I have confessions to make – aside from occasionally cheating on my diet, I’m a lazy, unmotivated gardener. Especially this time of year.  It’s mid-August and it hasn’t rained in two or three weeks. That means the soil is hard as a rock, and dusty, and you almost need a crowbar to pull out a weed. Success is hard to come by.

Garden Success

Plus, we’ve been having really hot days with high humidity. This means heat advisories with the heat index up around 105 F.     Now, I could get up at dawn, go out and work for two or three hours, but that’s where being unmotivated comes in.  Besides having to pry myself out of a comfy bed, I have to douse myself with insect repellant, which is my least favorite part of gardening.

But, in spite of my currently negative attitude, I know I will happily go outside and garden once autumn gets here, with cooler days and maybe even a little rain.  Besides, I have a few small successes to tell you about.

You know that old saying, “Perennials sleep, creep, then leap”?  That’s what the Millennial alliums have done.  When the Millennial allium was named the 2018 “Plant of the Year”, of course I had to buy it.

I have to admit, I thought, “THIS is the “Plant of the Year”???”. To be honest, it didn’t look like much. It resembled chives, with small, slender, green leaves, nothing to get excited about.  But it didn’t die, it wasn’t eaten by deer, rabbits, or voles, and it did just fine with or without rain – all of which are very important characteristics!

It was a couple of years before it bloomed – maybe two or three blossoms.  So, I thought, “Okay…it’s worth buying a few more.”

A Year Later

Fast forward another year and there are six which have increased in size and thriving in my front garden with dozens of blooms.  Even when the blooms fade, the dried blossoms still provide visual interest.  I will be buying and / or dividing the Millennial allium in the future!

Another small success:  for some unknown and probably miraculous reason, the voles are not eating my hostas anymore!  I had applied bobcat urine (in liquid and in crystal form) this spring, but there were a few hostas I’d overlooked because they hadn’t sprouted yet.  But (keeping my fingers crossed) the varmints haven’t bothered them very much.

I had one gardener tell me that after they had their  lawn aerated, re-seeded, then treated professionally with fertilizer, insecticide and broadleaf herbicide, their hostas were no longer bothered. Wonderful Husband is  now on his second year of rehabilitating our yard. As you know, it was mostly bare where not covered in clover, dandelions and other “weeds”. Now, the lawn is looking somewhat better and maybe the voles have decided to move away.  I was philosophically opposed to turning our yard into a suburban, monoculture of lawn, but maybe, just maybe, the process may have protected my hostas.

PS – As I was finishing writing this blog, a gentle rain started.  Life is good!

Stay Green, Good Friends!