Digging In: We’re Not in Control

By Jennifer Smith

As I write this, the drizzle continues to come down as it has for weeks, or at least it feels like weeks. It was a cool and wet spring, and summer is starting out rainy as well. This year reminds me, and every other gardener in the area, that we are not as in control of our gardens as we think we are. 

After many years gardening, I know that plants don’t always return. Some are short-lived perennials and some are more susceptible to changes in the weather. Plants are living things, and sometimes plants simply fail. It’s our responsibility to investigate why a plant fails. 

Learning from what doesn’t work is as valuable as learning from our successes.  I was surprised at the loss of a few Nepeta ‘Walkers Low’. Everywhere else they are thriving, almost to an annoying degree, but in one spot, nothing: They’ve ceased to exist. A closer examination of the garden’s topography revealed why we had the loss. The plants were at the bottom of the slope in a somewhat shallow depression. That subtle dip in the soil coupled with a very long, cold, wet winter and spring was just enough to seal their fate. There was too much moisture settling in that spot of the garden for the plants that I want to grow there. 

It’s a disappointment, but not the end of the world. The loss of a few plants was just the motivation I needed to amend the garden space to create better drainage.  Or if I want to change it up, I could source plants that would not mind the site as it is. It’s a small space, one that requires very little time and material to alter to my liking. But, if this was a large area of the garden, more than one could amend in a few hours, that’s when you should consider shifting gears and studying which plants would do well in the site as it is.  

One of the best rules of gardening is: the right plant for the space. And, if I may add, pick your battles wisely. Tweaks in the growing conditions here and there for small plants is one thing, trying to completely alter our garden’s growing conditions to support plants that are so far removed from what would easily grow in the space as it is, is a battle I would not want to take on. There are caveats to this rule. If amending the soil once is enough to prep the site, go for it. Such is the case when we remove the sod, till and work in soil amendments. 

We select plants that will like how we prepared the site. However, when we need to constantly alter the pH of a garden or continuously water a naturally dry space to accommodate a thirsty plant, now we’ve created an unnecessary garden task. So….. back to my amended spot for the Nepeta. If they carry on this year and next, that’s great. But if they fail again, I will select a different plant for that space. 

So why share about my losses? Too many new gardeners live in fear that a plant will be lost. They read the books, researched the plants, did everything right, (so they thought) and most likely they did, but the plant still failed to thrive. Gardening, my friends, is not for the faint of heart and for those requiring complete control. I believe that that’s why you hear gardeners saying they are experimenting with plants. Gardening reminds us that we are not in control, it’s the weather, bugs — good and bad bugs — and the plants that are in control. We are participants, helpers in the garden and if we pay attention to what is and isn’t thriving, we will find success.  

Jennifer Smith is an award-winning pollinator garden designer with Wimberg Landscaping.