And that fall planting will never be forgotten. The trees and shrubs were in the ground and I did not stake them because everything I had read said not to. But the authors of the various articles did not take into account an Alaskan fall. With a driving wind and torrential rains, almost everything fell over. The gentlemen building the house were kind enough to cut stakes for me the saws were running anyway. Carol Aderhold and I donned our raingear and good humor, went out into the mud (hurray for Xtratufs!) and successfully staked those trees. You would never know this is the same garden.
I think fall planting, at this latitude, is overrated. If there is something that you have your heart set on, go ahead and get it into the ground as soon as you can. I think that plants here need enough time to get established. There is enough hardship on plants here in the Far North, lets not add the inconvenience of being planted in the fall. You can see how fall planting in the Lower 48 would work out just dandy. "They" actually have a fall. Ours is short, wet, cold and mean. I know that plants go on sale big time at the end of the season, so maybe you won't be making a very large investment and a failure or two will outweigh the successes, but I truly think the plants will reach their potential with less stress if you plant no later than mid-August.
Take the mock orange (philadelphus coronarius). I bought two of them at the same time. One went into the ground immediately. The other languished in its pot until fall. I was having a difficult time deciding where to place it. What a mistake. The one that is spring-planted is twice the size as the fall-planted. The smaller is making a huge effort this year to catch up, and I am certain that it will.
Back to the wonder of this garden. What an excellent experience to take a blank slate and create something lovely. I know this is not everyone's cup of tea. I realize that there are those who think that all gardens should be natural vegetation and there are those who think grass is the answer. Fine. To each his own. But to me, flowers and a vegetable plot is the vision that I am after. And I have arrived.
The iris bed is a sight to behold. Using native iris setosa, and stuffing an area about 5-feet-by-18-feet that is borderline bog, with a wooden fence for a backdrop, I have a stunning border. Iris blooms are short-lived so you would think that I would be stuck with a monotonous hedge for the rest of the season. But the shrubs and trees take over just as the irises are finishing up, so the focal point moves away from the iris to them. Just excellent.
The iris are so excellent in fact that I had my annual Iris Party. There is nothing better than a sunny afternoon, a glass of icy champagne, friends and a blooming iris hedge. I like to have Janice Schofield's book, Discovering Wild Plants, open to the iris page. To me, the most interesting fact that I have gleaned from her text is that to the Egyptians the iris' three falls (petals) represented courage, faith and wisdom.
A lesson that I have learned from the iris hedge is planting in mass. Even though this is a smallish garden, I like the idea of lots of one plant. I like the impact of it. To me the bed of iris really works. I have the same vision going for the peonies and the delphiniums.
The peonies will take time but are on their way to making the statement that I am after. There is one bed with 10 peonies in it. They have slightly different bloom times so there should be an extended show and weeks of bouquets for the house. Keep in mind that peonies dry nicely. Hang upside down and be sure that there is air circulating, otherwise their dense blooms will take too long to dry and will just mold. I have this and that planted among the peonies, as they mature I will start eliminating the other plants, but for now I need something to be blooming.
The delphiniums almost had me stumped. When we lived out East, I had a huge stand of these truly majestic plants. But here I have been losing them to leaf rollers and aphids, two pests I had never encountered before. Thanks to the learning curve I have that under control and the delphiniums are looking as strong as can be. I am focusing on the Pacific Giant Black Knight, a deep purple with an even darker bee.
I have these starting around the west corner and continuing about a third of the way around the front of the deck. Delphiniums need staking. At this location there is an almost constant breeze building to a good strong wind each and every day. Keeps the bugs down but does a number on delphiniums.
So far I have three impressive areas the irises, peonies and delphiniums with a whole lot of lovely plants thrown in-between. Makes for an interesting show, which I am enjoying to no end.
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