The Flip Side

I'm a big fan of hydrangea.  If I had more space, I'd have more of them.  As it is, I'm stretching it to have 8 of them on my city lot.  Good thing they don't mind a little shade.  My 'Bluebird' hydrangea has been around a few years now, bought in my first hydrangea shopping spree.  It's a lacecap and the little flowers are pretty pale blue in the summer.  As the season goes on, one by one, all the little flowers flip over and turn rosy pink.  It's interesting to watch the progression into the fall.  Now at the end of October, it's like the hydrangea has flipped its jacket inside out - I guess you could say its reversible ;)

Hydrangea serrata 'Blue Bird' in fall

Rose, 'Therese Bugnet'

'Therese Bugnet' is one of my favourite roses. They fill with flowers in the summer, starting early and ending late. The leaves start out light green, turn dark and then turn shades of burgundy and red that last throughout the fall, ending well after the first snowfall. They grew quickly, reaching full height within two seasons and have been an anchor in my sun gardens ever since. Best of all, they require very little attention. This year I moved the slide between them and the Siberian Iris which also add to an interesting fall display. Many of my perennials disappear or become little piles of dead leaves and stalks by now which leaves me always searching for something to plant next year that will add to my fall garden views. Today, I am thinking I will try coneflower again next year. Of course, by spring I could have a change of heart. Coneflower can be a challenge in our too dry, too hot, too short season and they cost too much to treat them as annuals. Too many too's to try for a lazy gardener! Whatever I add, it will be hard to beat the fall view in this tiny spot in my large, empty, October garden. No doubt about it, 'Therese Bugnet' is a winner.

Borrowed Glads

This year we had a hard time finding places to plant all the glads. Aside from our own, we had a loan of Danielle's for the season. This is bold orange one is definitely a favourite:

Gladiolus 'Hunting Song'

In the back yard, I got to enjoy Mon Amour, with frilly pastel pink and yellow blooms.  The delicate Velvet Eye was a wonderful surprise too - for some reason I was expecting it to be dark purple so had planted it out front.  We also had several mixed varieties from Danielle too.  There's one more pink one still to open.

Hostas in Dry Shade

Hostas work great in areas that are shady... under trees where not much else will thrive.  Even the less showy varieties add greenery where it's hard to get other things to grow.  This year we inherited several large hostas which were going to be dug up and thrown out by other gardeners.  What we have found though is that they don't really do well in the woods because it's so dry.  Here is what Kelly did to help keep moisture around the hostas in the woods:

So for a few days it looked rather odd in the woods with these sandy circles built up around all the hostas.  Then Kelly went and raked a bunch of mulch from the forest floor and hid the architecture:

Now it all looks more natural!  And I can tell the hostas like it too.

Last Flowers 2011

Earlier this season I was singing praise to my viola which was my first blooming flower. At the time I said they would be my last flower of the season as well and here is the evidence. Yesterday when wandering the yard, I again noticed that viola are the last flowers left in my garden. From the pretty bright yellow blooming from under the lizard to the deep purple blooming all along the drive edge, just outside the rock border. These little viola's are ultra reliable; always smiling, always bright, always cheery and always blooming. Many gardeners I know consider these little beauties a weed although, I will never understand how they ever fell into that category. I love them and try to add new varieties to my garden every year on my mother's birthday.

No Stopping

After all my years of gardening in Saskatchewan, the one thing I know for sure is that there is no stopping winter from arriving. This is the time of year that the timing of the snow keeps me on my toes. The saddest day of the year in my garden is the day I have to bring in all my garden art, which includes the sun stone and little squirrel sundial above. Anything that is not made of concrete, is super strong or too heavy to lift will be either brought into the house or put in the shop. It is a long day of heavy work to put it all away and the consequences of missing something are not much fun either. I lost a Mexican sunbaked tile by forgetting it out all winter. It was a gift from a friend and very disappointing to lose. Once the job is done, the garden will look very bare until the snow covers it. As a result, I try to leave it to the last possible day. Everything glass came inside today because the nights are getting cold. Everything else has been left out so far. I am keeping my eye on the forecast though. If I wait until the snow actually falls, it will be a cold, wet job as well and that usually leads to my first cold of the season. I try to avoid that scenario but my desire to stretch the season often leaves me wet and cold... whether it is planting last minute bulbs or moving things inside. It is hard to let go of the garden for our long winters. Often, I am glad to see the snow in late fall, being in need of a break. Always, I am ready for spring well before it arrives!

