Beauty Bush

Journal Entry No.3
Beauty Bush: An Evening Stroll

The above photograph was taken while out for an evening stroll a week or so ago. My parents own a beauty bush, so I instantly recognized this flowering shrub cascading over the walkway. It was in full bloom, resplendent and sumptuous! And the scent was intoxicating. Unfortunately beauty bushes are just one of those plants that are so ephemeral they end before the begin, much like tulip magnolias. I could already spot the blanket of confetti forming beneath it, but this does not undermine its beauty, it only adds to the shrub's ephemeral, delicate quality. 

I have had a trying few weeks since my last journal entry. There have been triumphs and absolute disappointments. Let's start with the good before descending into the bad. For one, I am thrilled to see the return of my dianthus. Last year our neighbor took the initiative and began cutting down the invading white mulberry. It is about two thirds of the way complete but I have significantly more sunshine in my bed than ever before. As such, I've seen a renewed life in many of my previous plantings. The lush magenta blooms of the dianthus are plentiful and eye catching. I have decided, as such, that I will be adding more dianthus to this bed next year when the time for revision arrives. And revision is inevitable. I have planted far too many plants too close together, again. I tend to make this mistake in the spring because I underestimate the growth rate of the pre-existing plants. I plan on bumping back and dividing the hostas, pulling the dianthus forwards, and not planting so much along the fence line. I used to think dianthus was a rather boring plant but now that I've seen what it can do I can envision a long and full crop of them bursting with colour. Most of these changes will begin in the fall. 

I have plans to change out the pavers in the courtyard garden, which will give it a refreshed aesthetic but it will also allow me to correct drainage problems and create the clean edging that I've been craving. Over time our pavers have sunk and shifted, and the flower bed is now too high which causes the unsightly mulch to migrate onto the patio stones. I had planned to undertake this project in the spring but we have the gas company coming in to replace the lines so I'll have to wait until fall. I'm going to recycle the old pavers onto the other side of the house where there is an atrocious amount of weed growth. Grass doesn't grow there, only clover, so I'm hoping that by laying down the pavers and some substrate it might correct this problem. My husband and I have also discussed at length the possible benefits of pouring a cement slab by the driveway gate, it would address the overgrowth problem while providing us with extra storage for a small trailer hitch or another shed for garden tools. We currently use our only shed in a mixed way, we use it to store both seasonal décor as well as tools and it's getting quite crowded. With the inevitable creation of more garden art I will need additional storage space.

On a pleasant note, my hydrangeas are  developing blooms in spades. The Annabelle I planted last autumn is producing copious bloom clusters, my mother warned me that it would, she has one that's about six feet wide and four feet tall. Mine is easily twice the size it was last year. It doesn't like the afternoon sun, though, which is a shame because it's the only sun it gets. When it's not wilting under the sun's rays it perks up nicely and makes for a good full shrub. Baba's hydrangea is starting to turn colour (photo left), I will post photos when it changes completely. This is a new hydrangea cultivar and I'm excited to see it in person for the first time. For now it has only slight kisses of fuchsia. I love the contrast of the variegated hostas with the hot pinks in this part of the garden, and I'm really hopeful that the shrub clematis produces many dark purple blooms this year given it's already three times the size it used to be. The spring blooms in my garden have all but dropped which leaves my Nori memorial bed looking somewhat barren at the moment. I have a lovely pink lily coming up, I did have three but...they were eaten.

Which leads me to the bad news. It's as if some horrible storm is brewing in the garden this year. Pests abound. Sun and rain have created perfect weed growing conditions but somehow it's also been a breeding ground for animal pests. I don't know what tipped the scale in this direction but the garden is overrun with snails, bugs, voles, chipmunks, and squirrels. The only thing that hasn't shown up, knock on wood, is mildew and disease. But it has taken a devastating and literal toll on my health. Every day I come out and something has been destroyed. The chipmunks have eaten many of my plants; they chewed the buds off my rosebush so that it never blooms, killed the only viable teddy sunflower I had - which was beneath a cloche, dug up and eaten all of my spring bulbs, dug up and killed various plants by damaging their root systems. It has been an outright nightmare. They, and possibly the birds, have eaten the several thousand cherries I had growing on my tree, and I find that odd because it didn't happen last year. After that painful discovery the only hope I had left was my peach tree which is now dropping peaches left right and center. I tried to protect it with a bird net which has helped keep the pests largely at bay but my peaches began oozing a clear gel and now I find them dropped and scattered about, rotting at the bottom of the net.

It has been a slew of disappointments and I can't help but take it personally. Every time I come outside something that I was greatly anticipating to see ends up beheaded or killed. I've lost a good chunk of change on it, too, which coming from a single income household that's not a very nice thing to go through. I don't want to fork out a few hundred bucks every year to feed the wildlife. We're taking what some may view as rather extreme measures, but we will be setting out not so nice traps. At this point if it's a rodent I don't feel like treating it any differently than the mice in our extension that we've been killing for so long. Chipmunks have destroyed the water fall feature, are destroying my shed, and chewing on the outdoor electrical features. They've got to go. All touchy feelings aside... When the stress landed me in the hospital this last weekend, I promised myself I wouldn't let it go any further. 

Hopefully once we can get their numbers down I might reclaim my garden and stop hemorrhaging money. There are times when I go to bed worrying that they're going to dig up my cats' ashes, or ruin the memorial plantings or destroy my garden art. What was a soothing and productive pastime has been a great source of anxiety for me. I am not going to abandon my garden of course but while we eradicate the rodents I think I might take a break, turn inwards for awhile, focus on self care and just accept defeat this year on some things. It's not how I envisioned 2022 coming in.

How are you dealing with garden pests? Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated.