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Serving Queen Anne & Magnolia Since 1919
NOVEMBER 8, 2023
www.QueenAnneNews.com
VOL. 104, NO. 45
The Power of Editing in the Garden
Photos by Laura Marie Rivera
HALLOWEEN ON THE AVENUE Queen Anne knows how to do Halloween right. The Avenue was crowded with adorable trick-or-treaters and lots of businesses owners handing out treats for young and old alike. There were water bottles from the orthodontist, Pokémon cards from Blue Highway Games, dog treats from Wag, and probably more candy than the kids could eat. Some of the local elected officials were seen trick-or-treating with their children while a few hopeful candidates passed out candy and campaign information. The Avenue’s festivities culminated with the Thriller flashmob in front of Trader Joe’s before families dispersed into the neighborhood in search of more tricks and treats throughout the night. Neighbors that made it all the way to 10th Avenue West got to see the elaborate Stranger Things display, where the home owners passed out candy to more than 1,000 children this year.
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hey say gardens are never finished – the truth of that saying was brought home to me recently as I had to make some hard choices. When we bought our house, it was nearly a blank slate – bliss for an enthusiastic plant collector. I was overjoyed to see the southfacing hillside by the front door, but it was covered in lawn. First, I prefer more useful plants than lawn, but second, what a pain to mow that must be! Erica Browne Grivas Enter the magic Get Growing of Craigslist, and the people who wanted to divest themselves of plants they had become too successful in their gardens. I was given all the plants who believed in Manifest Destiny – Crocosmia ‘Lucifer,’ Daylilies, and lambs’ ears (Stachys byzantina), to name a few. Then I hit the plant sales, and promptly installed all the plants I’d been wanting to try, without considering their ultimate size. Soon the hill was bursting with plants. Fast forward (well it feels like that anyway) twelve years and it was time for a change. My husband was about to trim the ‘Lady Banks’ Rose – a twice-yearly occurrence to keep it from reaching our roof, when it came to us that mayyyybe we didn’t have to do this anymore. From the driveway, it looked like our arbor had grown a Bob Ross afro. It’s a lovely sight in May smothered in yellow blossoms, but did we really want to keep this up? We really didn’t. It sounds crazy, but I began to feel irresponsible for planting large things that I wasn’t ready to prune. If you have planted something in the wrong place, there will be a moment of reckoning in which either you or the plant will be unhappy. The plant may need constant pruning, causing irregular growth, or it may have weak branches from being in too much GRIVAS Page 4Æ