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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Our wet spring

Our cool, wet spring produced a glorious bounty of flowers. We all remarked that it was one of the most sparkling springs we'd seen in years. Now for the bad news. My garden is full of disease this summer partly, no doubt, because of that nice wet spring and partly, truth be told, because of bad habits. Not long after I waxed poetic about the beautiful bee balm and coneflowers filling up my garden, the dreaded powdery mildew appeared. It spread so fast - days, really - that soon more than half of my bee balm patch was covered with it. (A matter of time till the rest goes)

I blamed all the rain. Then I began examining my plants. They've spread so much, filled in all those empty spaces they were designed around, that now they present a stand so full and crowded, I marvel it took this long for powdery mildew to show itself in such numbers. I need to thin out, the experts say. I already have 'Jacob Cline,' a more resistant variety and I don't water at night, so that's good. But it's time to be ruthless. Even the supposed disease-resistant roses have black spot. The clematis have wilt. The phlox, peonies and bee balm are decimated by mildew. It's been rough. For the last five years, I've added and purchased and watched everything grow. This year, it's all huge and wild and way too crowded. Live and learn is the name of this game, I guess, but it's kind of fun to hack at it. Very satisfying to fill up those trash bags with nasty stuff. Gets me thinking about a different kind of garden for next year. Now that's sounding expensive. 
Posted by virginia smith @ 4:27 PM  Permalink | 3 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:47 AM, 07/15/2009
    At least we can be grateful that for the first time in years we are not in drought conditions. I get powdery mildew every year on my bee balm. But I don't want to get rid of it because I have hummingbirds all over those plants every year. They are so beautiful and fun to watch!
    — Carole Brown
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:36 PM, 07/15/2009
    I agree with Carole. We should be VERY grateful for the rain and lack of drought. Things were getting so bad there with year after year of little rain, that our flowers were becoming harder and harder to maintain. I like hummingbirds too. :)
    — juliabellagio
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:01 AM, 07/17/2009
    Monarda is best planted in the back of a border, with shorter plants in front to hide the mildewed foliage. Ornamental grasses (not Miscanthus, which is invasive), Coneflowers, Rudbeckia.
    — pootershow


3 comments
About Virginia A. Smith
Ginny Smith, a Philadelphia native, worked as a reporter at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Ohio – with six short months at the end of the Bulletin tossed in – before returning to Philadelphia in 1985 to join the Inquirer. Her favorite beats here have included Center City, roving around Pennsylvania (and getting paid for it!) and alternative medicine. She’s also been City Editor and Pennsylvania Editor. Ginny has been happily writing – and learning - about gardening fulltime since 2006. She’s won two silver medals of achievement from the national Garden Writers Association and in 2011, Bartram’s Garden honored her with its Green Exemplar award for her stories about “the region’s deeply rooted horticultural history, cultural attractions and bountiful gardens.”
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