Garden Season Canceled

I had hoped my recovery would follow a standard 6 weeks of non-weight bearing, some limited walking in a boot for a month after that, and almost normal function at least by late May. 

If I had that recovery schedule, with lots of help watering things, I could still plant all my new stuff before June and tend it through summer.

It's not going to happen. Everything I had meticulously planned and researched all winter is simply not going to occur. I have canceled the High Country Gardens and Bluestone orders. 

I may need surgery for the break and that means 8 weeks on the couch, no mobility, from the date of surgery -- hopefully scheduled before mid April. So 8 weeks means mid June before I'd have a walking cast for only very limited weight bearing. Then a gradual bit more weight bearing for the next 10 weeks, all through late summer.

I know I can get help from Andrea in the garden and Jim will help water and I could even hire garden labor. I could make my plans work somehow. But I'd really gone all out this year with new designs and spent over $900 at Bluestone and High Country Gardens on mail orders for 50 individual nursery plants needing care and installation. 

The High Country Gardens order, 2/3 of the plants, was scheduled to arrive around the 20th of this month, just over a week away.

I've never ordered that much at once for planting. This was an overenthusiastic revamp of my spaces.

The fuss and space to keep 50 nursery pots going til planting, the watering, the eventual placement and tending in the garden is too much. Too much to hire even, with all the detailed little things I was planning to move and install to make my gardens just so.

And the joy of the project would be utterly diminished if I hire it out. It's a relief not to even have to think about it now. Talk about "letting go".

It's a total scratch. I actually feel so much better about the cancellations -- I'll get refunds, and I can take the worry about how to manage it out of play while I figure out how to tend what I have already, which is no small need in itself.

Even the Gambel oaks and things I was trying to grow in the field are going to have to fend for themselves -- my vision there wasn't taking hold anyway.

And you know what? My plans were too much. 50 new plants! Total redesign! What was I thinking? 

I don't want a busy labor intensive garden, I just want a fuller more cohesive one. Let the stuff grow on that I already have, and I'll start my vision all over in 2027.

Which will probably change in a year anyway.

Coping . . . But

I am coping with my broken foot injury as best I can. It's still early days. It is a minimum of six or eight weeks to go with no weight bearing, but many more if I need surgery.

Thank goodness I got almost all the spring chores done during our warm February days. 

But I still have to trim back the rosemary and cut back the Blonde Ambition grasses and the one Japanese Forest grass. I'll need to ask Andrea to help with that. The Radio red salvias need potting up.

My biggest issue now, though is watering. 

I watered most stuff outdoors on February 24. It's been dry and no rain is forecast, so another watering two weeks after the last is needed. Mid March at the latest.

I need to hook up hoses and repair the front faucet - it leaks at the house junction and I can't tighten it. The leader hose has to be replaced to the hose around to the back.

Then I need someone to hose water the gardens and my pots.

I am thinking to ask Tommy Tapia, the handyman we've used, if I can hire him for a few hours to do those hose set up and watering chores. That would really help.

And Then . . .

I marvel each time I get something done in the garden -- I am 76 years old! It amazes me how I can still do the things I want to, slowly and not as vigorously. My garden is small, I can manage it.

But I'm very aware that could all change. That nagging thought is always with me even as I feel good about what I can still do.

And then . . .

I fell and broke my foot. Multiple breaks. I'm on crutches and in a full boot, with no weight bearing for 8 weeks.

After the Coates tree guys left I saw the brown pot I like nestled in the juniper under the cottonwood had been moved. I picked it up to move it back.

It was too heavy and I knew that. So I rolled it a bit, but then hefted it up to just totter a few feet with it. Just a few feet.

I crashed. I tumbled over, the pot hit my foot and I landed in a heap in the gravel. 

I am so mad at myself for lifting that thing when I knew I couldn't. I could have rolled it just the few more feet to its spot under the tree.

Now my garden chores and outdoor puttering on these warm late winter days are over. I'm inside, icing, elevating, and on crutches to go anywhere.

