The other day, for some unknown reason, I was reminiscing about our move to Oregon in 2001. That led me to thinking about the time a few years later when we had a tsunami warning that turned out to be a false alarm. But we had loaded pets and pictures into the car to wait out the all-clear, leaving my "English Cottage by the Sea" to the rages of that sea. That was a hard thing for me to accept at the time.
Flash forward to today and I got to wondering: in a perfect world, where I had another garden waiting for me on high ground and lots of time to dig up plants, what would I choose to save?
A lot of my plants were given to me by friends and that alone makes them special. But I am certain those very same friends would happily share their plants should my garden be wiped out. So, I was led to plants I have bought because I loved them.
Ah. This complicated things. If I had to choose, would it be the Japanese maple we bought as an anniversary gift in Washington twenty years ago? Or the one I found last year that I was enchanted with when I saw its lovely variegated leaves in the nursery? Or the coral bark maple that lends so much color in the winter? Or are trees too big to bother with?
My hosta are just beginning to break ground, so I couldn’t choose which one I like best until they are up and in full leaf. My heuchera are all over the garden, and I love the wide varieties of leaf colors that are being bred these days. The Heuchera ‘Crème Brule’ or the H. ‘Pinot Gris’? Hard to choose my favorite. I suppose if I had time, I would want to save one of each. And of course, the hellebores. Which of those would I choose to save?
Then there are the roses. I do love my ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ and 'Munstead Wood' roses because of their scent and pretty pink/deep red colors. The blooms are so full and abundant each year that it would be hard to leave “Gert” and "Woody" at the mercy of the waves. But with their thorns and root systems, it would also be difficult to dig them up. The other roses in the garden are pretty but not as special to me. So, I would probably pass on taking the roses, too.
Clematis! I almost forgot about the clematis. Clematis are my favorite way of getting some height into the garden as well as having lovely blooms that last for weeks. My Clematis ‘Paniculata’ climbs over all sorts of shrubs and trees. She has small, white flowers and blooms in the fall, making it look like snow has fallen on the boxwood. But she is aggressive, and to pull her off of the shrubs would be an effort as it is each spring when I prune her. Same with the 'Warwick Rose' that climbs the front arbor and into the shrubs behind it. So, no time to do that before the waves roll in.
Many of my other perennials and ornamental grasses have too large a root system to dig out in a hurry. So the day lilies, fuchsia, and Miscanthus ‘Little Kitten’ grass will have to stay, too. Which doesn’t leave much left to try to dig up and move.
I think I will stick with the dog and photos. And count on replenishing my gardens with a little help from my friends. Hopefully, it won't ever come to that.
Comments