What’s Growing on in My Garden?

The abundant rain has acted like athletic steroids on my perennials. The golden species day lily has expanded so widely it has wiped out a small Japanese peony and a few annuals. Note: next year get a cage on the thing early. Instead, last night, I tried to tie it to a stake.

The ferns in the shade garden, usually about knee high, are, this year, waist high. They look lovely, like a rain forest.

The high bush cranberry, which is trained to arch over the side path, has burst all bounds and now blocks the way. I am not sure it it can be tied up or needs to be pruned.

The caragana hedge is turning into a row of caragana trees. Trimming needed at once.

The bleeding heart added a foot in diameter and covered the daphne bush and two hostas. Since it has finished blooming, it will be brutally reduced.

The Siberian irises are mega size. If there is any garden task I hate, it is dividing Siberian iris. But I will do it after it has bloomed. The only thing to do now is remove the annuals they are smothering and plant them in blank spaces.

The arabis, the most lovely of all creeping plants, is creeping everywhere it can.

Other surprises. The giant hosta is now the monstrous hosta.. The skimpy astilbe has added girth. The peonies are tall, most close to five feet. The mullein has become, against all expectations, a bushy, lovely plant. A Morden Sunrise rose, given up as winter kill three weeks ago, has put on leaves. The Morden monarda is running wild and last year’s seeds are sprouting in various places. Last year I planted one spurge and now a second large plant has appeared five feet away. A tiny red leaf rose sprout has shot up three feet. I saw a garden yesterday where the shasta daisies are making a break for the hills.

However, the rain also created standing puddles on the edges of the beds here and there. The water wiped out a few nicotania and other annuals. I like to have a nice clean cut and a little trench between the beds and the lawn but the water destroyed my edges. Also, my little plot of dark blue bearded iris was rotted out by the standing water and all that is left are the rotted corms. A loss. The evening stock, just starting out, was also destroyed by rain.

In spite of the wet weather, there is little slug damage but I know they are out there somewhere. Slugs hate coffee - liquid or grounds. I am also putting slug pellets around the hostas as a precaution.