May 22 , 2008
From the producer: 30 April 2025
“ Perhaps more than most , the farmer or the gardener understands that his control is always something of a fiction , depending as it does on luck and weather and much else that is beyond his control . It is only the suspension of disbelief that allows him to implant again every spring , to wade out into the season ’s precariousness . . . ( The gardener ) eventually discover that every advance in his ascendance of the garden is also an invitation to a new disorder . ” Excerpts from Michael Pollan ’s The Botany of Desire .
I register this segment just a few hours before thundering hail had us leaping out of bed . This burry pear cactus left his umbrella in the car .
From hail and wind instrument to aphids and grasshoppers that fall our piece of work , I reckon that gardener are the biggest risk takers out there . We jump out into the wilds of our yards and take a chance . Our struggles merely reincarnate our dedication to figuring it out : how to make a garden . Just when we intend we have a clue , we realize that we ’re merely silent better half in the overall corporation .
But in my case on hail night , by from general killing , that cactus and this caladium I express you last calendar week were the most severe casualties .
My car Scooter got the worst of it , but at least a tree did n’t descend on him , or crash through our kitchen , and we did n’t lose power like some of our viewers . His dent , like his headliner punch , will be part of his story .
On taking chances , I charter one a few yr ago when I could n’t stand firm the latest affair , a Salvia greggii ‘ Teresa , ’ and planted it in the seam alongside Amelia ’s fencing . There ’s really too much shade for her , but she seems happy , and the bee and butterflies are , too .
To the leftfield is a Salvia leucantha , with Hamelia patens ( flaming bush or hummingbird bush ) just now return from wintertime dormancy . In a month or so , it will be 4′ tall , and as the estrus comes on , flower with classifiable coppery red . They ’d both prefer more sun , too ; in fact , they ’d like as much sun as they can get their hands on . But they ’re hanging in there .
My minuscule dodging was for a twilight ensemble : Teresa ’s diffuse pinko and leucantha ’s lavender flowers - and by then silvery foliage - against Hamelia ’s fervour .
Just to the right field is Salvia ‘ Indigo Spires ’ .
Originally , I plant it in too much shade under the Chinese pistache ( now home to the shrimp flora ) . I moved it out to the end of that layer , and then it got too much sun . Fed up , I dig out it out and was heading for the compost hatful . On the way , I discover a blank outer space underneath the Rusty blackhaw viburnum at the end of Amelia ’s fence bed . Since I detest to institutionalize anyone to the compost passel , I scrabbled out a hole and threw it in . Bingo ! It found its perfect , well-chosen place , where it ’s grown like gaga for two long time . Indeed , nature is in charge ; all we have to do is take heed .
This week ’s program was exalt by a viewer ’s question about hostas . Jeff Yarbrough fromThe Emerald Gardengives us a tour of shade - lover , from hostas and hydrangeas to other endearing textures . learned works lovers like Jeff remind me how lucky we are to have our locally based nursery .
Here ’s a hydrangea I check on the Windsor Park Garden tour . I certainly hope to videotape this garden , and get you the scoop on this gardener ’s achiever with this huge viewpoint of them !
On CTG ’s tour this calendar week , we visit Brent Henry , a talented new gardener who forecast things out fairly darn fast for his suspicious space ( and is planting more , I screw , even as I write this ! ) . Not only did he inspire me , I get a undecomposed laugh when he commented that CTG gardens “ tend to have cats in them . ” I kidded him that he should have borrowed one . But really , I assure you , I have NOTHING to do with the cats that show up in our videos !
Speaking of , here ’s Cedric supervising dinner party .
Seven year ago , he showed up on the patio and decide he was home . Like gardening , there are other life - alter events out of our control , and Cedric is definitely one of them . And , when he project out how to blog with pussy , he ’ll be commit one to Brent very shortly ( not his own , of course ) .
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