Okay, this title is probably a bit more dramatic than it needs to be. The truth is, that while I lost a ton of new plants from last year’s plantings, both from the record heatwave in the summer and the colder-than-usual winter, I probably planted too many in the first place and would have thinned out several of them anyway. Just the same, I think I would have preferred that I made those decisions and not Mother Nature. So much for the illusion that we are in control of our gardens…
Speaking as a self-proclaimed “plantaholic” who likes just about all things with foliage, fronds, or needles, one plant I started to salivate over in the 1990’s was Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia sp.). For us in northern latitudes, these mythical plants were uncommon and were perceived as…