If I could turn back the clock and just have a little chat with my younger self, just as he took his first tentative gardening steps I would say this: “Embrace failure”
I loved this articles. After all what Gardener doesn't want to hear of others' failures to feel better about our own 🤣 I'm one of those unfortunate souls who forms attachments to individual plants, I remember where I bought them and what was going on at a time so every loss is hard hitting and mourned almost as intensely as a loff of a pet ... I do embrace lessons but what I can't stand is when a plant perishes for no apparent reason and I can't figure out what went wrong. Most of the time I know what happened. But I have a few, usually we'll established plants that just die after 3-5 years of thriving and those losses hit particularly hard as I can never figure out what went wrong.
Thank you very much Katherine. I understand completely. The not knowing is a torment! Sometimes they just do. Some plants are short-lived as I found out too. Lupins, Delphiniums, Agastache, Euphorbias... A few years of Stella performance and then gone.
This post is making my heart sing! I love how you are bringing your willingness to experiment to the garden.
I’m a bit similar to you in relation to viewing it as a whole.
Biggest fail? Not realising how pervasive ground elder is. It’s spread from the bottom of the garden by the burn up into a couple of flowerbeds. I didn’t stay on top of it and now those beds are going to have to be dug up completely, roots washed, and replanted. And as the ground elder is coming from the neighbours, I’m going to practice keeping on top of it and liking instead of hating it (possibly easier said than done!)
Oh yes! Ground elder is a great one. Turn your back on it for five minutes and bam! It’s everywhere! Really hard to manage when it’s from coming from a neighbour. Same here. Coming from the adjacent bridleway. It’s all you can do to just keep weeding it back. Best of luck to us both!
Thank you for an interesting read again Elliott. I do form an attachment to my plants, they mean something to me, when I bought them, who bought them for me, lots of different reasons. I'm sad when they die.
My biggest failure is not being able to keep on top of bindweed, ground elder and brambles.
Thank you for reading Helen. I think we're all guilty of that little misdemeanour. My ground elder is a constant bane. Bindweed is just constantly pulled to weaken it. We only have so much time and so much energy, don't we?
Actually Elliott, I do have a failure. I pot up cuttings too early after they have rooted. I lost all three of my Annabelle hydrangeas over the winter. I was gutted.
Such an interesting article and very helpful to learn from others mistakes 😬🤭. I have lost a lot of plants from my initial planting in our new garden. Totally the wrong plants for the space and soil. Big lesson learned was right plant for the right place. I also operate in a survival of the fittest policy. If it’s too tender or temperamental to survive I replace it with something else. I don’t have the time or inclination to be spending hours looking after a plant 😅. My big conundrum is a Gertrude Jekyll climbing rose that I need to move as the fence it is growing against is coming down to allow sun to reach my soon to be installed greenhouse. It’s growing beautifully and I suspect I am about to kill it by having to prune it further and move it to another wall. Fingers crossed it survives the experience. If it doesn’t, it shall just have to be replaced 😬.
Thank you very much Natalie. And thank you for sharing your pain. They are hard lessons to learn, but good to learn early on. Yes, survival of the fittest is exactly the same mentality here. Sustainable too.
The Gertrude is an interesting one. I think if you move it now, before in full growth it should be ok. Or could it grown up an obelisk in its current spot? Just a thought as it's not a large climber.
I loved this articles. After all what Gardener doesn't want to hear of others' failures to feel better about our own 🤣 I'm one of those unfortunate souls who forms attachments to individual plants, I remember where I bought them and what was going on at a time so every loss is hard hitting and mourned almost as intensely as a loff of a pet ... I do embrace lessons but what I can't stand is when a plant perishes for no apparent reason and I can't figure out what went wrong. Most of the time I know what happened. But I have a few, usually we'll established plants that just die after 3-5 years of thriving and those losses hit particularly hard as I can never figure out what went wrong.
Thank you very much Katherine. I understand completely. The not knowing is a torment! Sometimes they just do. Some plants are short-lived as I found out too. Lupins, Delphiniums, Agastache, Euphorbias... A few years of Stella performance and then gone.
This post is making my heart sing! I love how you are bringing your willingness to experiment to the garden.
I’m a bit similar to you in relation to viewing it as a whole.
Biggest fail? Not realising how pervasive ground elder is. It’s spread from the bottom of the garden by the burn up into a couple of flowerbeds. I didn’t stay on top of it and now those beds are going to have to be dug up completely, roots washed, and replanted. And as the ground elder is coming from the neighbours, I’m going to practice keeping on top of it and liking instead of hating it (possibly easier said than done!)
Ah, thank you so much. That’s really appreciated!
Oh yes! Ground elder is a great one. Turn your back on it for five minutes and bam! It’s everywhere! Really hard to manage when it’s from coming from a neighbour. Same here. Coming from the adjacent bridleway. It’s all you can do to just keep weeding it back. Best of luck to us both!
That's a really helpful tip about roses, thanks 😊
Thank you! I’ve learned a good lesson there 😂
Thank you for an interesting read again Elliott. I do form an attachment to my plants, they mean something to me, when I bought them, who bought them for me, lots of different reasons. I'm sad when they die.
My biggest failure is not being able to keep on top of bindweed, ground elder and brambles.
Thank you for reading Helen. I think we're all guilty of that little misdemeanour. My ground elder is a constant bane. Bindweed is just constantly pulled to weaken it. We only have so much time and so much energy, don't we?
Actually Elliott, I do have a failure. I pot up cuttings too early after they have rooted. I lost all three of my Annabelle hydrangeas over the winter. I was gutted.
Oh no! Been there. I lost a whole batch of salvias doing the same. I’m good with sowing seeds but my cutting game needs a lot of work 😂
🤦♀️😂
Such an interesting article and very helpful to learn from others mistakes 😬🤭. I have lost a lot of plants from my initial planting in our new garden. Totally the wrong plants for the space and soil. Big lesson learned was right plant for the right place. I also operate in a survival of the fittest policy. If it’s too tender or temperamental to survive I replace it with something else. I don’t have the time or inclination to be spending hours looking after a plant 😅. My big conundrum is a Gertrude Jekyll climbing rose that I need to move as the fence it is growing against is coming down to allow sun to reach my soon to be installed greenhouse. It’s growing beautifully and I suspect I am about to kill it by having to prune it further and move it to another wall. Fingers crossed it survives the experience. If it doesn’t, it shall just have to be replaced 😬.
Thank you very much Natalie. And thank you for sharing your pain. They are hard lessons to learn, but good to learn early on. Yes, survival of the fittest is exactly the same mentality here. Sustainable too.
The Gertrude is an interesting one. I think if you move it now, before in full growth it should be ok. Or could it grown up an obelisk in its current spot? Just a thought as it's not a large climber.