Garden Katha: To Plant or Not to Plant

(with apologies to William Shakespeare)

It is finally here. Memorial Day. AKA planting season kick-off. 

The question: to plant or not? If yes, what kind? If no, what then? 

Question: How often do I have to water my flowers? Can I just water them when I water my lawn?

Given the galore of questions and bowing to the popular clamor, I have gathered some oft-asked ones along with the uncommon ones.

Question: All this time I have a lawn with some trees and shrubs in my garden. I would like to see some flowers too. What should I keep in mind when I plant? Are annuals or perennials better? 

Certainly a great question full of angst and agony. A simple answer? Actually, there is no such thing.

Annuals will give you instant color and texture, as if the garden has blossomed overnight. It is as easy to go the nearest garden center or farm-stand or any other store that carries six-packs of bright cheerful flowers and foliage and pick up as much as you can carry and plant.  Some even carry twelve-packs and more. From the geraniums, the bacopias, the marigolds, the petunias, the pansies, the black-eyed susans, impatiens, to the vincas, the morning glories, the dusty millers, the sweet potato vines, the sunflowers, the choice is unlimited and it is yours.  A weekend spent outdoors digging and planting will breathe color into your green landscape – almost instantaneously. And they multiply and spread! Perfect for when you have just moved into a new house or have a rushed summer.  

Perennials give credence to that old saying good things come to those who wait. They take longer to proliferate and fill in those oh so awkward spaces.  â€œSleep, creep, weep” as someone once aptly described the process of the perennial. The first year these species seem to be in some state of somnolence, spreading very little. The year after, they seem to double. The single plant you had put down seems to have spawned a few youngsters. The sleeper is kind of creeping toward that awkward bare spot. The third year when you are ready to dig it up and throw it into the compost heap or worse the trash, lo and behold! the plant seems to have taken off weeping copious blossoms, the kind that you sometimes see in catalogues.  Be it the rose or the daylily, or the irises, the asters, the Shasta daisies, the Lenten rose or hellebores, the hostas, the dianthus, the pot-of –gold, or the scillas, the good news is that these will come back year after year multiplying so much so that you will be digging out some, begging the neighbors to take away!

 Question: I went to a nursery and saw some plants called shade plants. I thought all plants needed sun. What kind of plants are these? Do they flower?

You are right! Plants, like all living species, do need light. Shade plants just do not need as much. In fact, these thrive better away from the direct sun under a tree or a tall shrub, or under the eaves. Hard to believe, but some plants actually flourish in the dappled shade beneath a tall tree. The broad daylight is not for these. They prefer the privacy and space under the branches and leaves than to broad daylight. And yes, many of them flower. From the lily of the valley, the astilbe, the hosta, the columbine to the heuchera, the pulmonaria, the primrose, the Japanese painted fern, and the jack-in-the pulpit, all blossom in seclusion. None of the madness of the noonday sun needed here.   

Question: How often do I have to water my flowers? Can I just water them when I water my lawn?

A profound question. You water as needed.  Lawns need an inch of water a week. Flowers need almost as much. Water deep as they say. Is there a rule of thumb? How do you know if you are watering enough? Not too much, not too little.

Water slowly so that it seeps into find its way to the very end of the roots, gradually saturating the plant and the surrounding soil. The well-watered plant will stand upright. A droopy one means it is time to turn on the hose!

So make the best of Mem Day. Relax, enjoy the sun, take a deep breath, and decide: to plant or not to plant.

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