Gardening Woes and Thrills 2008
Trillium
It has always been the aim of this writer not to dwell on the negative, but as I sit here in front of this empty screen, today I deviate. We no longer garden as we did a few years ago and, apparently, it is just as well what with the droughts of recent years. As you’ve been told numerous times before we only have a well to furnish water and we do enjoy a bath now and then – so we do not (or cannot) water the plants as they need to be watered.
Early last spring when the Huntsville Botanical Garden was developing a new Trillium Trail I donated lots of corms for them to use. In digging the corms of my special one, called Grandiflorum, we separated the remaining ones and put them into a new bed. John also built a new Trillium bed up near the sun porch and we put in lots of different varieties – supposedly for us to enjoy more easily. Well – what in the world is wrong is more than I can understand. Is it the cold weather? Could it be the result of last year’s drought? Maybe we have not had enough rain this winter to do the trick, but anyway the plants are not coming up and if they do they just stand there. I am heartsick! It makes me wish I had never allowed the beautiful bed of Grandiflorum to be disturbed; but I thought it was the fair thing to do to share. At least there are a few plants in the Huntsville Botanical Garden that many people can enjoy for years to come.
We were so excited to be invited to a special event at the HBG last week. They honored people who had made donations to their new Trillium Trail and we fit into that category. One and just one of our plants we donated bloomed for the occasion, but we were thrilled to even see that one strut its stuff. It was a thrilling day and we saw other gardeners that we seldom see. Part of that Trail is a memorial garden for a Tennessee gardener that we all dearly loved and enjoyed visiting. A few years ago she left this world while working in her Trillium garden – just the way she would have wanted it. The developer and research person, Harold Holmes, did a marvelous speech about the beloved plant and then gave a demonstration about how to propagate. It’s educational to just sit and listen to what Harold has to say. Most Trillium grows one to a place; however, mine grow in clusters and he is amazed at that. Last year he brought one corm here and put in it the ground himself – he wants to see if it clusters here or if it grows singularly. This will be an interesting experiment – that is if it comes up – so far it is not out of the ground. He goes on rescue missions far and near to dig corms in front of bulldozers and the like. I’ve forgotten how many different species are in the HBG, but all total there are about 7,000 plants. When the plants have time to get established that will be a sight to behold in the spring. If you are at all interested, it would be a trip worth your time and $3.00 gasoline.
Being so worried about my plants I’ve talked to gardeners in other parts of Alabama about their plants. My friend in Boaz has about the same problem I have; however, she does have one beautiful blooming plant – but that’s out of many dozens she has in her garden. A Gardendale gardener is experiencing similar problems, as well. I wonder if the corms are still in the ground or did they dwindle away without water last fall. Are they just late in coming up? We have question after question.
There were two Trillium varieties I really wanted and I found both in a catalog we received last fall. The plants were $22.00 each and shipping was to be $19.50. Wow!! I deliberated over and over about ordering them. Should I or should I not? Finally, I decided just spend more of our children’s inheritance and placed the order. I eagerly awaited the plants to be shipped in March. They arrived at the promised time. That’s what I like about ordering from Plants Delight – they charge more, but they ship good plants and ship when promised. I was so excited and John and I put the little plants (each with a bloom) in the ground and then left to do an errand. Would you believe when we returned this blankety, blank dog had eaten one of them!!!!!! Ugh. He is driving nails in his coffin and just don’t know it. I don’t know if we will ever live to get him grown or not, but he has done some more damage. He definitely is a vegetarian – he eats turnips and cabbage leaves. John has had to put cages around the young cabbage in the garden to keep him from eating them. He aspires to do gardening, too, I guess as he digs holes, but never puts anything in them. Why is he digging?
The vegetable garden is underway – John has potatoes, beans and corn in the ground. We have two freezers that are filled now ant I don’t know where we’ll put anything else, but nevertheless here we go again.
Gardening is definitely a gamble – we have rolled the dice, but so far this year we have not had the luck we would have liked; however, this is just part of country living.