“Thanks for allowing me to fail over and over”, followed by a peck on the cheek. That was my wife’s greeting to me this morning while eating breakfast. An idea she had for a dessert for the garden club didn’t turn out as planned the night before.
Why is it we fear failure, or worse, are ashamed of failure? Why do some of us fear it while others shrug it off without a second thought?
Fortunately gardening seems to be one activity at which we allow ourselves to fail. A plant or tree will die and we plant another. Then it dies and we often blindly plant yet another tree. Stubbornness can be a good thing. Throwing good money after bad? Not so good. At some point we need to try to figure out why a plant has failed in a particular spot.
Here are just a few reasons to consider or investigate when a plant doesn’t thrive or meets its demise.
- Cultural conditions don’t match the plant’s needs. Too little or too much sun? Too little or too much moisture?
- Improper planting – was too much root exposed or was soil piled over the top of the existing root ball? Either can cause a plant’s premature death.
- Was the plant infected with a disease or attacked by a harmful insect?
- Did the weather come into play with an exceptionally cold winter, or hot dry summer?
- Did you under- or over-water the plant?
Here’s one we often hear: We have five of the same shrubs seemingly planted in the same manner and cultural conditions, and cared for the same, and one dies. What gives? Often there may be a slight change in conditions that we don’t recognize. One end of a row of plants may be nearer to a tree, or close to a down spout. In the former the soil gets drier closer to the tree, while in the latter the soil may be staying wet longer near the downspout. Sometimes a plant might just be a little weaker than the other four. While the others survive, the conditions were just a little too tough for the weaker plant. Plants are like people, we are not all the same.
Back to accepting failures. In gardening it’s going to happen. No matter how careful we are or how much experience we have, Mother Nature throws curve balls. Don’t give up when things go wrong, but do try to figure out what went awry before replanting. And of course you can always ask us for help in determining what may have caused a plant to die.
Thanks for sharing, especially the first two paragraphs.
As is always, the helpful and very useful information you pass on to your customers and readers, is very much appreciated, I am sure. They must look forward to reading your newsletter and website to gain more insight as to how to succeed in the efforts to expand their gardens, patios , and walkways. You express your knowledge in a truly remarkably useful and understandable way. So proud of you My Son.
I belong to a group of true plant nerds most of whom live in cooler zones than here. My regular reaction to the beautiful plant pics they post from their travels or cooler gardens is “I’ve killed that.” I pushed a zone by buying something that I knew probably wouldn’t make it in Atlanta. I put it in the wrong place. I moved it when it was happy because it would look better someplace else (when dead, of course). I planted for drought in a wet year, or vice-versa — I’m bound to get it wrong either way!
That said, the reasons for the failure matter less to me than the reason I tried– it was unique, interesting, beautiful, a challenge. If I felt otherwise, my garden would be a bore. Instead, I have just enough success with these special, odd, marginal or difficult things that I can look forward to a season other than just spring. I’d rather spend that money on plants than eating out!
And while some losses are hard to take, remember, a dead plant is also a new planting opportunity!