Maackia 040: Garden updates

I’m Nathan Langley and this is Maackia, a monthly newsletter celebrating the end of another manic June.

Phew! I made it. June 2026 is behind me once again just as the heat and humidity start to ramp up.

This spring has been a weird one. The late winter pushed everything back and I had a feeling this June was going to cram all the typical work from May and June into one crazy sprint.

It certainly didn’t disappoint! Every year flows slightly different from the last, and this one seemed to settle around a few exciting designs and basic maintenance work for a handful of favourite clients. Maintenance continues to be top of mind for me these days as I think there is something truly broken in the Ontario gardening world. Maybe people forgot why things were done a certain way? (Or, or, this is all just a sign I am spending too much time on social media again.)

The typical home garden I see is largely a mulched wasteland. I just don’t get it. I understand that a freshly mulched bed can look good. People certainly love their died mulch. And I can support using some mulch in a garden that is brand new. That is usually what I suggest to clients, as weeds can explode.

Occasionally. Not always.

But the yearly addition of yet more died mulch is not the answer. It, like large containers full of annuals along a driveway or pathway, is an indication of failure to me. I mean, you make a garden to look at the plants and their flowers, right? Not to stop and say: “boy, that is a nice shade of red on that mulch!”

Now that the June rush is over, I can focus some of my time on my own gardens.

The bed along the driveway is establishing nicely! The grasses aren’t growing as quickly as the catmint and bee balm, but they will get there eventually. I added some 3 in 1 garden mix soil to the bed throughout June when I had a spare moment (no mulch!). I wanted to add some organics to feed the new perennials, as most of the garden was planted into sandy soil. An added bonus has been that I’ve had to water very little compared to last year.

The part sun bed next to the house is also doing well. The peony opened a few days ago, but the heavy rains last night probably did them in for this year. I added (x4) Astilbe chinensis ‘Vision in Red’ to the bed after the woodland phlox finished flowering. I could see that the peony might not have enough visual weight alone once it started flowering.

Plus, the Astilbe would act as a backup in case heavy rains damage the peony flowers, like I think they did last night.

Finally, my trial garden is where I have spent most of my energy the last few weeks. I have a bit more area to turn over yet, but I added a number of perennials yesterday before the rain. Another shipment of perennials is scheduled to arrive next week as well, so I will have plenty more to install and will likely expand the area by another meter or so to accommodate more plants.

The humidity is supposed to stick around for a bit yet, so I am not sure how the coming week (let alone the month) will shake out as July gets rolling. Again, it has been a weird year.

Worst case, I will get the measuring tape out to begin sketching ideas around what to do with this area on the other side of the front door. I want to create another long bed that encompasses this area and the part to the left of the photo in front of the cedar hedge I planted last year.

Thankfully, it is a sunnier spot than the part sun bed on the other side of the front door. This means I can play with a slightly larger perennial palette. But between transplanting, removing sod, and adding new soil (it’s largely clay), I can see this new project taking some time to get prepared for planting.