Author: Alice Massey

It’s that shoulder season again, that time between the mad riot of spring color in the garden and just before the burst of summer flowers. By the mid-June, we are in a short slump until the perennials start to really strut their stuff.

In the spring a gardener’s fancy turns to the nearest garden center. Who can resist the lure of the newest colors and cultivars? Not me.

The thunder rumbled all night and I could tell the flashes of lightening were disturbing my visiting in-laws. There was a lot of rumbling going on in the guest room also – along with a few shrieks whenever an unusually loud clap of thunder shook the house. Although the noise from the storm was loud and long, the hours and hours of rain were oh, so welcome in the garden.

As I look back on 2016, it could be said my garden was in a holding pattern. There were times when it seemed to go a step ahead then two steps back, another step ahead then plateau. Freaky weather means freaky growing patterns. We can try and replicate the ideal conditions but nothing works better than the real thing. Evenly moist soil and moderate temperatures are, I’m afraid, just ideals.  

Oh my, where to start? Like most of you, I was gobsmacked by Hurricane Matthew. He was simply not kind to our gardens – or our homes. Cleaning up afterwards was overwhelming, wasn’t it? The storm came at us with wind, copious rain, a salty storm surge and, ouch, it toppled large trees, crushing our homes, our shrubbery and everything else under a canopy of branches. The clean up, besides being exhaustive, will be lengthy and it will take even longer to evaluate the true extent of the damage to our gardens.

After being out of town for two weeks I was delighted to return and find cooler mornings for the first time in many months. Yes, it is still hot as blazes during the day but the mornings are giving me hope.   I am sure this feeling is similar to what those from the far north feel like when the snow begins to melt. It’s a sign, and a good one at that.

What’s a gardener to do? I’ve been wringing my hands to deal with the angst. Not terribly effective, I can assure you, but it is too hot to do anything else.

Maybe this should have been called the sticky on summer gardening. It is steamy out there and if you dally too long it can be downright uncomfortable. No one wants to be pulling weeds when the beach is calling or a cool paddle through the marshes has a much better ring to it.  

The garden centers are chock full with a dazzling array of colorful plants well suited for sunny locations right now. They are right out front and center where they blind you with their glittering colors and shapes.

Sometimes you just need a graceful vertical element in your garden. A well placed vine can be used as a focal point or perhaps to screen something unsightly. Caution and careful planning are the watchwords however; you don’t want to deal with something like Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors.