Rain, rain, go away, but please do come back another day.  Why is it that gardeners never seem to get rain when they need it?  I spend all summer worrying and watering the garden.

I love plants with spines that need little water. The more spikes the better.

I have a pretty impressive aloe and agave collection because I got so tired of watering containers that I decided to switch to “no water” containers.  I still have to water the garden, but there’s less stress about hand watering my 40+ containers.  I told you I had a problem…

We had a garden party for 45 people a few weeks ago.  There were children coming.  My kids fear the aloes and agaves and know not to touch the spikes.  I figure most kids will be attracted to them, so I spent an hour cutting off spines.

The things we gardeners do for love.

I love them so much I constantly check the weather this time of year to make sure there’s no frost in the forecast.  You see, most of my collection isn’t hardy in Baltimore, but they make the pilgrimage indoors and completely fill all the windowsills and most of our formal living room each winter, come the eve of the first frost or before if proper planning is in place.  These plants don’t need a lot of water, so why is it when I’m trying to prepare them for their long winter vacation indoors, it won’t stop raining?

Seriously?  Where was all of this rain in July and August when I cursed each day, dragging hoses and sprinklers about the garden, threatening to rip everything out?   Go away rain! Come again another day – after I get them all tucked in for the winter.

You see, I can’t bring my drought loving aloes and agaves inside if they’re saturated.  It has rained for the last two weeks on and off in Baltimore.  I even covered them with a tarp to keep the rain off.  I need a couple sunny days to dry them out to prepare them for indoor living or they might rot and that, my friends, would be truly be a tragic day in the Palmer house.

Having an extensive plant collection is addictive, not to mention expensive as all get out, so loosing them each winter to rot isn’t an option.  As much as I love Plant Delights selection of aloes and agaves, my budget isn’t endless and I can’t afford to replace (read: husband won’t let me) them each winter…no offense to Tony Avent (owner of Plant Delights).  Believe me, I’m one of his best customers.

Here’s a picture of one area in my garden where I keep my spiky treasures.  This is no small collection.  It’s getting as bad as the gnomes.  At least the gnomes are hardy!

This manic-depressive cycle of drought and flood is really getting to me.  I’m never happy when it comes to accumulated rainfall.  I need counseling.  We do need the rain, just not now. Now that I’ve said that out loud, we’ll get no more rain for the rest of the winter and the bulbs won’t bloom because of the unseasonable winter drought.

I shouldn’t have said anything.

Still, I’m willing to chance the frost and leave them out another few days, hoping for a sunny recovery, but you and I both know, the frost will come soon and then there’ll be a mad dash, after the kids are asleep, to get my precious collectibles into the warm house.

Warning #1:  Mad dashing with spiky plants is a health hazard.  Safety goggles are highly recommended.

Warning #2: Collecting plants of any kind will make you crazy at some point.

I read emails from folks who collect echinaceas and they are certifiable when it comes to having the latest, greatest selections in their gardens.  They foam at the mouth.  They email me.  They email the breeder.  They’ll try anything to get the new selection, even if it hasn’t been trialed.  Even if I tell them it’s a crappy plant in the US and we won’t be introducing it.  They want them ALL and there’s no stopping them.  I’ve seen this in hosta and daylily collectors too.

I started Plants Nouveau to change the way new plants are introduced and marketed.  Although I realize I would not have a business if there was no demand for new plants, part of me wants the race to slow down just long enough so that everyone can trial their plants and truly know if they really are good enough to be introduced.

It’s such a joy to see plants doing well throughout the country when I visit my trial sites.  Echinacea ‘Coconut Lime’, for example, looks so wonderful that I want to tell the World about it.  Unfortunately, there’s limited availability this spring because of a bacterial infection in the tissue culture lab.  Everything will be fine for 2011, but I’m sad for this year because Coconut Lime is the one echinacea (from any breeder) that I have seen look fantabulous all over the country. It looks great from Seattle to Chicago, up north to Massachusetts and down south into Texas and Florida.  It really is a coneflower for the entire US (and beyond…).  Without proper trialing, I wouldn’t have this information to pass along.  Thank you to all of my valuable trial sites.   Proper trials really pay off for Plants Nouveau and consumers in the long run.

It’s heartwarming to see plants you are promoting truly living up to the hype of their promotion. This picture was taken in August of 2009 in the Lavin Plant Evaluation Garden at The Chicago Botanic Garden.

Breeders often rush plants to market – coneflowers are one group that’s been rushed the most in recent years.  It’s a mad dash to get them to market.  They are in such high demand and the breeders want to make sure they get their new selection to market first. Sadly, this often means they haven’t been fully trialed.

That’s my worst nightmare.

If I haven’t seen the plants bloom in my trial nursery and home garden, I don’t want to promote it.  My reputation and the reputation of Plants Nouveau are at stake, so I try to make sure every plant is trialed fully and in as many different climates as possible to ensure success.  If you would like to be on the list to receive trial plants, let me know.

As I said in my first letter, trialing and weeding out the good from the bad is what I do.  When I like a plant and it has done well for me in my garden and in trial gardens throughout the US, I’ll promote the heck out of it.  I love new plants and although I hate pulling weeds  the garden, weeding good plants from bad is fun.  It’s like fashion.

What’s hot, what’s in, what’s trendy?  When coneflowers go out of style, we’ll move on to something else, but I know in my heart Coconut Lime will live on in many gardens because we did a good job making sure it really was a terrific new plant.

Until next week…

Angela Treadwell Palmer
President, Plants Nouveau

PS. The neighbors had an intervention for the quickly dying Silver Maple up the street.   I’m not sure the people living in that house believe there’s anything wrong, but now – with all of this rain, there are lichen clusters popping up all over their yard under the tree’s drip line.  This is a true sign the roots underground are rotting.  My conscious can’t take it anymore. If something were to happen to one of their three daughters or an innocent passer-by, I would never be able to forgive myself.

I’m afraid the tree won’t make it through the winter. The bottom of the trunk is sloughing off as well. If they decide to do nothing, I might approach the nosey neighborhood association and warn them of the imminent danger.  I’m sure all I’d have to say is “could cause bodily danger to residents walking past” – and they’d be on it quick-like.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to report on the tree coming down in weeks to come.