To be honest I am at a bit of a loss for ideas for this week’s blog. Well, not at a loss for ideas really, but at a loss for ideas that the muse can turn into a blog. The muse is being a rhymes-with-witch this week. Some weeks I can pound one of these out in a couple hours. Other weeks are like this one, three days off and on and I’m still not there. And the blog is hardly something I can afford to spend too many hours on. So it finally came to me to describe in a bit of detail this summer’s design for the circle bed in front of the Museum. I can’t let you into my head for the entire thought process however. It is a far too dangerous place. There are things in there that even I’m afraid of.

Each year as I begin designing my gardens I hope for some bit of inspiration from which to build a complete thought. There might be an individual plant that starts the design development. A desire to use a certain color might be the catalyst. I might even copy a design I have seen elsewhere. Probably not copy exactly but use many elements. A comment from someone may be the guide to a plant or plants that the idea forms around. Last year the truly fabulous Pam Stokes asked something and from that question came an entire design. The question? “Why don’t you ever plant those black elephant ears?” No reason. I just had not used them here at the IMA. They were a staple at home and in clients’ gardens.  So I decided there was my first plant.

Now, what would look hot with it? I had done containers and small designs using black and chartreuse foliage with red flowering plants. Ideally the flowering plants would also have black or chartreuse foliage. I had all the color elements needed for a design. Now all I had to do was decide which plants (making sure I had a mix of foliage textures) and how to arrange them.

For the black elephant ear I chose Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Runner’. It has a beautiful matte finish to the upper leaf surface (none of the green that often shows in other cultivars) and an equally beautiful silvery gray underside. Plus as the name suggests, it sends out lots of runners with new plants at the end. That sort of thing can kind of knot the whole look together. And the pups as we call them can be used to fill any unexpected gaps. What else could I use? Another plant with good black foliage is an ornamental hot pepper called ‘Black Pearl’ (Capsicum annuum). Even the fruit is jet black before it ripens to red. When the peppers turn red they appear to be lit from within. That adds some of the red I was wanting as well. The smaller leaves also give texture contrast to the large leaved plants in the design. Another good choice for black and red is Canna ‘Futurity Red’. This fairly short (3-4’) plant has good black color to the foliage and arrest-me-red flowers. Unfortunately there are a limited number of plants with true black foliage so for my other dark leaved plants I would have to accept some not quite true black leaves. A just introduced cockscomb (Celosia cristata) named ‘Chinatown’ had promise so I ordered seed. The foliage turned out to be more bronzy than ideal but had that look of stained glass with sun filtering through. The plants also had bright red plumes for flowers. For my tall center element the only plant I could think of was castor bean. They get huge and are available in a very deep burgundy. The palmate leaves would also contrast with the entire-margined plants.

What about my chartreuse elements? I had Xanthosoma ‘Lime Zinger’ and Colocasia ‘Elena’ both on hand. They would be the perfect color contrast and the perfect texture echo to the ‘Black Runner’. Salvia elegans ‘Golden Delicious’ would give me chartreuse foliage and red flowers come late summer. I used to want everything to start blooming as quickly as possible but over time have come to appreciate the later blooming plants. When the same plants have been blooming for months it’s nice to have a new element appear in the garden. What else? I had some variegated ginger. The Alpinia zerumbet ‘Variegata’ had long narrow pointed yellow and green striped leaves making it a texture echo and color contrast for the Canna ‘Futurity Red’.

I had all my major elements so I could start infilling. Some ‘Big Red’ coleus in red and yellow. Duranta ‘Lemon Leaf’ and Talinum ‘Kingwood Gold’ for chartreuse foliage. Musa zebrina with burgundy and green foliage. Alocasia plumbaea ‘Nigra’ with dark slate-green leaves and burgundy stems.  Some Colocasia macrorrhiza with plain green leaves but oh-so-tropical.  And then because my castor beans were so small I simply had to put something in the center to hold the space. I chose one my largest single stemmed bananas. It wasn’t what I had planned but it did the job. Adapt or die my little future designers.

Despite long weeks of slow growth I finally got a planting I really liked.

In fact one day I got so happy about the results I just felt like celebrating. First I checked to see if the coast was clear.

