Freak out!

It occurs to me that I haven’t been obsessing about Garden Walk nearly as much as I usually do. The summer has flown by—and I can scarcely believe the event is NEXT WEEKEND! So a little freaking out is in order.

The main thing is the former rose bed (now has perennials, a couple roses, clematis, and lots of lilies). Except that it isn’t a bed. Or a border. It’s more like a bricked-in corral. Yes. The OK Corral. Where murder and mayhem happen every single day, not just one afternoon. Currently, the towering rudbeckias (better view a couple posts down, here at extreme right) are effectively blocking view of the heliopsis and trumpet lilies, so I’ve been twisting plants around using stakes. You almost have to treat it like a big, crowded vase, where everything has to be arranged just so. But it’s not just that. I am going for a purple, yellow, and white scheme, but I have a climbing red rose that must stay. So much for that, as it is now putting on a huge growth spurt, and will not be denied its moment. Plus there is a red clematis (its red clashing hideously of course with the rose).

Then I had to decide which was uglier, the meadow rue or the sidalcea. This is really close, but I decided I had been hating the sidalcea for much longer, so that will be ripped out, to be replaced by Russian sage (furthering the doomed purple, white, yellow scheme).


This is depressing, so I’ll continue the freak outs later, ending this first one with a truly monstrous weeding imperative. They are everywhere, between the flagstones throughout and in every bed. My husband says he’ll pull all the flagstone ones, but I know his back will give out before he’s even a quarter of the way through. So that’s me too. It’s not just Garden Walk either—Susan and Michele are visiting for the weekend, and I imagine a few other bloggers (I know Apple and her sister, for example).

It will be great! But this week will be hell. Tomorrow I’ll post about all the money I’ve spent.