August Malaise

As I walked around my gardens this week, I found myself feeling totally and utterly dissatisfied with nearly every area. I'm currently contemplating redesigning all three of my large borders next spring because when I look at them, all I see are weeds and very few flowers. Hmmpph.

My North Border has a few blooming daisies and phlox, but not much else -- unless you count the grass and weeds that are taking over the back of this border, because little else seems to grow there. Grumph.

I suppose all gardeners must go through times when they feel deeply dissatisfied with their gardens in nearly every respect -- I know I cannot be alone in feeling this way. And I'm not sure what triggers this, but in my case there are probably several factors:

1. Perhaps the heat of late summer, which makes it unpleasant to spend time outside, is partly responsible. I know that I often feel unenthusiastic in hot weather, when I seek refuge in air conditioning for weeks on end. 
2. Since many of my favorite flowers bloom in spring and early summer, it can often seem like all the fun and excitement are past by the end of July. I try to include late-flowering plants in my gardens, as well as relying on numerous annuals that are just starting to reach their crescendo at this time: zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, petunias, four o'clocks and the self-seeded snapdragons that seem to go on all summer long. But these still lack the excitement of the glorious times of tulips, peonies, delphiniums and roses. 
3. The weeds can often get out of control by midsummer if we do not make an effort to stay atop them. This year is even worse than usual in this respect in my situation, as my husband, since his hip surgery, has been unable to do his usual share of weeding, trimming and spraying of hardscape areas such as our driveway.

   

   Not many flowers here in the Front Border either, but plenty of weeds are growing in our driveway. Hummph.

4. Maybe I feel that if I am not constantly improving my gardens, that they are of less interest to me, and most of my "projects" and planned improvements are usually finished (or put off until next year) by midsummer. Lack of direction breeds lethargy.

   

   Not much color in the so-called Rainbow Border. Meh. I think some changes are in order....

5. Also, I tend to experience annual "seasons" of interest in various activities: 

• April, May and June are "the gardening season" 
• July is a month of rest and summer activities 
• August and September are "back to school" in my homeschooling family
• October and November are the depressing Autumn months which although beautiful and not unpleasantly hot or cold for planting bulbs and doing other outside tasks, do signal the coming bleakness of winter
• December is for preparing for "The Holidays" and enjoying the novelty of the first snows 
• and January, February and March are marked by dreary desperation and attempts to leave Iowa and spend at least a few days in a warm climate while waiting impatiently for spring. 
• Rinse and repeat yearly. 

Does anyone else have trouble maintaining their interest in their gardens each year after spring and early summer? My malaise is even affecting my desire to write and read garden blogs -- it's been a whole month since I've posted....

I know I shouldn't complain -- perhaps I'm simply expecting too much (who knows what?) from my gardens.

And there are a few areas that do look pretty nice, so to try to be more upbeat I'll conclude by showing a few scenes from the past couple of weeks:

Zinnias are blooming like crazy in the Mint Circle. I started these inside and planted them outside after the tulips in this spot had a chance for their foliage to die back, in early June.

Rose of Sharon has been blooming well in a beautiful shade of blue.

The relative of Rose of Sharon, hardy hibiscus, is at its peak too. I just
planted this one this spring.

Another of my new hibiscus acquisitions. It doesn't seem safe for such a small
plant to have such oversized blooms....

Surprise! The surprise lilies / naked ladies / Lycoris are shooting up and blooming next to my
East Patio. 

My husband's vegetable garden has been productive this year -- perhaps the best year since we've lived here, despite his surgery keeping him from the garden for over a month. I tried to help keep it in order during his absence, but since it's not my garden, I'm never quite sure what to do in his domain. But I do know how to make salsa and pickles. Mmmm!

My husband and I went to St. Louis for his final checkup on his hip surgery last weekend and stopped at a garden center on the way back, where we happened upon just the kind of garden bench I had been looking for to put in my Yellow Garden -- and it was on sale too. It's a light, airy design that doesn't overpower the space, I think.

So maybe things don't look as bad as I've implied -- although I'm still thinking about big changes next spring. And I hope the coming cooler weather will allow me to focus more of my time and attention on gardening and blogging. I look forward to catching up with everyone's posts.

Thanks for reading! -Beth