Surprise, Surprise
I’m still too new at gardening to say, “just when you’ve seen it all,” because I haven’t been doing this long enough to have “seen it all,” or even close to it. But in the three seasons that I’ve been trying to be a perennial gardener, I have noticed that each year the garden manages to surprise me in one way or another. It seems that all it takes is close inspection, an attention to detail, and a great deal of patience, and you can find new and unexpected pleasures out there. Notably, I published a newsletter called, “Mostly Pleasant Garden Surprises” on May 24 of this year, where I highlighted hardy begonia, Pop Pop’s hydrangea, and fox glove as surprises early in the year. I thought I would update the list, since we are getting later in the season. Here are five surprises for your entertainment and edification.
Two weeks ago, I was trying to be productive by spending an hour or two cleaning up the ostrich fern bed. Ostrich ferns are stunning plants that have a brilliant green color in the spring, and then settle back to ruthlessly spread and take over the rest of the bed for the remainder of the season. Constantly pruning them back is an ongoing chore (or curse, depending on how you feel that day). I was up to my neck in ostrich ferns, when I happened to look down at the liriope and the coral bell plants at my feet and noticed a baby brunnera plant comfortably nestled between the two. Brunnera spread by rhizomes (underground roots) and by self-seeding, but this baby plant is a good 10 feet from the other brunnera in the bed. How it got where it is I have no idea, but it is a very pleasant surprise. I think I’ll wait until spring to transplant it to another shady spot in a different bed.
It seems I write about my hardy begonia plants every year, the last time being May of this year in the newsletter about pleasant garden surprises. We planted three hardy begonias next to the steps in the original Sun Nurseries installation. They all died for unknown reasons. I replaced them with three variegated Jacob’s ladder plants, and they, too, promptly died. Next I replaced the Jacob’s ladder with two more hardy begonia plants that I thought were killed when the tree guys dragged large tree branches up the steps after trimming my poplar tree, unintentionally trampling any perennials in their path. You can imagine why I highlighted hardy begonia in May as a pleasant surprise when the plant unexpectedly popped out of the ground this spring. But perhaps the bigger surprise is that it’s now throwing off tiny white buds. A quick internet search reveals hardy begonias bloom from July to October, so I’m guessing with a little bit of luck and no more tree trimming, I’ll get to enjoy the flowers in a month or so.
This season I planted two ornamental grasses, dwarf pampas grass and dwarf Adagio maiden grass, in the sun bed to add some height to the bed and balance the design. I recently wrote about the pretty, wispy seed heads that appeared on the maiden grass a few weeks ago, but bemoaned the fact that the pampas grass should have displayed its own seed heads by now. I suggested that I would have to wait until next season to see both grasses in full bloom. But wait! Yesterday I noticed seeds appearing at the end of some of the leaves on the pampas grass. What a great surprise! I don’t know how these buds turn into the golden crown of seed heads I’m hoping for, but maybe I’ll get to see a few this season.
I’ve been a fan of Japanese painted ferns ever since I first saw a photo of them. I think the silvery color of the ferns is an interesting addition to my shade beds, where I’m always looking to add different colors and textures. There were nine Japanese painted ferns originally planted in the Sun Nurseries design, with five installed under the crape myrtle tree at the top of the steps bed and the others in shade beds around the garden. The plants never established themselves. Several of the ferns died and the rest looked small and stunted. I moved the survivors to a space under my dogwood tree at the bottom of the steps, and ever since, I’ve been patiently (who am I kidding?) … impatiently waiting for the painted ferns to gain some traction and grow. Alas, nothing happened, including this season when many plants seemed to struggle. Imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when I noticed that all the Japanese ferns were putting on a growth spurt, making me wonder if the space might finally be filled with happy and healthy Japanese ferns next season.
Lastly, I’m pleased to announce the reappearance of an old friend who created quite a bit of chaos around here earlier in the year. This morning my wife, Linda, reported that the black snake seems to have once again established his lair under the garage of our house. The evidence is very clear, as a six-foot long snakeskin leading under the house is kind of hard to miss. Ever since the snake appeared on the grill on my back deck and I swept it 20 feet or so to its presumed death on the patio below, Linda and I have been somewhat conflicted about this snake. On the one hand, we know how beneficial black snakes are in keeping critters aways from the house. On the other hand, the snake is creepy and scares the hell out of us every time we see it. We were worried that we killed the snake, especially since many of our friends seemed delighted to explain how beneficial it is to have one slithering around the house. Surprise! Either it’s back, or a friend or family member is back, and we can go back to cautiously moving about our property hoping not to have the skins scared off of us.
It’s been three months since we visited the topic of pleasant garden surprises, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this new collection of pleasant surprises (except maybe for the black snake). Join me next week for more garden tales. Rumor has it that nominations for this year’s Plant of the Year award may be announced soon. Like last year, you will get a front-row seat to the awards ceremony. I hope you can attend. As always, I want to remind you that if you enjoy this content, you can share it with friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers, whatever, by clicking on the share button or by sending them a link to the newsletter at kensolow.substack.com. And, as always, I want to thank you for your “likes” and comments. It’s nice to know you are out there.