An Iowa Garden

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Gardening, by nature isn't known for dealing out a lot of instant gratification (well, maybe trays of pansies from Walmart might be an exception). There are even some things in the garden that require almost a lifetime's work: take my dream of a hillside covered with Adonis amurensis. These little fern-like, very early spring ephemerals with their brass button-bright golden flowers are, at least in our climate, achingly slow to establish themselves and spread. There are just not enough springs left in my future to ever see huge patches of these; In our garden now I only have a few small clumps tucked in here and there (which are just now opening their cheerful, clear-eyed flowers to the warming sun). This isn't a plant that you just go out and order a hundred of; White Flower Farm I see is offering it in a three inch pot for ... cough, cough... $24.95. Oh well, at least a few years ago I suddenly realized the clock is ticking and got a dozen new magnolias planted, and can expect to see a first flower or two any decade now. I can just hear my funeral oration: "... and if he had just lived another two days he'd have seen all his magnolias in full, glorious bloom".
Maybe I'll go buy some of those tree fertilizer spikes.


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