Doing the Accounting

It’s been cloudy and rainy for about a week, but this afternoon we got a break, and the sun is out.  The garden looks a mess after so much rain, and the forecast is for another few days of the same beginning tomorrow.  A couple of days ago I took the opportunity to clean up the deck outside of our kitchen, between our screen porch and the garage. When it rains, that part of the deck tends to get the most downed leaves, branches, and soon, blossoms from the Crape Myrtle tree.  I’m not sure why I bothered to clean the debris because it’s going to look awful after another three days of rain, but what the heck.  

With that chore out of way, I thought it would be a good time to pull out all of my invoices for the season and determine how much money I spent on the garden this year. I think I’m done buying plants for 2024, although recent history tells me I can’t be certain.  Before I get too depressed about the amount of money I spent on the garden, I have to remember that the first plants were installed in my backyard landscape in May of 2022, so it’s been less than three years since I started to take gardening seriously. And the first season doesn’t count because those plants were recommended and installed by Sun Nurseries.  The garden remains very much a work in progress, so it’s to be expected that I’m still investing in plants, especially because I’m still coming up with a dizzying number of ideas for flower beds next season, and because some of the plants have the annoying propensity to die.  First I’ll share the totals, and then I’ll go take some pictures of the plants to see how they are doing. 

Here's what I came up with, in no particular order: 

That’s 31 perennials and 17 annuals for $447, if I don’t count mulch and compost.  If I don’t count annuals, I spent $357.16 for perennials, or roughly $11 per plant.  Not too bad. Next year I expect to buy fewer new perennials as I do a lot more transplanting of mature plants in several beds. It’s hard to believe that some of the perennials will be four years old by next spring and will need to be divided.  Another thing to consider is that many of the beds are close to being fully planted, so that should also save some money.   

Now that I’ve totaled the financial damage, it’s time to take some pictures of what the new plants look like today. Can we all agree that it’s worth paying just about any price when you are adding years of beauty to the garden?  No?  What about if the plants only live for a couple of months?  The garden starts looking ratty at this time of year, but doubly so after a week of rain. Thankfully today the sun is out so I might as well get to it.    

I purchased this toad lily for the steps bed in May.  Most of the buds were eaten by deer this summer, but it has come back nicely.  Photo by Me.  September 28, 2024. 

These pulmonaria (lungwort) were gorgeous when I installed them in August. Today, not so much.  The plants at the upper right and upper left might not make it, and the Meadows Farms warranty expires November 1.  The lungwort suffers from powdery mildew, a fungal disease that appears on the surface of plant leaves.  I’ve treated them several times with a fungicide and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t lose more before the end of the season.  Photo by Me.  September 28, 2024. 

Ornamental grasses doing great in the back of the sun bed.  The dwarf maiden grass on the left looks a little droopy, but that’s to be expected after so much rain.  Photo by Me.  September 28, 2024. 

Brother Stefan hosta, one of three different hostas I bought on sale.  All three are getting eaten by something or another, but hopefully it isn’t fatal.  I’ve treated them with several doses of neem oil and am hoping for the best.  So far, at least, the deer haven’t eaten them.  Note the struggling pulmonaria to the left.  Photo by Me.  September 28, 2024. 

Both of my new astilbe plants seem to be doing well by the steps bed.  The one in the foreground is supposed to have purple flowers in the late spring.  Fingers crossed.  Photo by Me.  September 28, 2024. 

Three dwarf feather grass I purchased for the ostrich fern bed but had to move because you couldn’t see them next to the beige wall in back of the house.  Here they are on the sun side of the waterfall bed, where they seem to be doing fine.  I’ll probably move them around next spring once I figure out how to plant the rest of the bed.  Note the allium near the wall to the upper left, with blue plumbago ground cover in front.  Photo by Me.  September 17, 2024. 

Two of four new coral bells (heuchera) I purchased and installed last May (far right and far left).  These plants live in what used to be the ostrich fern bed.  The other two are in the steps bed under the crape myrtle tree.  I like the one on the right, called citronella, so much that I bought another one in September for the top of the steps bed.  I’m pleased to report they all seem to be doing well.  I know I seem to say this every week of late, and I think I’ll say it again: The purple flowers on the variegated liriope are stunning this time of year, aren’t they?  Photo by Me.  September 28, 2024. 

Oh, I forgot.  Here’s one of two Zagreb coreopsis I purchased on August 5 for the now Not So Empty Bed. A close, professional look at the plant indicates that it is very dead.  On August 27 I replaced it under the warranty  with a new plant and I, along with my understanding friends at Sun Nurseries, still can’t understand how I killed this one so quickly.  For now, the replacement lives in the sun bed while I wait until spring to see if this one is secretly alive.  Photo by Me.  September 28, 2024. 

Not pictured are the new annuals in the sun bed, mostly because I just wrote about them a couple of weeks ago.  They are still growing like gangbusters.  I didn’t include a photo of the new citronella coral bell at the top of the steps bed, but it’s doing great so far.  And finally, I decided not to include a photo of the waterfall, even though I spent a lot of money to replace the pump this year.  I’m often told the waterfall is the star of the garden, but this post is about what I paid for plants this year, so there you go. 

I hope you found the garden accounting for this season to be of interest.  If you are a gardener who grows everything from seeds, or by taking cuttings from mature plants, or by dividing mature plants, you might think I’ve wasted a lot of money this year.  But I typically spend a lot more each year playing golf, and the cost of perennial plants that will be with me for years seems like a bargain. 

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