Ignorance is Bliss: The Red Shrub

In spite of me…

Ignorance is Bliss.

There is a shrub in my backyard and I have no idea what it is. It is in a raised bed with a coral bell, a plant that looks like a bouquet of oak or maple leaves. The unknown shrub is less than three feet high and has tiny waxy green leaves. On occasion, I have seen brightly colored flowers bloom from it. Two years ago, I cut back the shrub in the fall and the following year there were hardly any blooms, even though I noticed a lot of leaves and buds on the plant. This fall, I didn’t do anything; I even left fall leaves in the raised bed. Earlier this spring, I thoroughly cleaned out the bed, raking out old mulch, weeding and putting in extra dirt. The extra dirt was a tip from a random newspaper article that explained some plants may have to be put back into the dirt after winter because of ground shifts. You will sometimes see plants “pop” out of the ground after winter because of this. I then covered the bed with landscape fabric.

Then I took a break. The weather turned colder and I started to over think my next step. I had originally intended to cover the fabric with mulch, but after buying the bag and reading the instructions, (which states not to put it within several inches of a wooden structure) I was at a lost. But, then I began to notice that both plants were thriving. The coral bell was getting larger and the shrub was blooming. Really blooming! It was covered in tiny red flowers. So, I stopped thinking about the implications of putting mulch so close to a structure and began shoveling it around the base of the plants. A week later, the unknown shrub is still blooming and the coral bell is also flourishing.

What can I say? Did that little bit of TLC in the early spring help? Did the covering of leaves protect the plant? Did it have to rest for a year and gather strength before this bloom fest? I don't know. But I am amazed at the outcome, whether it was with my help or not.