The Ruthless Gardener

Warning! There will be no pretty gardening photos in the post….so be forewarned!

I was considering titling this "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" But there's only bad and ugly here. One of the lessons I'm learning quickly is that when you have a small garden every inch counts. Gone are the days I could plan sweeping beds and try a multitude of plants. I'm not complaining, we live a wonderful life and I put in a full week at work but I've still got lots to learn about cottage gardening!

In the past I could afford to let plants take a few years to settle in or maybe I'd move them to another location. Here in our darling cottage garden I'm becoming much more ruthless. A few spindly daffodil leaves and some blind tulips? (Tulips that don't bloom are called "blind") You're outta here!

This is Lamiastrum "Hermann's Pride" planted just last year in lovely soil. 

Shame shame Hermann, no pride here.

See that little spec in the middle? It's Hermann's Pride again. The Hosta are loving the location. So I've got to fault Hermann. Too bad because it's such a lovely plant when it's happy.

Seeing these bare spots I know I lost something here too, I added some Labrador violets in hopes they spread to fill in the holes.

Anemone tomentosa "Robustissima" not looking too robust to me. In the past I've had Anemone's go wild, will have to look for a different cultivar as I love their fall blooms.

Phlox is blooming all over my neighborhood, huge billowing massive drifts of phlox. Here in my garden it's half the size it was when I bought it last year. No bueno, move over baby there's a Heuchera waiting for that spot.

Here you can see the hardy Geranium cantabrigense "Karmina" and golden Oregano. Both are growing like gang busters but right in the middle was pretty Dianthus planted there last spring. With the cost of perennials today I won't bother to replace it, in a few weeks the surrounding plants will fill this spot which gets plenty of sun and water.

Today was cold and rainy, a challenging day for gardening but I managed to visit and photograph two of my favorite places here on Long Island. I'll post the photos on my other blog www.melaniesperennials.blogspot.com

Next post will be a pretty one, I promise.

Melanie