Then Again…Maybe..

I probably do a lot of things wrong as a gardener.  I don’t always, ok scratch that, I hardly ever follow planting instructions, except in the most broadest sense.  You know like I don’t place a sun loving plant in full shade, or a water loving plant in dry sand.  I never dig the hole ‘x’ number of times bigger, or mound soil just so, I just just figure that tags are sort of like a general guideline, you know, if you plant this plant in these conditions, here’s what it will do.  Anything different and you get different results, like maybe it won’t be as tall, or as aggressive or as wide…So far so good!
The thing is, at least in my yard, the conditions vary a lot,  For instance, even though it has had years and years of leaves deposited on it, my woodland area is under trees. That means that while I can amend the soil till I’m 100, it’s still going to be pretty dry.  Except for right now because it’s been raining almost daily and so that ground is nice and moist. Things are thriving in there like crazy, plants that have adapted to the drier conditions are thinking they hit the lottery.  Then there is the area that gets ‘full sun’ now it’s not full on sun all day, but it gets close to 5 hours worth, some of it morning, some of it late afternoon. That bed, that bed stays moist, as in in the winter sometimes it heaves the plants right out of the ground.  Well right now, bog lovers would do well, but my “I like my feet moist but not floating thank you” plants are showing their displeasure with wilted tops and in some cases delayed growth. Nothing I can do about it, they have to lump it or leave it at this point.  The conditions will change, it will at some point (or maybe not) stop raining everyday and the ground will dry some and all will be ‘normal’.  Again. Maybe.
Things in a garden are never stagnant. It changes not only based on what you do as a gardener but based on the weather and on nature in general.  Did a tree fall, or a large plant die back?  Did you get more rain or less snow? Was it a warm winter a cold spring?  All these things can cause a plant to live or die and in the end even if you planted it in the most perfect location, it’s still a crap shoot!
Happy Gardening!