Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
5/5/00 - Suddenly the weather has turned lovely; as I write temperatures are in the seventies and the eighties are predicted for the weekend. I have decided not even to think about frost and to begin planting all of my flats of flowers. Yesterday and today, I began to plant impatiens on the shady side of the house and in the shade beds in the back of the garden. I use my trusty kneeler and have shears for trimming the grass edging the beds, a trowel for planting and for defining the edges, a trash pail for weeds and grass clippings, boxes of plants, and water to which I have added a small amount of chemical fertilizer. I planted the impatiens about a foot apart and about six or eight inches in from the border. This will allow me space for other annuals behind the impatiens.
One of the things that I envy about the gardening of the workers who care for the beds in public parks, country clubs, or large estates is that, unlike me, they can do their planting in empty beds. When spring bulbs are finished blooming, out they come to make way for annuals--sometimes these bulbs are stored and replanted in the autumn; often they are discarded. Perennials are planted in separate beds or arranged so that bulbs and annuals do not interfere with them. Wouldn't that be lovely, but unfortunately it is not the scenario for the "plain dirt gardener." Bulbs, perennials, and annuals are all at home in the same garden beds and the trick is to have them there without their interfering with each other. Well, as many of you know, this takes time and effort. For instance. my second Triangular bed is planted with about a hundred Ice Follies daffodils, in the center are about forty red tulips, and scattered throughout the bed are columbines, cone flowers, and larkspur. In addition, I have edged this bed with Wings begonias. Well, everybody would have been "in the shade" if I hadn't spent long hours bending in half and tying the tall daffodil stems. If your garden is to put on a continuous show, you have got to be a good stage manager!
One of the problems with trying to show you pictures of Gertrude's garden in the springtime is that it changes so rapidly. First come the snowdrops quickly followed by the crocuses. The early daffodils soon take over; these are followed by tulips early and late, and in this week's picture I have tried to capture some of these for you. In the foreground is the first Triangular bed which is planted with about fifty red tulips; in the background is the Birdbath bed, and beyond that the long Sun bed, both of which are planted with tulips. As I write this, the tulips are almost over, and the early perennials are beginning to take over. Columbines are starting to bloom in all of the beds; the first iris have made their appearance, and many other spring blooming perennials are having their time in the spotlight. I would need a motion picture film, taken daily, to really show you the spring garden.
5/12/00 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
4/28/00 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
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