The Battle with the Bear’s Breeches
As we turn the corner into April, I am letting the yard go (gasp! well, mostly). This means no fertilizing, no mulching or really any big spring clean up.
Last week the season’s past twelve atmospheric rivers rounded out their theatrical performance with a curtain call of - well, more rain. Albeit, the gentle, gracious kind of rain. Rain that seems to have traveled quietly in the wake of previous storms and contrarily arrived with a whimsical whisper.
Common sense tells me to pause, exhale, and allow the cold, saturated soil time to catch its breath, dry up a bit, and soak in much needed warmth from the sunshine.
There is one exception to this idea. This pertains to the unfortunate classification of flora deemed “undesirables” growing in the yard. Weeds, yes, lots of those; but there is also an undeniable opportunity to take advantage of the wet soil to remove one particular re-emerging flora. This brings me to the story of the battle with the Bear’s breeches.
I believe we got off to a bad start; me and the Acanthus mollis.
Unlike the Ivy, which I considered and conversed with before removing, I approached the Bear’s breeches with no such regard. Perhaps even with a bit of disdain as I designated them, early and quite decisively, for removal last year.
Perhaps I could have identified and researched this flora before its first removal. Perhaps, I could have approached the domain of the Bear’s breeches with more respect. Thus, I unwittingly went into battle with an invasive perennial that does not want to vacate its home. Quite understandably so, I suppose.
One year after we purchased our home, I can say that the house looks very much like the day we purchased it.
This is, of course, not considering the significant trimming of two towering, megalith-like Mulberry trees, planted many, many years ago beneath what are now running electrical power lines. An expensive but immediate and necessary endeavor.
Beyond the trimming, we are admittedly late to the curb appeal party.
The front exterior of our home is an American mid-century ranch style house, typical of the 1950’s post World War II suburban crawl and baby boom era. A time when the status of a homeowner was measured by the expansiveness and beauty of its green lawn.
Our humble retro exterior is ninety-nine percent said lawn, simply accentuated by two mahogany brick flower beds. The larger of the two, runs beneath two bedroom windows and mostly the length of the lawn. This old, partially crumbling brick flower bed is the home of the Bear’s breeches.
A particularly shady spot facing South, I suspect its large leafy green leaves and corinthian-like floral spires have thrived there for years. They were most definitely thriving when we first arrived, clearly colonizing the entire span of the bed, and claiming every inch of territory as its own. Admittingly, this flora provided much needed height and structure to a quite simple, if not boring, exterior.
Nonetheless, eager to clear and replace the contents of the flower bed, I satisfyingly dug out the long white tubular roots buried deep in their underground network. Invasive enough digging, I thought, to rid the flora for good and most definitely to annoy, I am sure, the many earthworms I disturbed along the way. Basking in my perceived success, I methodically planned and planted the flora that would take their place.
Well, when we fast forward through a wet Winter and early Spring, we find that the invasive perennials did exactly what mother nature intended them to do; which is to come back. In our particular case, it has been a comeback accentuated by a poignant “how dare you” exclamation point. And to this point, I must acknowledge their overdue and hard won respect.
As of now, even as I begin digging them up for a second time, the Bear’s breeches are winning; much to the detriment of the current plants that now call the mahogany brick bed their home.
However, in the back of my mind, I ponder their Spring victory with acute awareness that we plan to eventually re landscape the entire front exterior of our home - trees, green grass and all. Knowing this will call for the eventual removal of the crumbling brick beds and all the contents they hold, my heart softens a bit.
Until that day comes, perhaps I will keep digging them up, or perhaps I will allow them their dominion until we can start from scratch. Only time will tell...
Thank you for reading The Garden Chronicles.
Ps. I created this whimsical Spring gardening playlist on Spotify for readers like yourself.
If you enjoy reading The Garden Chronicles, please be sure to subscribe, share or leave a comment for the community here. Until next time!