I’m not going down that route again, not even if they’re on sale.
For quite some time, I was a big fan of cedar hedges because even if they’re not terribly eye-catching, and they’re not, they can be garden stars in their own utilitarian kind of way.
Shortly after buying our first home in Greater Vancouver, I planted a row of cedar shrubs along the back fence in an effort to create some privacy in a zero-lot line subdivision. I did the same thing at our next house, this time along the front property line, and watched over the ensuing decade how the shrubs provided both privacy and a noise barrier.
When we moved to Alberta three years ago, I went back to the well, figuring the functional foliage would be the ideal choice for an underwhelming spot in the front garden. Perhaps they were planted too late in the season, or they were too exposed to the elements, but let’s just say it didn’t go quite as well as planned. They didn’t survive the winter and were replaced by a ninebark the next spring.
Not ready to give up on my loyal cedars, when we moved to Okotoks last spring, I planted four of them, two in the front garden and two more in pots on the back deck. The deer made short work of the ones out front and the weather did in the ones in the back.
Figuring I was down in the count but still had one strike to work with, I reloaded this spring by getting four more cedars for the deck. I planted them in soil that’s supposed to retain moisture, I fed them and I watered them faithfully, but one by one they started to turn on me. The last one is still standing, if you can call it that, but it won’t be long before it ends up in the green bin like the other three.
Maybe the soil was too wet, or it didn’t have adequate drainage, but all I know is that those once-reliable cedars have let me down — or perhaps I’ve let them down — yet again, to the point where I’ve had to change course.
I’ve now got a new go-to planting, and although it doesn’t necessarily share the same properties as a cedar, it possesses one that’s truly invaluable: It’s immune, or at least it has been up until this point, to my brown thumb.
What is this wonder plant, you ask? Ornamental grasses. I’ve seen them in various locations around town so figured they did well in this climate, and although it’s still early days, the results have been encouraging. There are three in the front garden, three more in the back garden and a couple others in planters, all of which have survived the heat and now await the cold.
As for the cedars, I’ve seen them beckoning from the entrance of The Home Depot over the last few weeks, deeply discounted in a bid to entice me to give them another go. It’s tempting but I just don’t think it would be fair if they came home with me.
