Gardening Resolutions for the New Year

Here it is January 4th and I’ve already achieved two of my resolutions for 2008: I maintained my weight over the holidays and I put in my order for a Golden Dragon Clivia.

Gardening resolutions? Why not? They’re more fun than the other kind. I’ve got a loosely organized plan for the grounds immediately surrounding the house, but we have neither the time nor the purse to get it done all at once. I enjoy watching the garden evolve as I see how closely it grows into the picture in my mind. As with many gardeners, the picture keeps changing.

Next in line is my resolution to select climbing roses for the arbor. My list is too long, but at least I can choose among a half-dozen wonderful selections. I’ve also succumbed to the charms of the Late Dutch honeysuckle, Lonicera serotina Florida, but have yet to choose a clematis.

My next resolution is to get to Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve www.bhwp.org for their spring sale and see what kind of blue natives might be suitable for my blue garden.

And lastly, to do “something” with the two side gardens. More deconstruction/construction is scheduled for the west side of the house. Dan and I don’t speak the same language there. He says: “Don’t put anything here, I’m not done yet.” I say, “If we don’t get them into the ground within the next week, they’re going to die.”

The garden on the east has gotten ahead of me, so I know I’ll be pulling stilt grass for a while. Never did figure out what to do about the pokeweed that the robins love so much (could eat it, but then there would be no berries for the birds). Strawberries from here will be moved to the berm on the west, where there is more sun --- and more critters to snatch the berries and run. But the objective is to get them growing as a groundcover to compete with the crown vetch we keep digging out.

Have to order some tomato ladders to keep the fruits away from the groundhogs. Maybe a cucumber trellis, too. On a smaller scale, I’ll need to check the progress of the lavender garden to see what I might need to add or replace. Then, there are those 25 cedar trees volunteering in the front flowerbed that I need to move to the berm as screening.

This might sound like a to-do list, or a shopping list, but I assure you these are my New Year’s Resolutions. Why not make some you are happy to keep?

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