Accidental gardener

You’ve heard of the “Accidental Tourist”? Well, I’m more of an accidental gardener. The plants that I pay more for, that I put a lot of thought and care into, are the ones most likely to NOT survive. At least it seems that way. My husband and I have been trying to get a rose garden going and some plants do well while others wither and die, never making it to season two.

Then there are the plants that I buy at the end of the season, from roadside nurseries or the “leftover” pile at Menards. These include discounted plants that even the stores don’t think are going to last more than one season. Those are the ones that seem to do the best!

Case in point – three plants that I bought at the end of last season for groundcover. I forgot what they were and had to have someone identify them through Facebook because they actually survived the winter and came back this spring with a vengeance. Coral bells! They are thriving in a spot that doesn’t get a lot of sun and has a lot of clay in the soil. There are many plants that have not survived in this spot, but the coral bells seem to love it!

The clematis is another amazing surprise! I bought it in the middle of last summer and I think it may have flowered twice. It never grew past four inches high and I put a small trellis behind it just so I didn’t feel guilty that I wasn’t giving it every chance to live. Husband Joe asked if we should cover it for the winter and I said, “Nah, why bother. It’s not going to survive.” He covered it, trellis and all, along with several of our rose bushes.

By golly, it if it hasn’t come back as a beautiful, happy, flowering plant! It’s the beginning of May and it’s already several inches taller than at the end of last season. It looks happy!

Other plants that fall into this category are an end-of-season lilac bush and an azalea.

My husband has much more luck with plants than I and perhaps these down-on-their-luck plants have faith that Joe will keep them going, in spite of his wife, the accidental gardener.