Calsap Rhododendron

Calsap Rhododendron:  These photos were taken in May 2010, in its first season and a month after being planted in what I believed was the perfect spot in my front landscape.  It was before some unidentified bug or other 6+ legged thing(s) started to eat away at its tender young leaves as summer wore on.  Ultimately, I beat the little suckers and going into the fall, the Calsap had nicely recovered.  Hah - take THAT you bugs!  But then came the deer... who ravaged it though the 3+ foot deep blanket of snow that covered everything for most of this past winter.  They nibbled away practically every bit of green on this poor plant.  In April, I dug up my weary looking, beaten-up Rhodie and relocated her to the backyard.  She'll be protected from deer, but I can't promise her safety from bugs.  But at least she's got a fighting chance.  And she has proven to be a fighter... she withstood her first year with the evil mystery insects, the starving scavenger deer and the "ice age" (New England Winter of 2010/2011)...  because now she is sprouting new leaves like you couldn't imagine.  I know I won't see her amazing trusses this spring... but it's OK -- she'll be a show-stopper next spring!!!     

Rain

I’ve got no complaints against the rain, especially now.  Because until my husband buys a new garden hose, and until we have the money to have the connection to the spigot on the other side of the house fixed, Mother Nature is saving me the time-consuming task of countless trips back and forth between the backyard spigot to various locations throughout my property in order to refill my mere 2 ½ gallon watering can and so I can properly nourish all my budding garden projects.  Right now, everything I planted so far this spring is being well watered by Mother Nature, and for that, I’m thankful.  But days and days of rain?… consecutive days?... a whole week?  I’ve had enough.  I’d like the sun to show itself and to do its part in this whole grow-garden-grow cycle.  I’m itching to get to the garden center to make some purchases… and then coming home to play in the dirt.  Dirt, not mud.

Good Garden Center, Good

For people like me who suffer from severe “full-sun envy”, trips to the garden center can be spoiled  from feelings of bitterness and resentment… kinda like being diabetic and walking down the candy aisle.  When I go to my favorite local garden (in my humble opinion, the BEST in the state of CT), I have to walk through the ginormous cheerful land of sun-worshipping specimens and begrudgingly mope over to the smaller and less interesting, less colorful selection of the dark and gloomy shade-dwellers.  Dave (the owner) is quite used to and tolerant of me… he tries to be helpful and makes suggestions… and I never fail to point out something I like only to be told it won’t fare well in my landscape.  I sulk and pout, yet Dave stays positively upbeat while he points out more appropriate selections… to which I respond with an assortment of grunts, gagging noises and comments like “ick” and “ew, that’s ugly”, just like a bratty, whiny child.  I hope he realizes it’s nothing personal… I just haven’t gotten over this whole “no-full-sun” thing yet. 

Anyway, here’s what I like about my garden center – they don’t lie to me, and they actually discourage me from buying things.  Yes, you read right.  Not that they’ve ever turned my money away, but I guess to be more specific, they discourage me from making bad choices.  When I express interest in something that they know won’t perform up to my expectations or that will outright die, they tell me not to buy it.  I had my eyes on the Blueberry Muffin Viburnum shrub all winter long.  I fantasized about the pretty white flowers in the spring and summer and then the bush being covered in pretty blue berries in the late summer.  Everything I’d read indicated that the shrub was deer resistant.  When I told Dave I wanted it, he asked me “How’re the deer in your property?”  I said they were crazy (they practically annihilated my Calsap Rhodie this past winter – it’s presently being nursed back to health after being relocated inside my fenced-in yard).  Anyway, he wouldn’t let me buy the Blueberry Muffin Viburnum – told me they were “like candy to the deer.”  Obviously, he would have let me buy it, but he didn’t want me to waste my money and see me disappointed in the long run.  So he suggested some not-so-tasty shrubs with similar attributes given the intended location to be filled.   I went home to do some research on Dave’s suggestions… ended up back there the next weekend and made what I believe will be one of the best garden purchases I’ll ever make:  a Doublefile Viburnum.    Don’t know that I’ll get many flowers this season… but I don’t care – I’m so jazzed over what this shrub has to offer given time, that I honestly would rather forgo flowers this season and have it focus its energy on survival and growth.  The faster this bush gets to its maximum size and potential, the happier I’ll be.  I am NOT a patient person.  Which really makes me wonder how I’m going to be any success at gardening and how can I really enjoy it when it takes seasons and seasons to often see the real measureable results and rewards from it all… 

Let's Back Up a Minute....

I’ve been in my home since March 2009.  Growing Season #1 was filled with disappointment as I faced my reality of just how little sun I had to work with.  Determined and wanting to prove the Laws of Gardening wrong, I invested my time attempting to grow a vegetable garden… even built a raised bed for it after suffering a second reality blow which revealed very stony soil.  Suffice it to say, my allotted sun exposure proved to be far insufficient to grow vegetables, regardless of the raised bed filled with healthy and nutrient rich soil.  So I switched gears for Growing Season #2 by potting all my herbs (for cooking) and keeping them up on my deck which does get a lot of sun, while I cultivated flower beds in my yard for perennial flowers of part-sun and part-shade.  I tried to remain optimistic despite feeling defeated by the forces all working against me, but my own persistent and rebellious nature fought back, spurring me to buy and place several full-sun perennials where they were never meant to be.  Some did OK, but I’m convinced that if plants could have their own way, they would have taken to themselves with a weed-wacker just to put themselves out of their misery. 

I have choices… there are always choices.  I could spend a buttload of money and have some wooded area cleared out to give way for more sun, but then I’d lose all the joys and comforts of the woodland that I love so much.  My house is nestled in a warm lush arc of woodlands… it provides us with privacy, wildlife, quiet and abundant beauty.  So it’s done -- I yield to accepting the inevitable:  I am not blessed with full sun for gardening and the woodland (all of it) stays!  I'll work with what I've got. 

After a brutal winter in Connecticut, Growing Season #3 is now ON.  I spent the entire long winter with an open mind while perusing gardening and nursery catalogs, both print and online.  I found things of interest, and then did research.  I charted out beds, listing spring clean-up tasks, earmarked some small encroaching saplings to meet their maker by way of ax, and I waited for spring to make an appearance.  Now that fresh green has usurped the frosty white, let’s get dirty!