saturday bliss

Cool air moved through Indy on Friday night, and creating the perfect day to garden on Saturday.

I ignored the two big piles of wood, cut from the front garden's trees a week before that are stacked under the trees. Both stacks are in places where I am making new beds, so it is good if they kill any grass or weeds growing in those spots. Still, I must deal with them this month.

But not this past weekend.

Instead, I weeded beds, dug out Japanese anemones that have sprouted back in areas where I had removed them in early spring, giving plants to a neighbor.

I thinned out some lambs ear (stachys byzantium) that had taken off to vigorously, crowding out other plants.

As I looked at my garden, I realized that I am paying for a tendency I have when I plant a new garden. I often err on planting too closely.

I had large patches of dirt in the garden, and hate even more large patches of mulch.

You cannot do this with shrubs or trees. Planting those require plotting out space for growth.

But perennials are another story. They need to be divided from time to time, and now some of my two and three year old perennials are bumping against each other. So much of Saturday was spent re-adjusting a bit plants that are either not in their blooming cycle or about to start their blooming cycle.

Hardcore dividing is best saved for the cool weather. Moving plants, with rootball intact, on a cool day, is not so serious.

I have divided certain plants in the middle of summer. But this requires putting the plant in intensive care, keeping it watered, cutting it back severely, and nursing it through the adjustment while nature, through a hot sun, is making all plants work harder. So I don't suggest doing this kind of division work in late June through August, with the major exception being bearded irises. Irises should be divided in early August. To wait later is to disturb the growth of next year's flower.