Part of My Test Garden
Several years ago I decided to use parts of my garden as a ‘test garden’ so I could see how plants behaved under different growing conditions (can plants labeled as full sun actually thrive in part shade), to see how placement of plants affects deer browsing (I’m beginning to think there is something to the theory of deer pathways and how plants planted near a known deer pathway are highly vulnerable to browsing), to see if plants recently listed as cold-hardy for zone 6 will survive here in Stamford, CT (stay tuned for a post about my Crape Myrtle) and often just to see how plants actually perform in garden situations. The way a plant grows here in my Connecticut garden (zone 6) will be different than how it grows somewhere else.
As a landscape designer and garden coach, I am especially interested in real-life performance so I can relate that experience to my clients. My test garden allow me to ‘try out’ plant combinations in my own garden before using them in a client’s garden. I can observe plant combinations over an entire growing season, not just a day or two. Since every garden is constantly changing, it never looks the same for more than a few days at a time. It’s easy to focus on flower color when combining plants but a successful marriage of plants is about more than color. I have seen plant combinations that are pleasing during the spring and summer become spectacular during the fall as foliage changes color. And I’ve found the opposite true too!
And I always looking for ways to outsmart the deer so that I can grow more ornamentals that are not on the ‘deer-resistant’ plant list. Yes, I know, no plant is truly deer-resistant but I am always interested in trying out plants that other area gardeners have luck with to see how they perform for me.
Northern Sea Oats
One problem with a test garden is that I ignore some of the rules of good landscape design that I try hard to impress on my clients. I may buy more than one of the same variety of plant but I rarely plant them next to each other to create drifts of color or interest. For example, I just purchased three Chasmanthium latofolium (Northern Sea Oats) , a wonderful native ornamental grass that is supposed to thrive in a wide range of site conditions, and planted one in full shade and the other two in varying degrees of part shade. While many gardening books list Northern Sea Oats as a partial shade plant I have seen some that say it will survive in full shade so I’m looking forward to seeing how they all perform this year.
I also use my test garden to try out different kinds of deer repellent. I have had varying degrees of success with different products and am currently trialing Liquid Fence since I’ve heard such great things about it from other gardeners who swear by it. I just sprayed for the first time last week and all I can say for sure it that it is by far the worst smelling product I’ve ever used in my garden!
More Notes From My Test Garden to follow shortly…