Sure enough, there went Chad on a death march to another exciting meeting in the big house. He’s so lucky he doesn’t have to work outside on sunny days with blue sky overhead and a breeze in the trees.  Then it was grab the pole and express myself. Gotta dance!

I must admit I have watched very little. In part because I am very busy at the moment. In part because I am not strongly sports oriented (I was picked for the ball teams just before the ugly girls in grade school). And in part because I just can’t bear to watch some of the people lose. Oh, I’m not talking about the no-chance-in-hell-of-finishing-in-the-medals people. I’m talking about the for sure winners. The athletes that the announcers describe as the gold medalist favorite. The athletes that broke a record at the World Championships (insert your sport of choice). But for every Michael Phelps there is a Lolo Jones.

Here she’s gone and trained her whole bloody life for this moment. Foster homes. Working to get a scholarship. Actually getting the scholarship. Beautiful start on her run, pulling out ahead of the pack, on her way to gold…….and she clips the 9th hurdle. How many hundreds of times has she been successful? But on this most crucial moment a snafu finishes her and puts her out of the medals. It’s heartbreaking. It’s like reliving the Erica Kane woes all over again. I just can’t do it. I quit watching All My Children 20 years ago because I just couldn’t see her go through any more heartbreak. For me it all started with the hysterical pregnancy. Does anyone remember that? It’s just too much.

With the Olympics it’s especially bad when you can figure it is probably their last real chance. Sure some athletes are lasting longer but when you are in your late 20’s in 2008 it means you are in your early 30’s in 2012 and there is some younger whippersnapper chewing up the ground all around you. Yes, there is Dara Torres. But how many her age in total? So, no. While I enjoy watching many Olympic events (Some hardly seem like sports at all!) I won’t devote my life to them. Besides, I participate in the Horticulture Olympics every year. I know the thrill of victory AND the agony of defeat. This year it’s lots of defeat.

Each year it’s like having to go through all those preliminary rounds to get to the finals. And you hope for your best performance knowing anything can happen. Some gardening moments you finish in the medals, others you fall off the pummel horse. Talk about trying to stay on the balance beam. Some years you have a great mount. Your whole routine is just golden. How could it be any better? Time for the dismount. Oooooo. You slipped just as you pushed off. To put it in horticulture terms, who knew it could take that long for castor beans to take off? Normally they grow a foot a day. My whole design was to be anchored by the damn things. Oh, they’re starting to look pretty good now even though they are barely above the cannas.

But that’s like saying “I won $17 playing Bingo at the church picnic so I’m okay loosing the Olympic medal”. No one really gives a crap about the Bingo game. I mean with my love of, fascination with, and perhaps obsession for tropicals and annuals I think of myself as one of the ones about whom the announcer would say: “He’s definitely a gold medal contender in this year’s Horticulture Olympics. Remember the incredible performance he turned in a few years ago with the unbeatable red rice and papyrus combo? Let’s not forget the year of pink, orange, and yellow.” I trained. Really I did. I studied past performances. The damn purple heart vine should have filled in and not look like this.

Colocasia likes it on the wet side. So why are mine barely a foot tall?

I should have been within reach of the medal. But here I am. Nearer to frost with each passing day. Trying to catch up with the other Horticulturists instead of having them breathless trying to gain on me. Geoff’s pots at Garden Terrace are full and lovely.

Patty’s urns at the Formal Garden are all summery in blue and yellow and scented of rosemary.

Jim’s Annual Border is what a tropical/annual planting is supposed to be.

Katie’s pots are perfect.

And Chad’s Garden for Everyone has clever lush pairings like this one of parsley and fountain grass.

So where does that leave me? Lying under the pummel horse covered in chalk and blood? Hanging from the rings like a dead carcass? On my knees crying my eyes out in the tunnel waiting to be kicked out of the stadium? Hell no. I may be old but I’m not dead. I will be training. I’ll be studying those plant catalogues. I’ll be going through those images I took on the Perennial Plant Symposium tours. I’ll be taking mental notes when I visit other gardens. I’ll be writing down ideas as they come to me. Look out you IMA Horticulturists. That sound you here is me about to run past you faster than kudzu can cover a junk car in Mississippi. Game on, bitches.