notes and musings from a perennial gardener
The Main Buzz
I once received a greeting card that said, “Every pan is a no-stick pan if you no-cook in it!” Actually I love to cook, but you get it. Here’s my co-opted garden version:
“Every bothersome plant is no bother at all if you don’t plant it!”
Weeds aside, every gardener can name a few cultivars they aren’t particularly fond of, and some are downright despised. I’m no exception. Of course there’s no right or wrong about this; everyone is entitled to their own tastes, positive and negative.
With the recent warm spell, aconite, crocus, snowdrops and hellebores are springing forth in all their lovely glory. I do hope you’ve had a chance to glimpse the early risers up close and personal. They are so fleeting we have to make the effort to appreciate them before they fade away or get zapped by freezing temps.
The squirrels found and ate all the snowdrop bulbs I planted last fall, but they did let my “tommy” crocus alone. Crocus tommasinianus are the only crocus species that squirrels are not as likely to dig up, so I didn’t even attempt others. I learned the hard way years ago that trying to grow crocus with squirrels around is a losing combination — for me, that is.
Bleeding Heart (Lamprocapnos, formerly Dicentra) never fails to enchant us each spring with strings of little heart-shaped flowers, dangling like so many lockets on a vintage charm bracelet.
If you don’t already grow one of these beauties, maybe now’s the time. Planting a bleeding heart is a lovely way to honor someone’s memory if you’ve recently lost a loved one, or a pet. Perhaps you just enjoy romantic and nostalgic things. Long lived and totally carefree, bleeding hearts unfurl their charms each spring to delight us for a few brief weeks, then softly fade away.