March Update

Mystery bulbs are flourishing!

The toughest gardening challenge I have faced so far this year has been finding the patience to accept that this is a new, large garden and will inevitably take time to get established.  Part of this is waiting for plants to flourish, and part is waiting for my own familiarity with the garden to become useful.

Perhaps the biggest surprise over winter and early Spring was how poorly the garden performed. When I moved  in, I was over the moon with such a vast expanse of rich soil, well laid out beds and all protected by high brick walls.  A far cry from the sand, rocky, exposed garden I had before.  And yet my old garden defied the odds, becoming one of the most spectacular in the neighbourhood, with surprisingly little interference from me beyond planting and weeding.

Perhaps the problem is that I don't yet know what the problems are.

Pansies, cyclamen, primroses... all vanished. :(

There are several mysteries still shrouding the lack of growth and blooms this Spring, such as..

What is digging up and eating my bulbs?
What happened to my cyclamen??
Why didn't my crocus bulbs come up?
What ate my primroses and pansies?
Why did my azalea bloom in January??
Despite being rich soil, is it not draining when the water table is high?
What in the world are all those bulbs, sprouting leaves even when discarded on the suface?
Is the soil in the shaded bed too cold over winter to support even winter-hardy perennials?

I guess time will tell, but my oh my, finding patience to wait and see instead of whipping out the credit card on a mass plant buying spree is tough!

It wasn't all bad though; the irises that burst through were pure jewels.