The Restless Gardener

Why "restless"? Well, it's just me. Illinois to Mississippi; back to Illinois; to San Diego; to New Mexico; and now in the foothills of the Sierra. I don't stay put very well. And every place I've been, I've left plants behind. First, of course, I've had to learn to garden in that climate. In Mississippi, anything you stuck in the ground grew in the heat and humidity. The challenge was to be sure you put what you wanted where you wanted it and kept it there. Invasion was the name of the game. In San Diego, gardening is a breeze in the gentle climate. But some things like tulips and lilacs don't get enough cold to make it. New Mexico had sand and rock and summer monsoons to be contended with along with cold and wind.

So, it's May. In Illinois friend Yvonne is just setting out annuals. Spring is there. In North Carolina, daughter Monica may sunbathe today. It's the beginning of Summer. And here we're way past Spring and into the real heat already. This part of the world is a Mediterranean climate, and it makes no sense to folks who've never lived in that type of area. Our rains are over. Done until at least November. While the mid-West becomes unremittingly green, we will become progressively more brown. Only our stately old oaks and a few hardy shrubs retain their leaves. If you want color around your home, you must water. While the East is pleasantly washed in sun, we are hot, really hot.

Flora and fauna native here have learned to adapt. I'm still working on it.

Fortunately I am blessed with a bit of a green thumb. I'm known to throw out a bunch of mixed seeds and see what happens. Here, on a bank that I do water, old fashioned bachelor buttons and poppies like the morning sun and filtered shade cast by an old oak. The area is far enough from the oak's root system to make it OK to water. Watering our native oaks in summer will kill them for sure.


Again in the throw it out and see what happens vein, I don't even know what some of these are. I got a packet of shade and moisture loving seeds and pitched them in the few areas that may work for us. Most shade here is dry shade. These took just beneath a pistache tree that is still young and therefor gets watered.


And here, from the same seed packet, are delphiniums growing up through an out of bloom lilac. Funny. I've never planted delphiniums 'cuz I refuse to mess with staking, etc. But these are happy growing up through the lilac foliage.


A hybrid of a native is this chilopsis. It's heat loving and will put out these brightly colored tubular blooms all summer. Look carefully for the white dog in this picture.



This is a native I am told is very hard to grow, foot hill penstemon. It likes very lean, sandy or gravelly soil. It's planted in fill dirt that is rock, DG, and other non-rich soil. It's new and seems to be thriving. I'll have to be careful not to overwater in summer.



This is a Texas native called Texas Red Yucca. I'm not a big yucca fan, but this one is literally a hummingbird magnet. This shoot is about 3 feet tall, it's first year blooming, and next year will probably be 4 feet or more.


And butterfly bush is already blooming. A lesson learned here! I'll be trimming this baby, and the other 2 I planted, back almost to the base each fall. This one is about 7 feet tall. I had trimmed it back to about 4 feet last fall, and it took off way more than I expected. They can actually be invasive here, so I'll have to watch it. I do love how it draws betterflies and hummers though.


So, I've done my outside work for the day. Pulled a few weeds, trimmed a bit, put water out for birds and added to that in the fountain. Now it's too hot for man or beast and I'm in for the day. Hope you are loving wherever YOU are!