Summer Gardens
Perennial
Like animals, plants have diverse lifespans, with some living only a year while others last centuries.
A perennial garden's personality is shaped by its long-lived inhabitants which maintain its structure as its details change with the seasons.
Trees and shrubs may be the first to come to mind when we think of long-lived plants, but herbaceous perennials are not to be dismissed.
Peonies have a lifespan of up to 80 years, while rose bushes and hydrangeas can survive for 50 years. Wisterias can live up to 100 years, hostas up to 30, and garden phlox up to 40.
These garden elders watch patiently as the short-lived perennials keep churning to create an ever-shifting landscape.
The latter, of which delphiniums, coral bells, columbines, pinks, poppies, lupines, yarrow, spring bulbs and woody herbs are just a few examples, only last a few years.
Enjoy them while they're here and don't blame yourself if they don't return in spring. Just plant a new batch.
A Battle of Wills
A garden is an imposition of will, an uncomfortable concept for the green thumbs, who are usually so infatuated with their pride and joy they abhor the very thought of asserting dominance over it.
Beautiful gardens don't just happen, no matter what the carefree exuberance of a wildflower meadow may lead you to believe.
Gardening is a constant battle against the drive of nature, which puts survival and expansion above beauty and favors the plants that best embody those qualities, most of which are weeds.
A garden left to its own devices will devolve rather quickly into an impenetrable thicket or a monoculture. Fast-growing annuals will smother the slower perennials if given a chance, and established borders will revert to the mix of wild plants naturally found in the area when left unattended.
Large trees and shrubs will change the growing conditions around them over time, favoring different plant combinations.
Enthusiastic foliage will smother garden art and engulf walkways.
Strong roots will crumble pavers to expand their reach.
Borders need daily tending and a watchful eye to fend off chaotic overgrowth, assess food and water needs, and keep the weeds and pests in check.
Gardening is a constant effort to maintain and a battle of wills.
Winecups
If your favorite plant isn't thriving despite following its growing instructions precisely, the issue is likely with the soil.
The winecups in the picture demonstrate the point: they have adapted to grow in the light, sandy or rocky soils of the southwest and could not tolerate the heavy clay in my garden on their roots.