The gardening year in review: Highs and lows of 2019

Plants and people, of course, provided all the high points of our 2019 gardening year. The weather was the source of the low points, which seems to be the new normal judging by the last few years. 

GARDEN PEOPLE

The year began with the workshop that I hosted at my house on "recording" one's garden. It was a snowy Saturday but everyone showed up for the morning and afternoon sessions. This event was one of many free workshops offered by members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society for other members. I've hosted a few and attended a number of others. They are a great benefit to members and a big "thank-you" goes to whoever thought of doing this. Brilliant. 

We had a number of small groups stop by the garden as well as hosting members of the friends group of the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore who were visiting Midwestern gardens. We ended the summer with a party celebrating 25 years at this house. 

We also had a garden consult at the end of the summer on how aging gardeners should deal with their aging garden. I bought some shrubs at late season sales that I plunked into temporary locations as part of our plans to reduce maintenance. This winter I will need to spend some serous time looking at the garden, reading and planning about how Mark and I and the garden can all happily age in place. 

The first part of that process was to hire Tree Health Management to look at all our trees to determine their health and who should go and who gets to stay. That process is just getting underway with lots of decisions still to be made.

Looking ahead: The 2020 Garden Bloggers Fling will be held in Madison, so I hope to see you in my garden next June!

PLANTS: HIGH AND LOW POINTS

The low point was the plants that succumbed to another bad winter. Everywhere in the upper Midwest, including our garden, saw Burning Bushes (Euonymus) and Japanese Maples felled by the weather. One of our maples started to send out a bit of growth so we didn't cut it down. We'll see how it looks this spring to decide if it stays or goes.

The high point of the garden — literally and visually — had to be Thalictrum 'Splendide' which grew skyward into the branches of a Korean Maple where it put on a show for weeks. 

When this pale Martagon lily bloomed amidst a row of dark red ones for the second year in a row, I moved it to a bed across the garden where it can star instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. I'm looking forward to the result.

PROJECTS: Any project that gets completed is always a high point. Last year we had the electrical work that had been done for the Tsukubai water pot and the pond pump extended to the Tea House. An electrician took care of all that, but Mark was the one who re-soddded the grass feature that surrounds our deck. It looked great for all our garden visitors, though we are not sure if it is going to remain as a long term solution. One more thing to think about this winter. 

WEATHER AND CLIMATE: HIGH AND LOW POINTS

An increase in the amount of rain we typically get in southern Wisconsin as well as more intense storms is the ongoing weather news here. My garden managed to soak it all up and we had no serious problems with water in our basement. But farmers in this state barely managed to get crops planted or harvested because of standing water in their fields; very serious issues for our economy and for our food supply.

We had record snowfalls in October along with extreme cold — all happening when most trees still had their leaves. As a result we have a few trees that never turned color and did not drop their leaves in the usual fashion. A lot of leaves and honey locust pods all came down on top of the snow and wound up covering the garden once it melted. Not the most attractive view at the moment, though our dusting of snow on New Year's Eve did brighten things up.

Now it's on to the next gardening season — at least in my head for the next few months. 

Comments

[Barbara H.]

I guess the changing weather will be keeping us all on our toes! Gardens change with time, as do the gardeners, and that happens whether or not the gardener is "in charge". I guess maybe being "in charge" just means rolling with the punches and changing things up so the results are less drastic than they might be. Good luck with your garden planning. That's something I need to start thinking about, too.

[Lisa at Greenbow]

Sounds like you had a pretty good year despite the weather. Here's to a new gardening year.

[Loree / danger garden]

I guess it's time for me to share that I don't think I'll be doing the Fling this year. Of course that means I won't be in your garden in June, a fact that makes me very sad indeed.

[Kris P]

Your garden is a treasure, Linda! The effort you and Mark put into it really shows. Happy new year!

[Linda Brazill]

The good thing is that there is always another year in the garden!

[Linda Brazill]

I think I knew that; either you mentioned it before or I just figured with your book and other things it might not happen. Andrew needs to have some kind of work related conference here and you can come along!

[Linda Brazill]

Thanks for those kind words. I think it may be hard trying to figure out how to have the garden I want as the garden and I both age. It's been a lovely garden and I don't want to lose that, but I am going to have to go for more shrubs and fewer perennials.