@djinnevada - LOL!
But where's the fun in
that?
The essence of gardening (until and unless we can live in a new Garden of Eden) is working with nature (sometimes
fighting against nature) to produce a beautiful and/or productive garden. Since even when we are trying hard to be at peace with nature, there are still frequent battles against weeds, diseases, sickly plants, insects, critters, poor soil, adverse weather (have I forgotten anything?), we should be bursting with (modest) pride when we achieve anything that approaches being nice and similar to our own particular (in some cases, peculiar) vision of garden beauty.
Sure, there are losses, and we go off and lick our wounds and try to make a comeback. It may be that we can't make a comeback with the
same plant (or cultivar), much as we want to and beautiful as said plant (or cultivar) was, but there are so many different plants (and cultivars) out there that surely we can find something that comes close and works (well enough) for us. And if not, then maybe that's a call to action, to go about trying to generate our
own plants, suited to the conditions in our own battlefields (er, gardens) and which meet our own (peculiar) vision of beauty. And while hybridizing has its own frustrations
above and beyond those inherent to the rest of the garden, it too can be rewarding and even exciting, and such small successes as we achieve another source of (modest) pride.
(Yes, in case you were wondering, I've just been reviewing my daylily seedling status, and plotting my battles (er, crosses) for the coming year...)
