New York Renovator

When I first moved here over a decade ago, I knew next to nothing about gardening. I bought some books and checked some out from the library, and went to work, studying. I learned a lot. The nice thing about gardening is that it’s actually kind of easy. Plants are pretty resilient, and they will endure a good amount of abuse, lol.

So when I moved here, there were few plant: a rhododendron on its last gasps; a front flower bed FILLED with hostas (yuk); a stinging nettle bush next to the driveway (we got rid of that nasty bush the second day we moved in!); and an old Scotch rose disfigured with horribly drippy bags of fluorescent-orange spots. I later found out this was a fungus.

The rose bush, while pretty, was situated right next to the garage wall, in the shadows in an obscure area. I hacked at it to remove it. The thing grew back every year! And every year, I hacked at it again. I cut, I sawed, I weed-whacked. It just stubbornly refused to die! As a matter of fact, it grew back beautifully, free of the orange goop. I guess it had been neglected for so long that my vicious hacking only helped it!

Last year, I didn’t hack it. I was too exhausted. I just left it.

Look at it today. Photo taken this morning.

It’s still in the shadows in that obscure area, by the garage wall. I have to admire the tenacious little thing. It’s blooming like there’s no tomorrow- and I guess that makes sense because I hacked at the poor thing like there was going to be no tomorrow!

So I’m going to leave it. Maybe next year I’ll take the root suckers and plug them elsewhere in the garden. There are a few offshoots of this bush, elsewhere around the yard. They are also blooming prolifically. And they smell HEAVENLY. Oh, those old-fashioned Scotch roses! You can keep your hybrid plastic-surgery models– give me the old fashioned, hardy rose.  They are absolutely delicious. Like any true blood American, I love an underdog. And this rose bush is definitely a contender. LOL

So I have plans to put roses everywhere. I’ll incorporate them into my lilac-laden garden plans. Wouldn’t that be so wonderful– lilacs in May, roses in June. What’s for July and August?

I’ve had these Nikko Blue Hydrangea plants for YEARS. They bloomed the first two years, and after that, NOTHING. I cannot figure it out.

One Plant Guy told me to cut them down in autumn, and new blooms would appear in the spring. Nothing. Another Plant Guy told me to leave the shrubs alone (no trimming) and in time, they’d bloom. Nothing. GAH!

The plants are well-fed, they are obviously not starving. They have plenty of green growth. I’m out of ideas. Can anyone help?

I just love this garden. I’ve been slowly adding to it for the past few years.

It’s been a soggy spring and start to summer, so I’ve had to work on it between raindrops this year. It’s a perennial garden with many native shrubs. I always plant vegetation that is native to the area (because I just hate babying plants). I’ve got Mugo pine shrubs, a Dwarf Alberta Spruce, some lilacs, blue Rose of Sharon, Scotch Rose, Bridal Wreath Spirea, Potentilla, Arbor Vitea, Mock Rose, White Azalea, and purple Butterfly Bushes for shrubs. For plants, I have Echinacea (Purple Coneflower), Rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susan), Hostas, Day lilies, Gerbera Daisy, Stargazer Lilies, Tulips, Stella D’oro lilies, purple Bearded Iris, purple Salvia, Purple Chrysanthemums, Blue Anemone, Pink Turtleheads, Pink Monarda (Bee Balm), Daisies, and Astible. And then I have Periwinkle and English Ivy for ground cover. For filler, I add a few annuals like Impatiens and Petunias, but that’s all the annuals I do.

I have plans to eventually fill this entire side of the yard as a cottage garden, with native shrubs and perennials. It’s so easy care that it’s ridiculous. I send the kids out to weed it about 3-4 times a year– but once the ground cover really kicks in, we’ll weed less. The real benefit is not having to mow this section of the yard. And it looks lovely! Eventually, the lilacs and the Rose of Sharon will grow taller than the arbor, creating a green passageway down the side yard. Mmmmm.