Warm nights in California have a way of pulling out all the creativity from your bones and throwing it into the air. When you breathe it in, it feels like you can do anything. That is exactly what happened on this beautiful day in my garden. Before I knew it, I found myself online frantically searching for a climbing hydrangea. I thought to myself, in what felt like images, it was pure Pinterest inspiration. After discovering that hydrangeas can grow up walls, it felt like being initiated into the Martha Stewart garden club. I knew I had to get my hands on one. The back of my house needed some serious help, and plants are always the answer.
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn
Usually, I can find almost any plant on Facebook Marketplace within 20 miles of my location. If you know, you know. Well, it turns out no one seems to know about or grow any literally within 200 miles of me. So I ordered one from Home Depot. That just felt wrong on so many levels. Ordering a gorgeous, timeless, living thing by FedEx. I can’t do that again. But turns out the closest one I could find was literally shipped from Oregon. And when it arrived, it was completely dormant. But at least I could fill out a survey for one free tree? This is what arrived. Very cute, very promising even as it clings to this cold metal pole. I dug a hole and started visualizing.
Welp. This will be its new home. Don’t mind the cordyceps-looking roots to the side. That would be the invasive potatoes I can’t get rid of. Anyways, this area has a ton of light. The issue is that it has a ton of California light. Two completely different things. Climbing Hydrangea loves direct morning light and partial light in midday to afternoon, from what I’ve been told. But I need to cover the walls on the back of my house, which incidentally receives blaring afternoon sun. I loathe the millennial gray; it does not match the garden you walk into. This is part of what you see when you enter the backyard. Not very brutalist. I need more tropical!
Perhaps these can help me. Although almost everything I have planted in this area has died except for these random bushes that just keep hanging on- and the potatoes. If you have soil that could be too nutrient-deprived, just mix it with some amendments. Climbing hydrangeas love good quality and moist soil. But it should be well-draining. I have some mulch to help retain the moisture, which I have never used until today, but now I am wondering what I have been doing with my life to have never used this. Mulch is like giant wood chips that keep moisture in. I’m sorry, I always thought that was a decorative thing!
Enjoy this aesthetic, earthy picture of me adding plant food to the soil. I love everything about gardening, and I even heard that soil has antidepressant properties due to the bacteria Mycobacterium vaccae. Goodbye Lexapro!
This is the state the plant was in when it arrived. Bursting at the seams is an understatement; this plant needed OUT! The directions said to soak it in water before planting to give it the best chance for success. When I tried to loosen the roots, they were so packed together that I accidentally tore them when trying. So I just loosened them the best I could with water. They are so beautiful. There is something about roots that I find so amazing. Every tree you see has a vast network of roots even release chemical signals called exudates into the soil. So fascinating!
While I was attempting root surgery I looked up to see my beautiful cat cheering me on from above! She was probably just as confused as I was.
This was the final result. There isn’t much you can do in this situation without breaking too many roots. I didn’t want to make it worse or shock the plant. So I just let it rest in some water for a while and hoped for the best.
This is the final result! I amended the soil and added some plant food. Finally, I gave it a good watering and added some mulch to the top. I need to go back and move the mulch away from the stem. But other than that, I am proud of the result. I found this old trellis, one of my other successful vines, no longer needed. Perhaps if this vine is any success, it can begin to find its way up the trellis, grip the millennial grey stucco with its strong aerial roots, and one day make it up to the roof!
Gardening is a hopeful thing; it’s something that channels your most creative insights and something that also will test them. How will you nurse something back to life? And how will you cope with death, even if ‘just’ a plant? I am a nurse, and there are a lot of parallels I see in gardening and in nursing and in life. I encourage you to explore the art of gardening for yourself and see what you can discover.
