The garden has its own mind

Linda Frost
Reporter

Spring! It never gets old. Stepping out into the garden each morning I feel the same degree of thrill I did when clutching that first packet of seeds at the age of 5. Of course, it can happen to you at any age. One day, you wake up helplessly enslaved by The Garden — a good thing — a love that follows you wherever you go, no matter how many gardens you left behind. And now, you are a mountain gardener.

Mountain gardeners are cautious, like deer. Knowing the capricious nature of our mountain we step out slowly each spring patient, observing this year’s weather and conditions.

Working in a wildland, we consider how best to allow the garden to become what it wants to be while creating something that also suits our needs for beauty, healing, rest and dreams. We make intentions rather than plans.

No hurry. We choose with care. With so many “high speed” things in our lives it is comforting to engage in an activity where “the slower the better” is a good motto. Our gardens require lots of patient listening to what the garden wants to be. Every spring, I delight in observing what changes my garden has decided to make for herself. Patches of Shasta Daisy migrate gradually into new territory, Aspens spring up, changing the flow of the path. Milkweed has its own mind, refusing to remain in the carefully tended central plot and raising children in areas I considered hopelessly rocky, full of gravel and weeds.

Patches of Violets appear like unexpected kindness all over the yard, while Toad Wort, unstoppable for years, resigns. Elecampane multiplies and conquers, and faithful Valerian, already 3 feet tall and beginning to send up its spectacular 5-foot flower spikes by mid-May populates anywhere it finds a bare spot and some moisture.

A great way to see which plants are successful near you is to do what we all enjoy so very much, walking around, gawking at our neighbors’ gardens in all seasons. I have never met a gardener yet who told me to get lost, or who refused to tell me the answer to “What is that gorgeous plant?” They may even give you a clipping

In her book, “The Garden Awakening,” Mary Reynolds writes, “Working with rather than against your land is vital, your overall goal being to restore harmony and balance.” One way of achieving this (and saving a lot of time, energy and money) is in choosing which plants will thrive and survive with both our unique climate and with the native wildlife.

One of the greatest lessons the garden is teaching me is that I am not and never will be in charge. It’s taking me a long time to learn that. However, I do get to make some choices, and which new plants to try, is one of the most delicious!

Here is a short list of hardy perennials that with a bit of care seldom let you down. For a minimum of effort, they give a great and satisfying return of blooms and lush foliage. All of them are very critter resistant — not generally snacked upon by deer, rabbits, or squirrels. Of course, if animals get hungry enough, they will eat anything, but with these plants it is unusual, and if eaten, they usually bounce back.

All the perennials on this list are frost-hardy, most to 40 below zero. All can handle some or a lot of shade. Most will spread out and multiply, forming large clumps you can divide into the rest of your garden and/or share with your friends. There are many more perennials that fall into this category, but to avoid “nursery overwhelm,” here are just a few favorites that all complement one another.

Lamb’s Ears (Stachys byzantina): I don’t know where I would be without Lamb’s ears. Practically unkillable and almost zero-maintenance, they look good even in early spring, quickly producing clumps of soft, silvery foliage to accent early blooming Iris and Columbine. Mid-season, they send up stunning silver and pink flower spikes that look amazing interspersed with other perennials. And of course, you can pet them. They are easy to divide. Get some from a neighbor. Maintenance: Very low.

Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum sp.): There are so many varieties of Shastas in all shapes and sizes: some are early spring bloomers and some wait until late July to start their show. You can have them almost all season long. They are tough as nails, spread nicely and clumps are easy to divide. They are hungry and appreciate some good organic fertilizer a couple of times a season. Maintenance: Low.

Catmint (Nepeta): There are many gorgeous varieties here too, including the one that makes cats act even crazier than usual, (if that’s even possible,) and a tincture of which is the main ingredient in natural mosquito repellent. Blue Hill (Blauhügel) is a 2-3-foot-high gorgeous variety that makes great mounds of blue-gray foliage and sends up masses of purple-blue flower spikes in June. No plant is hardier. Cut it back after bloom and it will probably bloom again. Maintenance: Low.

Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla mollis): A true English garden staple that works well in the mountains. Lady’s Mantle forms mounds of spectacular ruffled lily-pad like leaves that quickly spread to fill in those bald spots even in deep shade. I’ve seen it growing inside a rotten log. In late spring, it sends up chartreuse flower spikes, but the real appeal is that gorgeous foliage, soft green, inverted umbrellas that when wet, glisten with jewel-like beads of water.

