Spring contintues to wind its wet track across San Francisoco, and I continue planting, planting, planting.
This weekend I had a seemingly simple project -- plant a half dozen Summer Phlox. I ordered these fellows (3 white "David" and 3 red "Starfire" varieties) from Dutch Gardens a few months ago, and more or less forgotten about them.
They arrived this week -- on Monday of course. As 'dormant' bare root plants, I hoped they'd survive until I could get them in the ground on Saturday. So, I put them in a dark cool corner of the garage and crossed my green thumbs.
Saturday came, and I began to dig up the spot (a circular patch with some ragged ancient prim roses and one of my myriad foxgloves). With all the plants swept away, I ran into an old tree stump about 3 inches below the surface. I had forgotten about this thing. Last year (when planting the prim roses) I ran into it, hacked at it feebly a few times, then gave up.
But, now I couldn't tolerate this unwanted barrier to a perfect new perennial bed. I started digging. And hacking. And sawing. Hours later I had gotten the beast out. It was about a foot in diameter and went slightly less deep than that. In all, a small tree remnant, but a major battle for me. Victorious, I filled in the hole with dark new composted soil and a tad of chicken manure.
Of course I was then out of time. I needed to help with my kids, run some errands, and rub my aching back.
Finally on Sunday I got back to planting the phlox. Unpacked, I was amazed by the delicate little creatures that were the crowns and a few fat roots. I'd never planted bare root perennials before, well what the hell. Guessing at orientation (mass of roots down?) I buried them an inch or so below the surface. Took about 5 minutes!
So, we'll see if they come up -- let alone if my front yard is sunny enough for Phlox Paniculata. It rained last night, so all is well in the garden. All I need now is lots of advil and a few more days to recover from the digging.
Posted by rich at April 21, 2003 9:13 AM