Get planted

Some plants are sprinting and some are sulking after a cool wet spring.

Vines for instance are growing like they have been turbocharged. We've got vines booby-trapping our garden at every curve and corner.

A big, hairy, golden hops (Humulus lupulus 'Aureus') is scampering away at the bottom of our hill, covering stumps, ladders, retaining walls, anything in its path. The robust, maple-leaf like leaves are large and shockingly chartreuse. As the summer rolls on, they turn to lime green. They look dynamite against a black fence. Golden hops is killed back to the ground each winter, but come spring, many new shoots emerge from the ground, and will put on up to 20 feet of growth in a season. If you need a steamroller of a vine to quickly transform a blank area in the garden, golden hops will do the job.

More restrained and controlled are the clematis. Small flowered types, with flowers like bells are often vigorous and carefree. The large flowered ones can be high maintenance, but when they are satisfied with their surroundings, the glamorous flowers have few rivals. Unlike people, clematis like to have their heads hot and feet cool, so mulch the roots, and make sure the rest of the vine has a sunny exposure.

Another vine chugging along like a freight train is fiveleaf akebia. The leaves are an attractive blue green, fragrant purple flowers dangle like earrings from the vine in spring. This is another vine that will romp along the ground forming a tangled ground cover, or will quickly cover a fence, arbor, boring shrub, or awkward shed. Growing in sun or part shade, be prepared to snip akebia when it roams out of bounds.

While vines, shrubs and flowering trees are growing with exuberance, a cool wet spring makes many annuals miserable. Put impatiens in the ground when the soil is still cold and clammy, and they will stonewall you, they prefer, stable warm weather. Plant impatiens too early and growth can be stunted.

But leaving annuals crammed in tiny six packs also threatens their health. I had a flat of flowering tobacco (nicotiana) that needed to be planted in the worst way. When I started punching them out of their cell packs, the roots were round around tighter than capellini on a fork. No wonder they were looking pale and pinched. A few minutes spent loosening the roots, and a dash of liquid fertilizer, and the flowering tobacco will be shooting toward the sky in no time. I am looking forward to the sweet white blossoms of 'Fragrant Cloud', and if I have the nerve, I will plant Nicotiana sylvestris on either side of my front door. This giant tobacco grows five feet tall, topped by tubular, fragrant white flowers. I used it in this way once before, and it's a traffic stopper.

Planting and patrolling the garden reveals many happy discoveries. The extremely beautiful Hakonechloa, or Japanese forest grass is in stunning company planted next to a deep, maroon heuchera or coral bell on my hillside garden. Hakonechloa is an electric lime green, has soft, cascading blades, and likes shade. It's a slow grower, taking several years to attain a meaty size.

The maroon, almost black leaves of cimicifuga 'Brunette' are looking swank next to a golden carpet of lamium 'Aureum'. This lamium will do swell in dry shade, though it is slower growing than green leaved types.

For years I have been preaching about the charms of the alternate leaf dogwood (Cornus alternifolia), a shrub or small tree that has graceful horizontal branches, and pretty white flowers. Recently a new cultivar was left on my doorstep. 'Golden Shadows' has leaves that are lime green in the centre, and are surrounded by gold edges. It is to be idolized. 'Golden Shadows' is still a rarity, but one to keep on the must have list. It is available from the US nursery Song Sparrow (www.songsparrow.com). While you're there you will see many shrubs and trees that will make your mouth water. That's ok; part of the joy of gardening is anticipation, belief in the future, and patience. We know that a cool wet spring sets up a lush summer, and joyful discoveries at each bend in the path.