What a Time Saver It Would Be to Learn Lessons the Easy Way

I’m an impulse buyer.

“Oh, that looks delicious. I can put that in a salad.”

“That dress looks perfect for me.”

“That plant will look great in the front flower bed.”

“Those shoes look really comfortable.”

And so on …

Sometimes, it’s a good choice. ‘Way too often, it’s not.

A while back, at least a year, maybe a year and a half, I was at one of the local nurseries that I really enjoy visiting. It was probably spring. Not last spring; the one before that. I was looking for interesting plants and reading the labels on different sorts of growing things, and I found Turk’s Cap. The little information tag said, “Attracts hummingbirds and butterflies.” That sounded promising. We think that someone in the neighborhood must have hummingbird feeders, because we often see hummingbirds in the yard. They just come for a quick visit, because we haven’t had any flowering plants that seem attractive to the birds. And a variety of butterflies shows up sometimes. So, I thought, perfect.

I was debating where to plant the three that I bought. I debated a long, long time, while the plants did their best to grow while still in the flimsy pots they came in. I finally decided on the bed at the back of the house. This spring, I dug in lots of compost and got the bed all ready. It takes me a while, sometimes, to get everything all done, and, by the time I was ready to put them in the ground, I’d bought a few more of the plants. The first ones have red flowers and the newer ones have pink flowers.

I put on my overalls and went out one morning recently to plant those Turk’s Caps, and, just as I was picking up the tools I would need, I thought Maybe I should see what the sunshine needs are for these plants. I went inside and looked up Turk’s Cap information. They will grow most anywhere, in this climate, but they do best in the sun. Full sun.

I went out into the sunny, ish, back yard. The bed by the back wall had a sliver of sunshine. For about 30 minutes. Otherwise. Shade, shade, and more shade.

Now what?

I thought about the sunny places I have. The side yard at the front corner of the house, which is full of cannas and daisies, reliable plants I like, gets quite a bit of sun, but not the blasting afternoon sun that the front flower bed gets.  And I really want to plant those Turk’s Caps. So I spent all day Wednesday (a nice warm day) digging up the cannas at the front end of that side bed. I moved many of them farther to the back end, filling in some bare spaces. I culled some of the daisies, who have pretty much taken over, and made space. The Turk’s Caps are supposed to grow nice and full, especially in the sun.

I watered the transplants and gave them all some good plant food. And now it’s just a wait and see season. As I was working, I saw one of our resident lizards, enjoying the last sunny day we’ll have for a little while.

A friend from church works for Urban Reap, part of Mission Waco Ministries. I was having a Turk’s Cap conversation with him, about having to change my planting plans. Not enough sun where I wanted to put them. “Oh yes,” he said. They had planted some Turk’s Cap at their house, too. In a shady spot, where they aren’t doing as well as he’d hoped. “They’re growing,” he said. “But they’re not putting on any flowers. Not enough sun.”