Ink & Penstemon

For most people across the U.S., winter seems fast approaching. Gratefully, I’ve not had snow here yet. With October done, almost everything is in the ground. I finally got around to transplanting or dividing what I call my “prolifics,” a class of plant that you can grow with no effort at all but that you can’t seem to get rid of when you don’t want it anymore. Nepeta cataria ‘Six Hills Giant’ finally got divided, although it was a brutal affair. Nepeta is a bit woody around the base and doesn’t take to division well. I think I will start these from cuttings in the future. The profuse seedlings of Echinops ritro ruthenicus were transplanted elsewhere and I still have loads more to find homes for. Also ticked off the list were the mystery pink bearded Irises I love. I know I should have moved the Iris in August, but here we are. I also found that the ‘Helen Elizabeth’ oriental poppy was crowding out the Alchemilla. The Alchemilla is easier to transplant than the Papaver, so that got dug and divided. 

There is the odd bulb that still needs planting. The tools need cleaning and putting away. Covering everything up with salvaged leaf fall from neighbor’s yards and compost application is really all that needs doing. It’s all just maintenance and soil work. It’s the most important work to be done in the garden, but for me it’s the most tedious. I’ve never understood the pleasure in scrubbing pots, sharpening tools, or in digging in amendments. I suspect the people who enjoy these activities also enjoy dusting. Soil work is the least enjoyable. I think even the garden resents it. Spiders and worms look downright offended when I disturb their winter preparations in bulb excavations. I’ll be spreading compost and chopped leaves around over the next couple weeks, but will pass on any treatment that recommends forking or digging it in. Life is too short, and the plants will get the humus eventually.

I’d much rather make the rounds with what is blooming, however scarce blooms may be. Everything is waning. The last of the autumn roses are here but are collapsing under daily waves of frost. The Crocus sativus finally decided to make a showing now that it’s going to snow soon. The Crocus sativus ‘Cashmeranus’ is also coming up. The claim is that ‘Cashmeranus’ is supposed to be more free flowering than the species, but from what I see, it is in fact less. Granted it is its first season, but still, I’m not impressed. The only solution as I can see it is to plant more next August.

And why did I not order more bulbs this year? Besides having no money, as if a dedicated gardener ever let that stop them, I decided to listen to those garden sages who keep saying “more plants, fewer varieties.” In a bulb order that translates to only two varieties of tulip, ‘Big Chief’ and ‘Passionale’; two varieties of Narcissus, ‘Sweet Love’ and ‘Jack Snipe’;  white festival hyacinths, and Puschkinia. Granted, I ordered at least 100 or more of each, but I feel somewhat miserly about the lack of variety. We’ll see how I feel when I survey the results come spring.