“Real gardeners buy at least ten thousand plants in the course of a lifetime without having the least idea where they will put any of them when they get home.” ~ Unknown
While I have no source for that quote nor research to back it up, I truly feel as if someone has been watching me…
In the horticulture world, there are two types of people. Those that have an eye for landscape design, who plan out new garden beds and carefully calculate how many plants will fit in a given area to have the desired effect. Then there are the gardeners, the ones that plant whatever strikes their fancy, the ones that push the limits, the ones that never colored inside the lines as a kid. I am that gardener.
If I had to make an educated guess about my own plant buying habits, I would say that 93% of my purchases fall in to the category of “I have no idea where I will ever plant this!” I have been known to walk around the garden, searching for a small space to squeeze in one more plant. I have also been known to dig a hole, tuck in a new plant, stand back to admire its new home, then promptly pull up the plant to try again somewhere else. I have even been known to plant something, then decide a week or a month later that I want to plant it somewhere else. A garden is, after all, always a work in progress, eternally evolving. I firmly believe that we should always remain flexible and open to the possibilities. Sometimes things works out. Sometimes they don’t. This happens to be one of those times that things worked out.
Oh, how it worked out!
I love tall bearded irises, though am not a collector, nor even an aficionado. I love them. I plant them. That is about it. Most of my irises are pastel colors, holdovers from my days of collecting pastel antique roses. Then there is this iris. Stunningly dark and bold.
Last spring, I was placing an order with Bluestone Perennials and made the impulse decision to add Clematis Venosa Violacea to my order. See above quote about gardeners buying plants, not knowing where they will plant them. This was one of the few times I knew somewhat where I would actually plant the item.
The irises were past blooming when my order arrived, so which color was where was not front and center in my brain. I planted the clematis on one of the triangular gazebo pieces that needed a little somethingsomething to liven it up.
And liven it up, it did.
The color combination is stunning. The bloom time spot on. It was as if… Maybe I actually planned it? I would love to take credit, but it is really just a very happy coincidence.
And. Yes. I am making a note to plant more clematis, as I am sure I have a few more vertical spaces that need some livening up.
All photographs taken on April 14, 2024, in my southern Denton County, Texas, garden.
the melodious garden 