I’m always talking about how important patience is for the gardener. Probably because I have none. Or very little at least. The best I can do is ignore. I guess that is a form of waiting, at least in the garden.
I’ve ignored this climbing hydrangea for 9 years now. Actually the first 3 years my client and I dutifully watered it. I know they can be slow to establish, reticent to bloom , yet long lived and worth the wait. So ignored it. Weeding under it, planting around it, just giving it the corner of my eye.
2 years ago my client asked, “ Is that thing going to bloom in my lifetime?” I unfortunately had no answer. She had made a special request for a climbing hydrangea and we bought a particularly big one to speed up the process.
I had stopped caring, secretly harboring wishes that it would surprise us with the fragile airy clouds of flowers which make this vine so desirable. Reverse psychology doesn’t work on plants, I guess.
Yet it surprised me anyway.
Today as I came around the house a daffodil-yellow glow brightened the dark garden.
My sloppy “patience” was rewarded, though I still harbor secret wishes.
Maybe next year: flowers.