. In my zeal to give the plants enough room some of them got too much room! Now they need to get moved so we don’t have a pink phlox here and a red phlox over there and a multitude of leafy peonies and daylilies in between. Your eye doesn’t put the colors together when the plants are sprinkled.
#4. New phlox. I love phlox and we have some beautiful plants and are adding more! They need to get planted (in groups) but not too close for fear of mildew. My phlox did well right into October last summer.
Late Pink Phlox September 29, 2015
#3. Fall flowers. My fall flowers were so pretty last year, especially the Eupatorium (read about it here) and it’s time to add a few more mums. Have you noticed that many mums for sale now have small daisy flowers, not the bigger ones with layers of petals? I like the larger flowered plants and need to add a few more in rusty and purple colors along with the new asters we purchased. (Read about our new plants here.)
#2. Adding variety. My goal is to have one each of every flower known to man, which is impossible since we don’t have the room. Even so I like to add a plant or two every year. Last year we had orange butterfly weed for the first time. It was a winner. We had geum too but it didn’t flower so I don’t know whether it’s a winner. I need to leave room in the garden for a few surprises
#1. Zinnias. We plant zinnias every year. With the dozens of varieties available it should be easy to find big, bright colored flowers that bloom early and bloom lots, but I’ve not had great luck with getting good varieties. Dave got me some no-name zinnia seeds from Home Depot a few years ago that were the best we ever had, huge, zillions of flowers, bright, rich colors, no mildew, strong, sturdy stems, everything one could ask. Sadly the store didn’t have them last year, so I am left to wonder what variety they were! The seeds I got last year from Crossman’s gave disappointing results, rather wimpy plants and so-so color range.
Zinnias in Mom’s Vase October 1, 2013
This will keep me busy in 2016. What are your gardening challenges? Leave a comment or post on our Facebook page at FlowerPaths.
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