Bum
Information Number Four: This
is another of the most regrettable
gardening mis-information myths around! "Oh," more
than a few deceivers
and uninformed phony-experts and low-talent (inexperienced and poorly trained) garden writers proclaim, "forget
about all that work every spring of planting dozens and dozens of
annuals and bedding plants! Plant perennials once and you can just sit back
and enjoy the colors and textures and fragrances that faithfully return every
year... making your garden more and more beautiful...almost forever!"
Pure bunkum. A ludicrously false
collection of statements. Yet honestly believed by a remarkably high
percentage of shoppers in nurseries, garden centers and box-stores. The ones
who are weary from the seemingly never ending expense—not to mention the
annual chore—of spring cleanup, soil refurbishing (if that ever
happens at all), planting, deadheading (again: if that ever
happens at all) and weekly sprinklings of some
theoretically-miracle-working plant food.
So they buy into the fantasy,
root out all those annuals, and then spend a small fortune on
perennials—probably thoroughly unsuited to their gardens' growing
conditions—which some salary-motivated and equally misinformed big-box store
employee assures them will always look beautiful and work absolute wonders in
their gardens. Admirers from all around, they're told, would go out of their usual way to
come bask in the horticultural beauty for years to come.
Yes, it is true, that first full season
can be inspiring and beautiful—even if lacking in the magnificence of
maturity. Yes, there's still a little effort needed to keep it looking
its best. Of course there'll be a few weeds here and there to pull. And,
naturally, at least a little water and fertilizer—and perhaps a few slug
pellets—may need to be applied. That's generally accepted no matter what
sort of garden one devotes him- or herself to.
But then, as succeeding springs
arrive, the myth is exposed...a reality that's distressing—if not bordering
on painful. It's not so much the weeds now sharing resources with those pricy
perennials; it's not even the unanticipated cleanup of coarse stems sticking
up all over the place near season-end; or the never-before-seen insects that overwintered
beneath fallen foliage and flowers.
Worse is the near absence of
bare soil...the space between plants will have disappeared beneath a thick
carpet of invasive roots, runners and overwhelmingly aggressive seedlings much
more vigorous—and unattractive—than their parents... many trying desperately
to get in your back door or down the chimney.
If a perennial bed or border is
to endure per a gardener's original intent, an incredible annual (perennial,
actually) task awaits, offering the specter of a lot of digging,
dividing, soil rebuilding, replanting...and unwelcome exhaustion.
Well...yes...most perennials
are beautiful; most are long-lasting; most can be taught discipline; and a
great many perennial borders can last decades. Just don't get the idea
that you'll be able to sit back and relax while they take care of themselves.
That's not ever going to happen—regardless of the claims of
misinformed friends, so-called gardening "experts" and only
marginally-trained salespersons.
