I never shut off “garden analysis mode”. Never.
I am evaluating when I take the dog out for a walk.
I am studying when I take the garbage to the curb.
I am projecting plant growth three years into the future as I throw the football with my son.
I am mentally relocating shrubs while burning the chicken on the grill.
The entire exercise is more of a curse than a blessing. While it keeps my mind active and stokes the creative fire, I can never shut it off. I am thinking about the hideous state of my Sneezeweed plants as I type this sentence (more on that in an upcoming post – Grrrrrrr).
But what I have discovered over the last three years while authoring this blog, is that this type of affliction makes for good post fodder. I feel better as I pour my heart out and hopefully, you can relate in some way, leave me a kind comment to let me know I’m not alone and we can all sleep well at night. Win/Win … actually, Win/Win/Win/Win.
With that in mind, I’d like to introduce a new blog series that ideally, will accomplish what I just outlined in the previous paragraph. I am calling it “I Have to Friggin Move That”. It may be the simple relocation of an ornamental grass to a more strategic locale or the moving of an overgrown conifer or even the violent upheaval of a bunch of perennials that are making it difficult for me to concentrate on anything else.
You get the idea.
So now I will provide you with the first story in a series that will not only force me to take the appropriate corrective actions so I have blog material, but will also stimulate gardening conversation. That is always a good thing.
Please take a close look at the two shrubs in the middle of the photo below:
Actually, here is a closer shot of said shrubs that will drive home my point in a much more obvious way:
The shrub on the left is a Viburnum ‘Aurora’ and the shrub on the right is Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’. I see these two shrubs each and every day as I walk up my front walkway. They have been together for a few months now, ever since I relocated the Viburnum to a deer-free zone back in the Spring. I was only getting two to three blooms on this gem of a deciduous shrub each April as the deer were nipping off the buds in Summer/Fall.
I have been brutally unhappy with this pairing as they are too similar in leaf shape, color and overall size. Because of that, they look really bad situated next to each other. Like really bad. Like a good gardener would never dream of that combo bad. On top of that, I am way down on ‘Endless Summer’ as the blooms are always weak and the shrub itself fails to impress year after year. I have been moving that Hydrangea in my mind for too long and I needed to take action for my own sanity.
And I finally friggin did it:
The Hydrangea was moved to a location where it will have one last chance to show me that it is worth keeping and I moved an Arborvitae ‘Sherwood Frost’ a few feet from its prior location. The Viburnum and the Arborvitae will now have sufficient room to grow and there is a nice contrast in texture between the two new bedfellows:
I have lost the love for Arborvitaes over the past few years but this one caught my eye with its variegated foliage and white “frost” on the new growth. I especially look forward to seeing how it performs in the Winter:
The entire work effort took about ten minutes but it was oh so worth it.
Check another one off. I’ll be able to sleep just a little bit better tonight knowing this is officially off of the mental to-do list.
I’m in the same camp. I’m itching to move my Joe Pye Weed. Despite a heavy Prune in June attempt, its still colossal. I’m planning to move it next Spring.
While I am always in “garden analysis mode”, my biggest affliction is “THEY have to move that…”. I can’t drive a block without looking at someone else’s landscape and getting peeved someone / some landscaper put a huge flowering cherry right next to a house or put arborvitae out in an unprotected yard. Ugh. I can’t turn it off and it drives me crazy.
I know exactly how you feel. I stare at my front garden every time I leave the house on an errand, knowing something will jump out at me as needing to be done, or moved, or staked, or….I don’t know, it’s a sickness. Kudos to you for finally getting around to moving your Hydrangea.
I don’t think we can stop moving plants…sometimes I move things around and almost instantly think…hmmm…I should actually move it over about 2″ to the left…it’s crazy. I actually started my mental moving gave last weekend…I have about a dozen plants that are getting shifted around in the next few weeks…FUN!
That reminds me that I really need to move my Drift Red carpet roses out from under the now mature purple beautyberry shrubs. It didn’t start out like that and I thought I’d given all the babies enough room… I know, it’s the same story every gardener tells. The miniature red rose buds deserve to shine on their own, they’re getting lost where they currently are.
I think maybe I’ll also move some of my bearded irises in front of the beautyberries for a contrast in color and foliage. I already have some to the side of one of the shrubs, and it looks nice.
I am a relatively new gardener, still astonished when something I selected and planted actually grows. Posts like these give me the courage to correct my placement mistakes. I am going to move the too big nepeta, the too red daylily, and the row of sunburnt hosta. Thanks!
Jane Baldwin
I think you’re gonna have a lot of company on this one. Like Scott says above sometimes I’m sure 2″ is going to make all the difference!
It seems like I am forever transplanting/moving plants/shrubs from one area to another for various reasons.
I have been thinking that I am a very poor planner, because I do not foresee how things will look after a while.
If I could just stop moving things and do it right in the first place, I would have more time to do other fun things….like weeding for example. Ha!
You’re NOT alone, John!!
It looks like if you wanted to start a meme on this, you would have plenty of participants (including me)! I actually love moving my plants around, much more fun than weeding.
I think this affliction is even worse in the winter when you have nothing to do but wait, plan, and draw out ideal combinations of plants (according to bloom time, height, and color) on your garden map version 4.3), and then cross reference it with your Excel spreadsheet to make sure you know everything about what the plant SHOULD do once it’s warm again. That’s not just me, is it? 🙂
Maybe you should set the series up as a meme. I’m sure you’d have a lot of joiners, myself among them. Just yesterday, I jotted a note to write a blog post on all of my planned fall planting moves (if for no other reason that to keep them in mind before they slip out of the sieve I call my brain).