Good morning! And, it really is. Hasn’t the warm weather been wonderful with just enough nightly rain and thundershowers to keep us from becoming beasts of burden with the garden hoses.

In case you haven’t checked, the Japanese beetles are here and a plethora of other things – both good and bad.

I wanted to share some information I got from a very wise gardener in Leeds, Marilyn Burgess. Marilyn frequently e-mails me with questions and then usually comes up with the answers herself. A very helpful trait for both of us.

She wrote a few weeks back that her rose leaves were being eaten by something, and they looked like lace. I had the same problem going on in my garden but hadn’t figured out who the culprit was. Marilyn called Cooperative Extension and found out it was done by sawflies. I have never had this problem before but Marilyn has been experiencing it for a few years, she said. She tried pyrethrum and I tried an organic product called Rose Defense. Both failed miserably. Extension recommended Sevin. But, it appears, the problem may have taken care of itself and the sawfly has run its course. But this probably means that the eggs have been laid somewhere, and the sawflies will be back next spring. If anyone out there knows a solution to this problem without resorting to Sevin, I would appreciate hearing from you.

A different bug

Also, to anyone who has e-mailed me lately and not gotten a response, my computer got infected and had to be cleaned. Many messages lost, addresses gone and all the usual hoopla. I apologize. If it wasn’t a time-sensitive issue, just send another message and I will get back to you. For those I communicate with on a regular basis, please send addresses!

As gardeners, most of us know the joy of a new plant and hopefully, the resulting bloom. Well, I tried a new plant this year that I had never heard of and what a wonderful surprise I got.

Now most of you who read this column on a regular basis know about my fondness for poppies. All kinds of poppies, from the regal Oriental to the lowly but ethereal common poppies. I like them all. So earlier this spring on a cold and very wet day, I ventured out to Hummingbird Farm on Bean Street in North Turner. I have told you before about this small but interesting nursery owned by Brian and Cindy Tibbetts. The tirella begonias that I raved about last year came from there, and they also have an amazing array of clematis.

Well, on this particularly cold day, I pretty much had the whole place to myself to wander about and explore. And in front of one of the houses were pots with very small plants and markers that said “peony poppy, pink.” I thought for a moment and went back through the plant directory in my head and couldn’t bring forward ANY info at all. Cindy explained it was a new plant she was trying that would be marginally hardy here in Maine. She said, “It was iffy” that it would winter here, but mulching might make that happen. But, she also said, they will seed out. Well, between the pink and the poppy parts, I was a goner. I brought home four of them. Well, they are now about 3 feet tall with very interesting silver-gray leaves and dozens of buds. The flower indeed does resemble a peony more than a poppy because it doesn’t look the least bit fragile, as poppies usually do. It has two shades of pink in its full round blooms and is just beautiful.

Opportunity in disguise

Finding new plants or, at least, plants that are new to you is always fun. I don’t like it when one of my garden plants dies but instead of mourning for what is lost, I try to look at it as an opportunity to plant something new. There are also a few plants that although I love them, have never loved me and I have not had good luck with them. Some have been crossed off the list but a few have become fixtures on the list of goals.

I have never had any luck with clematis or hollyhock. I really don’t know why. But this year, two goals have been reached. I planted a peaches-and-crème hollyhock and its first bloom opened last week. It is lovely and promises, with all the buds appearing on it, to become even lovelier. It gets all-day hot sun, is in good soil and is protected from the wind because it is growing up against the deck.

Now the clematis is another story. For better or worse, I frequently order plants from catalogs, knowing that many won’t make it. I fell prey to this bad habit three years ago and ordered a clematis. Now, mind you, I had already killed two. Well, this little spindly thing arrived, I kicked myself as usual and then carefully planted it. It just basically sat there all season. Last spring, it was there but required no more than a chopstick to climb. This spring, it came on with a vengeance. I found myself searching nurseries for something it could climb in the middle of May.

It now has a lovely 5-feet tall antique brass pergola, which it has climbed completely and is starting back down. When the first bloom opened, I couldn’t believe my eyes because it was so striking. Not blue or pink or usual at all but this lovely lavender and when the middle flower opened (it is a double), it was a light shade of green. As the blossoms age, they just get fluffier. I guess a lot of patience is all that was required.

Lessons aplenty

Lesson: Don’t give up too quickly because you may lose a treasure. Second lesson: Don’t e-mail me asking about it because I forgot to label it and don’t know its name – mistake!

Like so many of you, foxgloves have always attracted me. However, the fact they come every other year has caused me to destroy way too many. Forgetting that it was there, because the space was empty, I would dig. Then, no more foxglove. Sometimes they seed out and you get them every year, but not always. So, I took a two-pronged approach to this problem. My friend Lorraine and I, who make frequent nursery road trips each spring, discovered a perennial foxglove at a new nursery called Ossipee Trail Gardens outside of Gorham. We each got one and planted them last spring.

Well, this spring there it was, just as lovely as you please with its yellow blooms. Right in the same place and twice as big as last year. I also planted a foxglove called Strawberry Crush (pink again). It is a traditional biennial foxglove, but I planted it at the back of a garden up against a deck trellis and put in three plant markers. They form a triangle and will hopefully be enough to remind me next spring not to dig in that space. There are enough other plants there that no one should notice the missing plant.

So until next time, try a new plant or one that has proven uncooperative just to see if you can do it. Enjoy the sunshine and warmth, sit outside and watch the fireflies or better yet, help a child catch a few. A natural night light on a bedside table can be a wonderful experience and memory for a child. Just don’t forget to sneak in after the little eyes have closed and get the jar and set them free. You want as many as you can get for no other reason than the magic they make on a summer night!

Happy gardening!

Jody Goodwin has been gardening for more than 20 years. She lives in Turner with her husband, Ike, her two dogs and two cats. She can be reached by writing to her in care of the Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston, Maine, 04243-4400 or by e-mail at [email protected]