MySecretGarden

U.S.A., Washington State. USDA zone 8b. Sunset climate zone 5

Final Post of 2015


Champagne is cooling down, clocks are counting last hours of the year, so I'll be very brief and,
looking back at 2015,  mention only three things related to my blog and garden:

1 - On the blog, I finally arranged the majority of my posts about visiting beautiful gardens of the world in one, long overdue  Page: "Gardens of the World".
Now, I and interested readers don't need to sort through the blog's archive to find a certain garden.
I do actually reread those posts and relook the photographs.
I'm glad I took a lot of pictures to capture the plants and the bones of the gardens.
Very often, I see details in the pictures which were not noticed during the walk through those big outstanding gardens.
Among my favorite gardens to revisit are: Sissinghurst Gardens,  Lawrence Johnston's Serre de la Madone,  Villa Cipressi Garden on Lake Como, Arundel Castle GardensHidcote Manor Garden and many others.

View toward the Terrace (Cutting) Garden
Picture taken on December 29, 2015

2 - Another thing to remember in 2015 was a feature about our garden in Garden Design Magazine.
Thank you all who left nice comments about it on my Facebook page!

Picture taken on December 29, 2015

3 - It'd be too time consuming to describe the garden throughout the year. That is why I'll tell about only one event that was absolutely unexpected, joyful, and also gave me a good lesson.
In spring 2014, I found out that my only Melianthus major 'Antonow's Blue'  (Honey Bush) didn't survive the wet and relatively cold winter of 2013-2014.
Attention! Not the last winter of 2014-2015, but the previous winter! I even put a note in my Plant List: "Died -  winter 2013-2014".
It's a border plant in our zone.  In one of the posts devoted to Melianthus (Melianthus Major in My Garden), I mentioned that my plant never bloomed but nevertheless, was loved for its architectural look and its beautiful big bold leaves.
With border plants, it's nice to have  them even for a few years, but anyway, it was sad to lose it.
Somehow, I didn't dig out the dead plant. Euphorbia and hardy Fuchsia grow close to it and camouflaged the black 'stump' of the Melianthus.
By the end of summer 2015, in August, I was doing some garden cleaning, and I got a surprise that almost caused me to shed a tear.
I noticed a fresh green growth around the 'dead' Melianthus base.
Very fresh, very green and very alive (see the picture below)!
After looking dead all year 2014, going through another wet winter of 2014-2015, spring and summer of 2015, it started to grow from its root!!!

Picture taken on August  30, 2015

Thank you, Melianthus for not giving up, and thank you Tatyana for not digging it out and disposing of its roots and dry black base!
I gave the plant an extra layer of compost in late fall and hope it'll reclaim its space in the front plant bed.
Long live Melianthus!
The lesson I learned: Give a plant a second chance and don't rush into saying Good Bye to it. Patience, patience, patience!


Returning to the blog, it was interesting to see that the most commented posts of 2015 were:
My Shade Garden Tragedy and Revival  and
2014 Garden Memories and 'Picture This' Contest Update.
One post is about an unfortunate and sad event in my garden, while another is about a happy uplifting event with regard to one of my garden's photographs-winner of the contest.
For me, it's a reflection of the nature of our blogging community. Gardeners are very generous, compassionate people. They support and cheer you up when you are grieving and congratulate and share your joy when you are happy.
On this optimistic note, I finish this post.
I thank all of you together and each of you individually for your support, encouragement and friendship through the year!
Have a wonderful, peaceful 2016!
All the Best to you, your families and your beautiful gardens!


***Copyright 2015 TatyanaS

14 comments:

  1. So nice your Melianthus major is back. I had this plant some years after another, in winter I put it in the greenhouse, until I tried once to leave it outside, it died.
    It is such a beauty, I think I shall try again.
    Thank you for showing us various gardens you visit and your own garden over the year, I enjoyed it.
    Wish you all the best for 2016 with lots of gardening pleasure!

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  2. Thanks for sharing images from your beautiful garden Tatyana, yours is one of the very few garden blogs whose posts I totally enjoy. Today is new years eve for us here, and I wish you a happy new year.

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  3. Happy New Year, Tatyana! Good wrap-up post and lovely images of your garden. :)

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  4. What a great idea.... so anxious to peruse all these gardens! Have a great new year....

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  5. I hope you have a wonderful new year as well.

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  6. You have a had a wonderful year....and isn't it great when a long lost plant gifts us with its presence again! Happy New Year Tatyana!

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  7. What a lovely post! Thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous garden and those you've visited with us. What an honor to have your garden featured in Garden Design Magazine. Congratulations on that and on the survival of your melianthus! Happy New Year!

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  8. Happy New Year, Tatyana. Thanks so much for sharing your great photos of all the interesting gardens you've visited, and of your own. Kudos on the feature in Garden Design.

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  9. I'm not familiar with that plant, but I'm glad it returned from the dead for you. I'll be watching for it on the blog next summer!

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  10. Happy New Year Tatyana! I always look forward to your posts and am excited to see what 2016 brings you. Putting the Gardens of the World all together was great idea. Thank you! And congratulations on the return of the Melianthus!

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  11. What a great post! I really love your lesson to be patient, and I'll try and remember that, in my garden, and in my life!

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  12. How great that your plant returned! That has happened a couple times with Clematis for me - I now know to never dig those things up even if they look dead. How fun to visit such great gardens, and your garden looks so beautiful too! Congratulations on the showcase of you garden in Garden Design! I wish you and your family and wonderful New Year!

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  13. Your gardens are always breathtaking and a pure joy to visit. What talent! This will be a vey interesting garden season in MI since our weather has been so mild. Today was the first really cold day. Happy New Year, dear Tatyana!

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  14. I enjoyed your retrospective and story of rebirth! Our gardens couldn't be more different - we being on a sunny, dry ridge. Well, not dry right now, thankfully! Your gardens are like a drink of clear cool water! I'd like to put some posts on a page too - need to look into doing some organizing in 2016!

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Thank you for stopping by and for your comment! I appreciate your time! See you soon on your blog!

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