The Great Garden Chore of 2015
Sunday, July 26, 2015
So what’s the big deal non-deal? I had to replace my large ceramic planter that had become winter-kill. In my defense I did really like it. Which was, of course, why I bought it in the first place. It was glazed in a cheery bright blue and had an elegant taper, with flutes. Sort of like the shaft of a Greek column. Classical class! In early March, when I first noticed the nice long vertical crack my pot had developed , from top to bottom, I thought, “Well, I’ll just turn its crack to the wall”. Problem solved. That’s when I discovered the planter actually had two cracks, from top to bottom, about ten inches apart. Damn.
So, for the next three or four months I’ve dithered while the planter has sat, its two cracks turned modestly to the wall. And done nothing. Further to my defense, it was heavy. Solid glazed ceramic. Well, not so solid as it turned out, I suppose. But it was also set about three feet in and a foot up in a corner of the raised bed at the back of the garden, surrounded by plants. Not conveniently sitting on a patio. Did I say it was also heavy? Yeah, heavy. And full of heavy dirt as well.
Today I buckled down, shed a tear or two, and finally pulled it out. The back had fallen away so I really didn’t have many excuses left. The small, cohabited trees came out first. A Fagus sylvatica ‘Asplenifolia’ and the aforementioned Canadian hemlock, the Tsuga with the dead twigs.
See, that wasn’t so hard, was it? Now, on to another Great Garden Chore. Finding place for the six hostas to which I couldn’t say no. Maybe seven hostas. OK. Eight. But who’s counting, all right? Hostas are hardy to Zone 3 and will come out skipping in the spring sunshine if I don’t get around to it until March.
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