一只“彩绘淑女”蝴蝶正在从马缨丹中吸食花蜜.
Do you know someone who has a green thumb? Usually, it’s someone with a beautiful garden that stands out among their neighbors with thriving 植物s that flourish.
虽然你可能认为有园艺天赋的人是天生的，而不是后天培养的, 我要告诉你一个大秘密——在每一个园艺高手的背后都有许多死植物的踪迹.
It’s true. 没有一个有经验的园丁从来没有在他们的花园里死去过一株植物. Of course, 有园艺才能的人可能不太愿意透露这个事实, 你可能没有注意到，因为死亡或枯萎的植物通常在人们注意到之前就被拔掉了.
我也不能幸免——我亲眼目睹过许多植物死亡.
新种植的“蓝铃”灌木
Believe it or not, 事实上，植物在你的花园里死亡有助于你更好地种植它们. 虽然你的第一反应可能是失去一株植物而感到沮丧, look at it as a gardening lesson instead.
“Every dead 植物 is an opportunity to learn about what went wrong and how to avoid it in the future and become a better gardener in the process.”
有几个因素可以影响一株植物生长是否良好. These include the following:
- Is it well-adapted to your climate?
- 它是种植在适当的曝晒(阳光，过滤阳光，或荫凉)下?
- Did it receive the proper amount of irrigation?
- Was it maintained correctly (pruning, fertilizing)?
New ‘Blonde Ambition’ (Bouteloua gracilis)
在购买之前研究一下植物可以帮助你避免潜在的问题. 但通常了解一种植物如何生长的最好方法是自己种植它们.
Of course, 把喜欢遮阴的植物放在阳光充足的地方绝对不是一个好主意, 反之亦然，因为你可能很快就会换掉它.
作为一个园艺师，我在我的花园里试验新上市的植物. Several years ago, I 植物ed several ‘Blonde Ambition’ (Bouteloua gracilis) 草. I had heard a few different tips about how to grow them and the best exposure – one says that filtered sun is a must while another person says it can handle full sun. So, I am trying them out in my front yard to see for myself w在这里 they will receive filtered shade until the afternoon when they will be blasted by the sun. UPDATE – they do best in full sun 🙂
*One fun bonus of being a horticulturist is that growers often send 植物s for free so I can try them and give them feedback about how they grow in a low-沙漠 garden.
A new Parry’s penstemon (Penstemon parryi) finds a home next to my gopher 植物 (Euphorbia biglandulosa).
其他影响新植物生长的因素是附近的植物，特别是树木.
One month later.
A tree that creates dense shade will make it difficult for many flowering 植物s to do anything but grow foliage at the expense of flowers. However, filtered shade from 沙漠 natives such as mesquite and palo verde create an ideal environment for many blooming 植物s that enjoy a little respite from the full sun.
秋季鼠尾草新品种配全新薰衣草“美洛”.
Sometimes, t在这里 isn’t much information available on new 植物 introductions and how they will do in an area with extreme weather such as our hot, 干一个. 在这个地区，一位种植者给我送来了一些植物，看看它们在低矮的沙漠花园中生长得如何. 根据以往的经验，我知道鼠尾草需要荫凉，但熏衣草是一个谜. I’ve seen some other species of lavender doing well in full sun while others doing well in filtered shade.
As you can see, the ‘Meerlo’ lavender did very well in my zone 9 garden even though the actual information on the 植物 tag states that it does best in zone 8 and below.
这是我只有在我的花园里尝试这种植物才能学到的一课. While it could have died, it didn’t and I’ve learned from the experience, which adds to my overall garden knowledge.
So, the next time you find a dead 植物 in your garden, 看看你能否找出它死亡的原因并从中吸取教训. 有时候，本该茁壮成长的植物却莫名其妙地死去. 大自然并不总是可以预测的，有时你可能没有答案, but you’ll be surprised at what you can learn, and before you know it, your thumb may slowly turn ‘green’.
Fuss-Free Plants for Fall Planting
