We have really had some awesome weather around here lately. It’s the kind of days and evenings that definitely remind me of summer in northern Minnesota.
It is weather like this that helps me gain perspective on gardening here. Now, finally, after having lived here in Texas for more than 14 years and having been gardening for the past 6 or 7, I think I have finally come to realize that plants here in Texas thrive at completely different times than they do up north. Okay, it’s not really that I’ve just figured it out; it’s that I’ve finally decided to accept it.
It is weather like this that helps me gain perspective on gardening here. Now, finally, after having lived here in Texas for more than 14 years and having been gardening for the past 6 or 7, I think I have finally come to realize that plants here in Texas thrive at completely different times than they do up north. Okay, it’s not really that I’ve just figured it out; it’s that I’ve finally decided to accept it.
Purple coneflowers and a wealth of other plants that are "summer plants" up north are really “spring plants" here in North Texas. I can grow them here, I just can’t expect them to do well past the fourth of July. This is exactly what makes gardening around here so dang hard for me! How do I plant for year-round beauty when I was raised in a place where gardening practically began and ended from Memorial Weekend to Labor Day weekend?
And, tell me exactly what plants do well around here past the fourth of July anyway? That’s just about the time everything starts going on the downhill slide and we still have a good two to three months left of summer. Hot, dry and, did I mention the hottest months left of summer?
Each year I gain a little more knowledge about what works well in the heat of July, August and September. And, every year I try to apply that knowledge. The problem is I just love the plants of springtime. I’m trying very hard to appreciate it all and enjoy each season for its own beauty. Even if it means that my springtime beauties are dead and gone until next year.
And, tell me exactly what plants do well around here past the fourth of July anyway? That’s just about the time everything starts going on the downhill slide and we still have a good two to three months left of summer. Hot, dry and, did I mention the hottest months left of summer?
Each year I gain a little more knowledge about what works well in the heat of July, August and September. And, every year I try to apply that knowledge. The problem is I just love the plants of springtime. I’m trying very hard to appreciate it all and enjoy each season for its own beauty. Even if it means that my springtime beauties are dead and gone until next year.
Tonight, I am enjoying the new blooms and foliage of springtime in North Texas. Even if that means that some of them will be shortlived. I guess that's what they mean when they say, "enjoy the moment." I think it will be my new gardening mantra.
