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Getting Ready for Visitors
I recently got my gardens ready for visitors right around Father’s Day, which made me wonder what my dad might have said about them (he passed away long ago). Dad was a gardener who grew vegetables so he could eat them. Period. He was not interested in growing flowers. Or shrubs. Or decorative trees. But he appreciated nice gardens, and I think he would have liked how mine look right now – especially after my 72-hour blitz to get ready. Let me share with you my ideas about getting gardens ready for visitors.
First, since my gardens have been (ahem) a little under-maintained, I had to accept that they would not be perfect when company came. I knew I could make them look good, but that there would be flaws: weeds, empty spots, flowers that need staking, shrubs that need pruning. You get it. Fortunately other gardeners are forgiving since often their gardens are in a similar state of imperfection.
I think that hiring a college student, preferably an athlete, is good – especially if you’re not a kid anymore. Even a student who has never gardened before can push a wheelbarrow full of compost or mulch, or empty your wheelbarrow for you. That saves a lot of energy so that you, the gardener, can do the stuff that requires experience. Teach your helper to identify one or two designated weeds, and let her just go after them. Carlin, my helper, filled several wheelbarrows with nothing but jewel weed, which was everywhere.
Buy some annual flowers. As you pull out the golden rod and other big weeds that somehow escaped notice last summer, there will be empty spots that need filling. You can buy 4- or 6-packs of flowers to fill in the spaces without a big expenditure. Annuals are often in bloom when you buy them, and will bloom all summer if you cut off the spent flowers – and some don’t even require that. I bought marigolds, snapdragons, zinnias, asters, gazanias, gomphrena, and stock. Read the tags as to height and spacing, and have at it. Most do well in average soil, so you probably don’t even have to do much soil improvement.
Elephant ear (Colocasia spp.)
Think about buying one really dramatic annual. I spent $40 on a plant commonly known as “elephant ears”. It came in a 14-inch pot, stood32-inches tall and had a 48-inch spread. Elephant ear (Colocasia spp.) is a tropical plant that grows large green or purplish leaves and thrives in moist soils. They are grown in Cameroon (where I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1970s) as a food item – the roots are like yams. High in carbohydrate, low in flavor. And it’s so dramatic that visitors will ignore a few other flaws in my garden as they gush over this big, juicy plant. I didn≠t remove this big plant from the pot, just buried it up to the lip of the pot in the ground. Then this fall I can easily bring it inside without re-potting it.
Don≠t be afraid to move things around. My granddaughter, Casey Yunger, planted a 6-pack of dianthus last summer in her little garden bed here at my house. I thought it was an annual, but low and behold, it came back and produced 6 large blooming plants (each a foot across). I popped them out of the ground, and used them to fill in spaces. With the exception of big, deep rooted perennials like peonies and perennial poppies, most flowers don’t mind moving. I even moved a rose I’d had for over 15 years so that it would get more sun – and fill in an empty spot. Just move things a week before company comes, so plants will have adequate time to settle in.
Tie up floppers. Nothing looks worse than a nice perennial with gorgeous flowers that are lying in the dirt. I have tried every type of material for tying up plants, and prefer green plastic tape (not sticky) that comes on a roll; it’s about a quarter of inch wide. Unlike string, I can break it off the roll with my fingers. I generally use 3 bamboo stakes to tie up a good sized plant, running the plastic tape between the bamboos about two-thirds the way up the plant from its base.
Big urns of flowers can really dress up a garden, too. You can buy a hanging basket of flowers, and then transfer the contents into an appropriately-sized pot for a quick and dramatic spot of brightness.
I hate to admit it, but I found that a weed whacker (string trimmer) can be a terrific tool for garden clean-up. I’ve had one for a couple of years but never used it at all last summer – I hate loud machines. But a weed whacker really can make places near stone walls and buildings look much better – and quickly. I’m still a novice with a string trimmer, so I generally stay away from trees and flowers – they can damage plants in the blink of an eye (I have to admit to ruining places in my lawn while getting used to it).
And lastly, cut the lawn. A neat lawn – especially if you have edged the lawn around flower beds – gives an overall impression of order. So invite a group to visit your garden: it will force you to get it looking really great, and then you will enjoy it more all summer.