I had high expectations. When I planted sedges (Carex sprengelii) in our front yard in 2011, they grew to their mature size within a few weeks and provided an almost instant ground cover.
I was leaning on that pleasant experience, expecting that our freshly planted rain garden cells in the parkway would perform the same way. I was in for a rude awakening.
It felt like everything we planted was sitting there forever like on the first day, not putting on any growth at all, or at slower than a snail’s pace. The plants didn’t die, but they didn’t grow, either.
I blamed the summer. It was very dry, and the little rain we got basically just kept things alive. I actually purged my rain barrel into the rain garden whenever it was full in a desperate attempt to provide emergency care.
The plantings did not take off until we got some decent rains in late summer. And by that time they were so stressed that they were cautious about how much growth they should put on.
Well, sitting on my front porch watching my rain garden flourish was a pipe dream in 2017. Maybe we’ll have more luck this season.