In my garden, the strong survive

Black-Eyed Susan

This morning I greeted my garden to the sight of an upturned pepper plant, soil spilling out of the pot, sole, hard-won pepper broken off and lying on the grass. I don’t know if it was a raccoon (see my previous post about my standoff with the raccoons), a cat or a strong gust of wind that did it. What I do know is, unless I cheat and buy a more mature plant at a garden centre, I can forget the dream eating home-grown peppers this summer.

Many of the plants in my garden have been doing well, but whenever something withers away, I’m trying to replace it with a hardier alternative – hardy to the weather and soil conditions, and also hardy to me. Last week my mom came for a visit and helped me weed my garden, since I wasn’t sure what belonged (native plant, hardy plant, attractive weed) and what did not (plants that take over, weeds). She did a beautiful job of weeding and mulching, even making room for a few more plants. So we went to a garden centre that promises a selection of native perennials, and picked a few plants that seemed to fit that description. I’m particularly excited about the black-eyed Susan, and looking forward to its big yellow flowers popping up sometime soon. In choosing native plants, the Evergreen native plants database is very helpful.

What’s particularly hardy in your garden?