Lady’s Mantle is beautiful as a border, for instance, around Nepeta and Valerian rubra, a pink-flowering variety of Valerian. Lady’s Mantle can live 25-plus years. Maintenance: Very low.

Iris. These bloom best in full sun but will take a little shade. The best part is you can get lots of them for free from anyone who grows them as they need to be divided often. Fertilize twice, once when the leaves come out of the ground in early spring and once again when the flower scapes first appear. When they are done blooming, they go dormant and need little water until near the end of the season when they start putting out new leaves. Maintenance: Medium. Needs division every other year for the best bloom.

Monarda (Bee Balm): This is a fabulous, tougher-than-it-looks perennial that is popular with all pollinators and loved by butterflies, bees and people. It is easy to transplant. Maintenance: Very low.

Common Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata): Yes, these are the flowers that Monarch butterflies not only love to slurp nectar from, but also lay their eggs on. You can watch their colorful, stripy, caterpillars grow, then watch them make a chrysalis, and wave to them as they take off on their amazing migration to warmer climates for the winter.

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa): This is the kind mostly sold in nurseries and has different needs from common milkweed, so check with your nursery person for details. Important: Always ask if their plants were ever treated with neonicotinoids as this chemical is very harmful to butterflies and birds. If it has, best to skip it as the plant may retain traces of this chemical.

Milkweed is mostly pest-free. If something is eating your milkweed, rejoice! It’s a Monarch caterpillar. Milkweed sap is poisonous to everything else. You will have to look hard to find her! Though they are brightly colored, they blend in and are hard to see.

Common milkweed is difficult to transplant or divide due to a long tap root, and this is probably the reason it is seldom seen in nurseries. You can collect some seeds from local wild specimens and plant barely covered on damp growing medium. Keep them moist and they should sprout within a month. The young plants will need protection over their first winter if planted in summer. Bring them inside and grow them under a light. They are worth the trouble. A milkweed plant can live for 25 years or more.

Stonecrop (Sedum): There are many types — tall, short and medium. Sedums are mostly grown for their lovely, colored foliage, but they also are a pollinator hero because they make beautiful flowers in early fall when nothing much else is blooming. This is a bumblebee favorite and is incredibly easy to propagate — just break a piece off and stick it in the ground. Maintenance: Low.

Hardy Geranium (Cranesbill Geranium): This is not the stuff your mom called Geraniums and put in pots and hanging baskets. Those are a plant called Pelargonium which is not hardy and not actually a Geranium. Cranesbill Geraniums also do well in pots and half-barrels. They are incredibly tough and yet so delicate and graceful looking. All types of hardy geranium are showstoppers and are also some of the first perennials to bloom in the spring. Maintenance: Low.

Salvia (Sage): There is perennial salvia and annual salvia. Both are great choices for the mountain garden. Low maintenance and not terribly picky about soil, they are a must-have. Note: Annual salvia will bloom all season, so don’t turn your nose up at this annual even if you prefer perennials.

Columbine (Aquilegia): This is that graceful flower we all fell in love with in the first place! Did you know that when your Columbine finishes blooming you can chop the whole plant off 6 inches from the ground, (Fertilize. It is a heavy feeder.) and it will immediately pop back out and rebloom? Amazing. Sometimes very hungry rabbits will do this chore for you. Don’t worry, Columbine will be right back! They will self-seed and you can move the babies around easily to where you want them. Older plants don’t transplant well. Maintenance: Low.

Are you a perennial snob? Don’t be! Annuals only live for one season, but they usually bloom their hearts out for months and sometimes self-seed and come back next year. A few hardy annuals that are extremely easy to grow from seed and fairly pest-free are:

Scabiosa (Black Knight): This or any other variety is stunning mixed in with your other flowers, especially Shasta Daisies, which also help to hold them upright as they tend to flop.

Ammi Majus (Bishop’s Flower, False Queen Anne’s Lace): This is a lovely, tall baby’s breath type flower wonderful in bouquets and not invasive, though they will self-seed. Every seed in the packet is going to come up. You will have a hundred of these, so spread the joy.

Except for Ami Majus (and I don’t know why), it is easy to find these annuals for sale at your local nursery, or a good way to end up with a lot of these annuals for very little money is to start them inside in a container a few weeks ahead of when you want to plant them out. Even if crowded, they are easy to separate and all transplant well. Each annual seed packet will produce many, many seedlings that you can stick in the gaps in your garden. These varieties will not mind freezing temperatures or being snowed on once you harden them off.

Happy gardening!