Needs of Different Plants & Wants of Different Gardeners

It's an overcast misty foggy day here in South Texas. Unusual for us but the plants especially the ferns really like it. Tomorrow and the next few days those ferns will really green up and start growing. The bouganivilleas are the spot of color in the lower garden bed. 

Always amazes me how different plants in the same area have such different needs. Guess it's a little like people.

With the usual sunny days in South Texas (my garden has a south west exposure) the ferns are high maintenance.  They need frequent watering, fertilization and want more shade as the season progresses. The ferns have been with us for awhile so I adjust and they try to.

Now the bougainvillea in the same area thrives on benign neglect. They like the sunny hot days, could care about extra feeding and just want watering when we've had some really dry spells. Probably would take less watering but I've got them in containers as the garden here is long and narrow.

When we moved in our townhome the soil here was compacted so much it's like that concrete soil Phil the Gardener talks about. The soil's become better as we've added compost, and new soil to the beds.

Had a nice email from Joan Kocur the photographer of the Carolina wren on my earlier post. Here's some of what Joan shared:

"I am laughing at the difference in gardens and gardeners. My husband and I are on the shore in New Jersey and we enjoy Gardening for the birds. We cranny in our garden in hopes of attracting a carolina wren as a resident. To date none have signed a lease. They stop by and go in and out of our  little houses but eventually move on to other places to raise their families. How ironic that they are nesting in your ferns."

Reading her email let me think more about how our lives as gardeners change. When I had 70 + acres in Maine some years ago, I gardened differently. I needed my tractor and some help to garden the way I wanted.  I encouraged birds, bats and other creatures to get rid of some garden pests. I had houses to encourage nesting.

Today my garden in Texas  is two long strips, about 2' by 20' each.   I end up using containers, hanging baskets and trellises to expand the space. So I combine container gardening and vertical gardening. 

I discourage the birds as the wrens and sparrows were dive bombing each time we went out to sit on the patio or do the laundry (in the utility closet there.)

Truly shows how our life affects our gardening. I still enjoy sitting and looking at the plants in my garden now while watching the sunset.

And for a true gardener, you're going to make a  garden happen somehow: maybe just a single herb in a pot, but you're growing.

All in the day of a gardener's life,