Features News
Every inch counts in cottage garden
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
FarkSome people still garden under bigger-is-better banner, but not Tanya Wilson. She incorporates every square inch of her cottage-size property into a beautiful blooming patch of flowers, vines and perennials.
“It’s a casual garden that grows the way it wants,” she said.
In central Rapid City, the garden’s fence offers privacy and refuge from the hustle and bustle of Fifth Street. Yet Wilson’s experiment in flowers has spilled over into the tiny scrap of land bordering her driveway and fence. Earlier this month, her hardy rosebush that grows in that small corner exploded in lush and bright blooms, scattering a carpet of blossoms over the driveway and sidewalk.
Woodbine covers the wood-fenced yard with cosmos and bachelor buttons pushing up from the thimble-sized border between the sidewalk and fence line.
“This is definitely low-maintenance; these came up on their own,” she said of the flowers.
Inside the fenced area, tall stands of an unusual mix of roses, salvia and bachelor buttons bloomed. The roses opened in shades of yellow and white, only to change colors to bright orange and fuchsia respectively as they aged. Hollyhocks crowded the zinnias, asters, violets and snapdragons. Blue speedwell accented the tea and peace roses, a beautiful mix of wild and cultivated flowers bloom near the house and along the west border of her property.
“It’s always changing,” Wilson said of her garden.
Since moving into her home in 1992, Wilson has saved seeds, exchanged garden slips with family and friends and will possibly buy a plant or two during the growing season, trying to stay within the perennial family. She recommends developing a relationship with people at the garden centers—they know a lot about what they’re selling and are anxious to help.
“I’ve had to get perennials so I could quit spending so much on flowers,” she said.
A handful of blue speedwell seeds spread throughout her garden beds. Her only salvia has started popping up in unexpected places and so have some annuals such as her tiger lilies, cosmos and bachelor buttons.
“My mom always had a vegetable garden and a few flowers,” Wilson said of how she became interested in gardening.
“I loved flowers and I got most of my ideas from reading magazines,” she said.
She cultivates two compost piles, which build up her soil and strengthen her plants. “It’s healthier than using Miracle Grow. It also gives many long-term benefits to the soil,” she said.
Wilson’s yard receives full morning sun and partial shade in the late afternoons. Her plants have to thrive in the heat of the day as well as the cool of the evenings. She’s careful about where she plants her flowers, paying attention to what thrives in heat and what needs a lot of shade.
A garden snake kept the slugs and other garden pests away until one of the three housecats killed it earlier this spring, she said. She has practiced patience, appreciating the first blooms of her flowers as the best of the season. Then she has continued to gather seeds, divide tubular plants as needed and keep up with weeding and pest control.
“It’s not a spectacular garden … but we do get a lot of attention,” she said.
Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.
The garden at Tanya Wilson's Fifth Street house is in bloom. Wilson, an avid gardener, recommends pansies, snapdragons and forget-me-nots for Black Hills gardens. Photo by Kristina Barker, Journal staff
The opinions above are from readers of rapidcityjournal.com and in no way represent the views of the Rapid City Journal or Lee Enterprises.
Rapidcityjournal.com provides this community forum for readers to exchange ideas and opinions on the news of the day. Passionate views, pointed criticism and critical thinking are welcome. Name-calling, crude language and personal abuse are not welcome. Moderators will monitor comments with an eye toward maintaining a high level of civility in this forum. Our comment policy explains the rules of the road for registered commenters.
If you don't see your comment, perhaps...
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy