Shade garden with hosta, heuchera and pink cranesbill
Summer is finally here. We went from fifty degree weather to the high eighties. It is also very humid and the garden just exploded. All of the plants that were waiting for the sun seemed to become full grown overnight!
The shade garden has really filled out and in fact, should be thinned a bit to let the air circulate better. The hosta plants are full and lush and the cranesbill is blooming a beautiful pink. They are growing beneath some white crabapple trees that are nearly finished blooming and the dappled shade seems to provide just enough light for them to thrive.
On the sunny side of the yard, the allium are blooming, both the large versions and the smaller chives which are part of this garden. In a happy accident, the lilacs are blooming at the same time and the purple color of the allium, creeping flocks and the purple iris lead your eye through the garden to the lilacs at the far end.
I do have a problem with the Globemaster allium. They are supposed to be really big and of course they cost more. I planted a few and they were spectacular the first couple of years. However this year, they have more flowers, but each flower is much smaller (more like a globe servant than a master). Not at all the look I was going for. You can really tell the difference between the new taller one that was planted last fall and the Globemaster plants from the previous years.
Does anyone know why that happened?
Sunny front garden with allium, creeping flocks, iris and lilac
What are your recommendations for “thinning” a garden? how thin? how do you know it needs thinning?
I usually thin the garden when it looks like everything is touching and there are no breaks to rest the eye. I think it is better visually and it also allows air to circulate a bit to prevent a lot of the fungus problems.
I think the bulbs have gone the way of tulip bulbs…great blooms early on and then declining. Have you fertilized them?
I did put some bulb food on them in early spring, but perhaps they need more even more. I am going to try a second application on some of them and check on the progress next spring.
Mine did the same thing and maybe it is because the bulbs when they are together are smaller than they were when they were only one or maybe two bulbs. My daffodils do that when they get too crowded.
I hope that is not the issue, since I am trying for a big purple statement. I sprinkled bulb fertilizer on them on this spring and then put a flower spike meant for bulbs next to each allium when they started to bloom. If that doesn’t work, next year I will dig them up and separate the bulbs.