I try very hard to buy the right plant for the right spot. For example - I purchased a Buddleia (Buddleja) Nanho Purple for the corner of my yard, to anchor the perennial beds that run along the side and front of my property. Nanho Purple, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden, the plant tag, Dave's Garden and several other sources, grows to between 3 and 6 foot. Big but not massive.
Right.
Here's my Nanho Purple now. I'm starting to worry that it will hit the overhead wires soon.
All right, so someone mislabeled the plant. Everyone is entitled to a mistake now and then.
Here's another Buddleia (Buddleja). I ordered this one on-line as Evil Ways. It grows to be 3-4 foot (again using MULTIPLE web sites for information).
Ummm.
One more. How about Cornus Garden Glow (a shrub dogwood)? With a mature height of 5-6 foot. Perfect for under the kitchen window (which is about 8 foot off the ground).
Damn.
I'm having problems seeing out the kitchen window into the backyard. Think we can move this?
What's really frustrating is that I bought these three plants (and my [not pictured] "annual" Sanbucus Black Lace [a 6-7 foot tall shrub]) at DIFFERENT PLACES. I can't even just say that one garden center has a problem with labeling. The problem is more wide spread. Three different Local Garden Centers and one (well respected) mail order catalog.
The Husband chalks this problem up to my overly green thumbs. It's true that most of the plants in my yard reach the maximum size they're reported to reach (or a bit more) but these are clearly not my "fault."
What is a gardener to do?
It's long been my belief that most gardening "experts" are nothing of the sort. I read so much misinformation about plants that I believe only what my eyes tell me. My particular beef is nurseries that sell so-called deer-resistant plants. In my yard there is almost nothing of the sort! Except for Buddleia. It truly is deer-proof so I have tons of them. My experience is that they can't be killed and some people hack them down to the ground each spring, after which they will grow back to head-level by mid-summer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with The Husband. It is your fault, you and your green thumbS and your wonderful garden soil. Everything you grow prospers. Sorry. Get out the hedge clippers.
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One who knows you