2018 Season
It was a very long winter, and the spring was more than three weeks late. Not surprisingly, most of the maples skipped their spring colour show. Almost all the roses were killed to ground level. Winter damages from rabbits and voles were also disappointingly severe.
From May on, the season was ‘normal’; reasonable rain fall and temperature. Many Clematis were happy,so were many conifers, maples, perennials and Rhododendron etc. The Lobelia ‘Crown Royal’ was quite a show.
There were some disappointments: the sudden wilt of a few Clematis at the peak of their blooms, my big Pinus strobus ‘Louie’ inexplicably and suddenly quit in mid-summer, and my favourite Ratibida columnifera pulcherrima ‘Red Midget’ did not come back and no self-sow seedlings came to replace them. A number of perennials in the Icy River and Burning River appeared to be on their declines. However, the favourable fall weather allowed us to see a decent display of maple fall colours.
Hosta 'Colour Glory' in July