I'm not so amazed any more at my elderly capabilities in the garden.

Juniper Haircuts

Coates came and pruned the cottonwood and two of the junipers -- the tall skinny one by the garage door which was getting top heavy and the spreading Pfitzer juniper which was encroaching over onto the driveway.

Not inexpensive -- $1,900. Several guys were here for two hours. They did a nice enough job.

I was really hoping they could trim the spreading juniper by the driveway to look natural and I was concerned about getting it off the driveway. But neither was possible.

They did what they could, but it's not much of a difference, except it looks rounder. It does have a subtle shaped curve now. But instead of pruning out the bottom to keep a slightly arched look, they pruned the top edge and left the bottom still well out over the driveway.

So while it looks natural enough, the shape is heavy at the bottom where I had wanted it pruned, and more rounded at the top where I liked the upward spray of branches. It's the reverse of what I wanted.

In fairness, pruning out the bottom exposed brown stems, which is a horrible look, so they really couldn't do much there. 

I'm wondering if I can now try to do some more shaping at the bottom without exposing brown stems -- I can try a bit. 

It's less daunting than the thought of a total pruning job myself. At least a lot of it is done and carted away.

← But the tall skinny juniper by the garage door was well pruned. It's still an awkward tree in an unsuitable place, but it looks much better.

The cottonwood looks better too, although it is hard to tell until the leaves come out, and it is unfortunately lopsided from the slime flux problem on one side.

But they cleaned up the look quite a bit.

A.I. Garden Help

I've been having fun creating and modifying pictures on Gemini A.I. to see what tweaks I could make to my garden design. It's usually a bit off when creating whole garden scenes (not everything blooms at once or so prolifically). It comes up with some odd distortions. 

But for a simple request to compare two plants, it was really helpful. 

I wanted to compare Rocky Mountain penstemon (in my High Country Gardens order) and Black Adder agastache (I'll divide the pot of it that I have) both of which I'm going to plant in the new strip I'm adding between the birdbath and the left edge of the potting bench curve. 

Both are purple spiky flowering plants, quite similar looking, but I needed to compare bloom times, sizes, preferred conditions, etc.

Rocky Mountain penstemon versus agastache Black Adder

So I asked Google Gemini to compare the two and within seconds I had this really helpful and concise information, even a chart. I think it's accurate.

Response from Gemini --

Both 

Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Penstemon strictus) and 'Black Adder' Agastache (Agastache hybrid) are popular purple-flowering perennials known for their drought tolerance and ability to attract pollinators. Their primary differences lie in their bloom timing, foliage scent, and growth habit. 

Key Comparison

Feature	Rocky Mountain Penstemon	'Black Adder' Agastache
Bloom Time	Late Spring to Early Summer (brief, intense)	Mid-Summer to Fall (extended blooming)
Flower Color	Deep lavender to royal purple	Red-violet flowers from dark, smoky buds
Foliage	Smooth, dark green; non-aromatic	Blue-green; strong anise/mint scent
Hardy	USDA Zones 3–9 (very cold hardy)	USDA Zones 5–9 (prefers well-drained soil)
Height	24–36 inches	24–36 inches

Detailed Differences

• Flowering Window: Penstemon provides a spectacular but relatively short display in late spring, often acting as a bridge between spring bulbs and summer perennials. 'Black Adder' is a "season extender," blooming continuously for several months until the first frost.
• Aromatic Qualities: 'Black Adder' belongs to the mint family; its leaves release a spicy liquorice scent when crushed, which also makes it highly deer and rabbit resistant. Rocky Mountain Penstemon does not have fragrant foliage.
• Soil Requirements: While both are drought-tolerant, 'Black Adder' Agastache is particularly sensitive to "wet feet" in winter. It requires exceptional drainage to survive cold seasons, whereas Rocky Mountain Penstemon is more adaptable to various garden soils as long as they are not boggy.
• Growth Habit: Penstemon tends to form a basal rosette of leaves with tall, vertical flower spikes. 'Black Adder' forms a bushier, more branched upright clump with multiple "bottlebrush" flower heads. 

