Creeping and the Beauty of Space

The beauty of space is that there are actually places, not that far from my house, that I never get to. The south side of our shop is one such place. It is out of the way, surrounded by bush and the graveyard of things slightly in need of repair but possibly useful in future has only grown since we arrived.

There is a cast-off rack there, that at one time held canoes and one time held wood. Now it sits and waits for a new use, surrounded by pallets and the odd bit of firewood.

Our place is full of Virginia Creeper. Both the dark green all the time variety and the more stunning fall turning variety. Sadly, all the fall turning variety was planted away from the house originally. I have spent years moving it in to catch views of it from the windows. I thought I knew where every patch was.

Imagine my surprise to find fall turning Virginia Creeper on the south side of the shop! Majestic and beautiful, doing just what it was designed to to - making that junk pile look awesome!

 

Just look at those purples!

All my new Iris

 

Remind me about this picture next spring. I will take pictures to post of them all in flower. It's hard to believe but there are more than 12 new varieties there! And enough of each that they should all show up.

Dahlia in October

dahlia 'Preference'

There isn't a whole lot blooming now in my garden but all of the dahlia are still going strong. In the afternoon sun, the bumble bees are sluggish and swarming over them. Every morning I look out to see if they've gotten frosted off yet. A couple of years ago, they lasted till Remembrance Day but I suspect it will be sooner this year.

Limelight!

 

I love lime leafed plants. Actually, blue leaves and variegated leaves are just as welcome in my garden but don't tell the lime plants that. They think they are special. And this year, they are.

When I had my late summer iris exchange, I picked up a couple of lime leafed beauties from a friend and these plants come with added benefits! The lime leafed Lamium is hopefully going to join the variegated leaf variety in my garden to become everything I ever wanted in a Lamium. I love Lamium. It has so many uses. However, the traditional dark green varieties that flower dark pink, light pink or white, multiply like weeds and are almost impossible to control. Definitely impossible to showcase! If this lime leafed variety can match its traditional cousin in duration and repeat flowering but manage to contain itself at the same time, it will be one of my new favourite groundcovers.

Then comes Columbine. How pretty are Columbine flowers? I am constantly on the hunt for Columbine in colours I do not yet have, always examining the flowers. Now I have a reason to examine the leaves! This little pretty inspired me to dig up and rearrange half of my lower boardwalk garden bed. With luck, it will all come back in the right place next year.

 

It only had to snow once and I am already thinking about spring :)

Fall has definitely arrived!

Today was cold. Not cold enough for the football fans to show up at the game, they are a hardy bunch! Too cold for me to be in the garden putting it to bed. So instead, I stayed inside, went through garden photos and thought of warmer days. Like this one where the garden dogs are lounging. Tuk is happy on snow or grass but I think Summer prefers grass any day!