Melina’s 2024 Growing Season

A gardener reflects on a tough year, and the ways her garden got her through

Hi GPODers !

Over the years , it has become a scrap of a custom to get a year - in - review from Melina Mantey in Washington ( Check out some of her submission from years past : Melina ’s Seattle Area Garden , Looking Back on Last twelvemonth and Ahead to This Year , andA Love / Hate Relationship With the conclusion of the Season ) . This year ’s reflexion is particularly especial , as the beginning of the 2024 spring up time of year coincided with the birthing of her first youngster . However , this incredible blessing come with some heartbreaking challenges that gave her a whole new perspective on her metre in the garden .

teach more : garden Through Challenges

Sometimes we ask our garden more than our gardens require us . I say that as someone who lives in an area of the land that receive almost no rain in the summertime , and over - works most of her garden beds . I know my garden needs me , especially right now as I depend out at borders and lawn litter in long brown pine needles . It ’s a ocean of Robert Brown in desperate pauperism of a clean - up . And when the winding and rain die down I will be out there with a rake , but for now a petty background on my 2024 gardening season .

I gave parentage to my first fry , a daughter , on March 14th of this past year . I undergo an emergency c - section and my daughter proceed to have two stints in the NICU in her first 3 weeks of life . The first immediately after birth , and the second two workweek afterward ( She is do it 7 months erstwhile , and has passed all checkups with flee colors ) .

But for anyone who has had a c - section , you will know what that conversation vocalize like with the discharge nanny : “ Here is a list of things you ca n’t do , include ride and your canonic menage job . ” Now , I ’ll give up vacuuming for as long as you need me to , but it was March and I ’m a nurseryman . I remember await at my hubby and looking back at the nursemaid and sound out : “ Give me something I can do out in the garden . I need something . ” She line out some parameters that I felt like I could “ mostly ” stay in , and I think “ OK . It ’s a starting situation . ”

I want my garden this class ; my soul needed the garden . I was a first time parent whose daughter had almost give out doubly in her first hebdomad of animation . I was also heavy entrenched in postpartum depression , and test to make sense of the spot surrounding my girl ’s birthing . The lean of chores was prospicient , as it always is that prison term of year , but my pauperization for it was bigger . So I took it a mean solar day at a meter and tackle small bit here and there . Some thing got plant extremely tardily , like my dahlias — and therefore fail to really prosper — but overall I look back and ca n’t think everything I accomplished out there . Adding new landscape , dribble irrigation , mature my own tomato plant , planting up pots and hanging baskets , weeding , etc . It all got done . And do n’t occupy , I ’ve healed up just OK from surgery . I did everything under the watchful gaze of my husband and baby daughter , but more importantly my soul has done a heap of healing along the way . I ’ve look out my window this twelvemonth at my garden and take in it through the lens of what I was able to do rather then what I could n’t do , and it has been a refreshing change from the person who usually critiques the blank patch and struggling plants . I go for you are all as as majestic of yourselves this class , no matter what did or did not get done , because the journey matters just as much as the end result .

Now we are back to that prospicient list of chores that come as we all get ready to put the garden to bed for the season ( although as a geographical zone 8b/9a nurseryman my time of year is quite long ) , and I am so ready to get begin … just give me a blood , a rainwater jacket , and a nice long Napoleon from my daughter . Enjoy the chore this fall season ! I go for they convey you peacefulness , healing , very dirty hands , and perhaps a raw works or two ( wink , pin sale , wink ) .

Here are a few standout plants in the pic below : Feather Falls ™ sedge(Carex‘ET CRX01’,Zones 6–9),Eclipse ® hydrangea(Hydrangea macrophylla‘Bailmacseven’,Zones 5–9)(I used the “ I had a babe ” line to win over my husband to let me get it ) , Endless Summer ® hydrangeas(Hydrangea macrophylla‘Bailmer’,Zones 4–9),All Gold Nipponese forest grass(Hakonechloamacra‘All Gold’,Zones 4–9),Ukigumo Nipponese maple(Acerpalmatum‘Ukigumo’,Zones 5–9),Autumn Joy sedum(Hylotelephium‘Herbstfreude ’ , Zones 3–11).And the following Proven Winners ® yearly : Campfire ® Marshmallow ™ bidens , Supertunia Vista ® Jazzberry ® petunias , Superbena ® Raspberry verbena , two-fold impatients , and Supertunia ® Saffron Finch ™ petunias .

Melina address these her “ fall standouts ” , and I absolutely understand why . Pink is always a winning color for the autumnal time of year , and this bed is absolutely explode with it . On the left side you’re able to see the classic Autumn Joy sedum that she mentions above as a favorite from this year .

There is plenty of spook in Melina ’s garden , but she finds pot of lush and colourful plants to bring interest and life to those dimmed corner . This lucullan layer features a hydrangea focal point with All Gold Japanese forest grass , hostas , and a mix of other foliage plants .

TheEclipse ® hydrangeawas absolutely worth every minute of convincing Melina had to do . The gorgeous bloom and black foliage make it a winner in every garden .

The bountiful flower Blue Endless Summer ® hydrangeas is another sure - flak garden stunner .

A garden pool in her garden is dead cover in gorgeous planting . Ogon grass ( Acorusgramineus‘Ogon’,Zones 5–11 ) is a smashing centrepiece , but there are so many gravid foliage plants here . I also love the addition of a Nipponese maple in a beautiful dismal pot , and the contrasting pinkish begonia on the opposite side .

Another field in the garden that gets accentuate by excellent grasses is another shadowy seam . Feather Falls ™ sedge gets paired with bunches of pink , orangish , and peach impatients and begonias as well as an abundance of other shade - loving plants .

Melina also make sensational annual container with incredible color . This overflowing Wiley Post has her favorites : Superbena ® Raspberry verbena , Supertunia ® Saffron Finch ™ Petunia , and Campfire ® Marshmallow ™ bidens .

Another great container combination . Two shades of pinkish double impatients looks everlasting with imperial nemesia and pops of white sweet-scented alyssum ( Lobularia maritima , annaul ) .

The last container Melina shared is a bountiful suspension basket . Bursts of frosty New Look dust-covered miller ( Senecio bicolor cineraria‘New Look ’ , one-year ) are a fabulous line to the bright Supertunia Vista ® Jazzberry ® and Supertunia ® Hoopla ® Vivid Orchid ™ petunias .

And one net view of Melina ’s garden , we see a lovely border bed full of incredible late - season interest . pocket of pinkish flowers are a great coupling with a Ukigumo Japanese maple ( another one of Melina ’s stand - out plant ) .

Have pic to share ? We ’d hump to see your garden , a finical collection of plants you love , or a terrific garden you had the chance to visit !

To give in , send 5 - 10 exposure to[email protected]along with some entropy about the plant in the pictures and where you shoot the photos . We ’d love to hear where you are turn up , how long you ’ve been gardening , successes you are proud of , failures you teach from , hopes for the hereafter , favourite plants , or laughable stories from your garden .

Have a mobile earphone ? dog your photos onFacebook , InstagramorTwitterwith # FineGardening !

garden pond with Ogon grass

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