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Winter Sunshine Surprises

The single bloom on one of the two hellebores has now opened. 

It's a spot of sunshine in winter. A perfect little flower, although it is downward facing and you have to get the camera under it to see what it looks like. 

But even from above the yellow shines in the winter light.

The other hellebore has green leaves but no sign yet of a bud or any blooms to come. Hellebores don't typically bloom in the first couple years so I need to wait for a while. 

The first flowers on this one are a surprise. And there is a second bud about to open too.

The winter sun also lights the tiny branches of the newly transplanted serviceberry and that has surprised me too.

I am caught each time I look out through the glass door or come in the other way through the gate.

Winter sunlight hits the thin limbs and slender whip of a stem. It just lights up. 

Morning sun catches the tiny tree, and afternoon sun bathes it. 

It's such a nothing little set of twigs, yet in the winter sunshine it is a noticeable accent in the garden. 

I may regret putting a 15 foot tree in this enclosed spot and I may not be able to limb it up enough to eventually walk under. It might look too crowded in time, but it just looks right in its new spot. 

The sun knows it and wants me to see how fine it looks right there.

A New Vision

At the very end of 2025, I impulsively took out the skinny Blue Arrow juniper by the fence and that unleashed a torrent of changes for 2026. 

I moved the birdhouse in front of the fence to have something to look at, then arranged a moss rock border in front of it and imagined the perennials I wanted to put in there.

Then I was ordering plants, lots of them -- penstemon and verbascum and then more things to enhance the other spaces I have and I even moved things like the serviceberry and the Jackmanii clematis. 

I ordered plants to weave among the rock border stones along the walkway, and things to fill empty spots.

Everything was suddenly in play as I imagined a new vision for my garden: lusher, busier, more filled up.

Before that one act of taking out the juniper I had been cautiously conservative about changes. I wanted to edit down, streamline, wait for structural items to fill in, keep a more open and spare garden.

I had originally created separate rooms and levels -- the circle garden bordered and surrounded by a line of rocks, cut off from the lower flagstone patio, which ended even with the raised deck, separated from the garden under the aspens behind it, which was further bounded by the step down to the potting bench level.

Now I suddenly wanted flow, with the entire long narrow space tied together. I envisioned lots of plants and a fuller look all blending together, extending from the garage wall down through the yard to the aspens, skirting the deck and patio, filling out against the fence. Yikes.

A whole new vision. 

Bun Balls and a Bud

It's still February and I have finished almost all my spring chores. It was just so nice and pleasant and after I spread mulch and prepped some new planting areas, I went out one afternoon and cut back the perennials.

I left the one Japanese forest grass alone, though. In winter it is tawny and dried, but still full of grace and movement. I'll cut that one back much closer to actual spring.

I also left the Blonde Ambition grasses uncut. They too are attractive in winter and almost the only thing to look at out there.

The three blue fescue grasses in the red pots got cut back though. I did not shear them in prior years and they have gotten overgrown and floppy in their pots. Two did not bloom last year. 

So this winter I sheared them right down to little rounded bun balls.

I planned to take them out and plant each in some spot in the ground. But I think I'll wait and see if they fill out in the pots. 

Most advice is to simply rake out dried grass fronds but not to cut back these cool season grasses. Other sources say to cut them completely down to a few inches. Maybe either approach is fine? Let's see what they do in spring.

And here's something - one of the two Spanish Flare hellebores has a big fat bud. I want more of these, but I'll wait to see how they look in summer when they go dormant.

Key points regarding summer dormancy:

• Appearance: Leaves might look tired, brown, or flat, but it is normal, they bounce back when cooler weather returns.
• Watering: Reduce watering in the summer, they do not need as much moisture while dormant. Overwatering in summer can lead to issues.
• Maintenance: Avoid cutting back foliage during this time, as they need it for energy. The best time to remove old, tattered leaves is late winter.
• Sun Protection: They prefer to be in shady areas, which helps manage their summer dormancy. They will resume growth and produce new foliage once temperatures drop.