Rethinking my garden

 

Last summer I was asked to submit some of my photos to a publishing house working on several new gardening books. The list of desired pictures was quite specific, so I went back through my entire photo library to see if I already had some of the shots they were looking for.

'New Dawn' arched over the front porch

My library goes back to 2001 when we were living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. During my walk down Memory Lane, I revisited lots of pictures of the cottage garden I’d created while living there. I had forgotten how lovely it was.

The Pond Garden

Front walkway garden

After looking through all those photos, I felt a bit sad thinking about the garden I’d been working on in the North Carolina mountains since 2010. I was suddenly struck with the realization that whatever I’ve been doing here has not been a success. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Boaters on the Little Choptank oohed and aahed over our hydrangeas

It started off well enough. My husband Chris took cuttings of the hardy ‘Nikko Blue’ hydrangeas that lined the back of our Maryland home. Boaters passing by on the river behind us called us “the blue house” because of the proliferation of blue blooms they could see from the water.

The cuttings rooted beautifully, and we planted them all along the foundation our “new” house here. (We tore out the cheap, ugly bushes the previous owner had put in and started from scratch.) Then I added roses and perennials like I had done on the Eastern Shore.

Centranthus was a great companion for my roses in MD

My first clue that things were not going well was the discovery that the Centranthus ruber and alba that grew like weeds in Maryland did not thrive here. I tried planting them six different times before giving up. Phlox, coreopsis and other old favorites never made it past one season. Still, I soldiered on thinking all would come together eventually.

Some of the roses did well and some just sulked. The big successes were the catmints, daylilies, Shasta daisies and a couple of dahlias. And to my surprise, the hydrangeas went from strength to strength and started taking over.

The best the garden looked was in 2013 when the roses seemed to be happy and some of the perennials blended in quite nicely. Then things started to happen. For example, we had to dig up part of the garden to repair a section of the driveway held up by boulders that was crumbling. We put all the plants in pots and some of them never recovered.

My mountain garden in happier times

Several of the roses that looked so good in 2013 started to regress. Before long I had a bunch of bushes with a single, pitiful cane. New perennials I put in did not do squat. And the lamiums I planted on advice of a local friend started to become a nuisance.

Time to put on my thinking cap and try again.

So, the first thing I am going to do is test the soil again to make sure we have no new issues there. I’ll keep the roses and other plants that have worked and get rid of the poor performers. Then I will look for new ideas for a mountain garden in Zone 6b according to the new 2012 map. (Apparently, we used to be Zone 7a in the olden days.) Your suggestions are very welcome. 

Clematis works in the NC garden, unlike in MD

I have been looking at some of the cottage gardens on Pinterest and see a few things I’d like to pursue. Low-growing dark green ornamental grasses mixed with salvia and lamb's ears, for example.

Of course, we all know a garden is always a work in progress. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how mine is progressing!