A Note on Maps

My garden maps have been an on-going problem. At the start, I made one dimensional bed outlines full of circles representing the plants as seen from a bird's eye view. I use my maps primarily in the spring when I am looking for specific plants or looking at something poking up through the soil that I cannot identify. Maps helps then. I found it was impossible for me to figure out exactly where something specific was with no markers or landmarks on the maps that showed me the plants in relation to other things like large rocks, bird baths or bridges. I also found that because I do not view the garden from a 'bird's eye', the maps did not work for me. I do not use maps to visualize my blooming garden. For that, I use my imagination, area sketches, cut out photographs and transparencies layered over the bed outlines. The transparencies work particularly well for placing shrubs or overlaying bulb plantings which for me, mostly means tulips. Over time, I have developed the map style above which works much better for me. I mark in permanent 'landmarks' in the bed and do only one bed per map. Since I do not use the maps to visualize or develop the garden views, a single bed is much more effective on a map for my purposes, making locating plants in the spring easier. Above is my boardwalk garden entry bed on the lowest level of that garden. It is complete to the point it will be complete in the fall. My maps are a winter project. I get the basics down and tidy them up over the winter. For example, I know what hosta variety is planted above as well as the name of the purple viola, but not off the top of my head. In the winter, I will look them up and complete the labeling. Tulips do not need an overlay on this map because there are very few perennials planted here. This bed is one of two beds in this garden that I fill with annuals in the spring. You can see how the overlay would be helpful if this bed was also full of perennials. Cleaning up my garden maps is one of my favourite winter projects. It is particularly helpful on a long, cold, windy winter day by reminding me that the snow will eventually melt. Then there is the added bonus of the extra time it buys me in the fall. I can spend endless hours tidying up my maps - time I never have in my fall garden schedule. I suppose I should get to planting those tulips now. The weather is turning cold here and Jack Frost is in danger of catching me unprepared. Unprepared is not a good winter strategy in Saskatchewan.

Yellow

When I first started gardening, I was admant about no yellow. Yellow flowers were my least favourite, I was sure. I think it may be because most of the wildflowers here are yellow and my thoughts of a garden then, excluded most of them. Yellow has changed for me since then, as have wildflowers in the garden. Two years ago, I brought wild Prairie Coneflower into my garden proper and have not regretted it since. They are wonderful and look equally great with Heliopsis 'Loraine Sunshine' or any of my pink roses. Today, I love yellow, orange, deep chocolate colours and everything fall. You would not have known it from my early garden. The first two years, everything I planted was pink. That was my first mistake, followed by many others. That is the joy of gardening for me though, mistakes can abound and nature will still figure it out and usually put on a display better than any I could have dreamed up. Today, my garden embraces all flower colours as it grows with me. 

Phlox Paniculata

This will be the third year that Linda has sent me root divisions of her several phlox paniculata varieties. The paniculata phlox varieties are not one of my garden success stories. They seem to winter kill more often than not and they take forever to form anything that could be called a patch in my garden. The last two years, I have planted the root divisions where I would want them to permanently be situated in the garden. Last year, 'Pink Flame' and 'David' survived. With our planned move (that did not happen), the 'Pink Flame' ended up in Judys' garden. 'David' was a single stalk that was full of flowers at our sun gardens entry. This year, I have decided to change my phlox strategy. Since they remain skinny and thin for at least 2 years, I decided to plant them all together near where 'David' survived the last winter. I can protect them here, they take up very little space and grow tall so if I can keep them alive here long enough to form small patches, I will move them out to a more lasting location. I am calling it the phlox nursery and keeping my fingers crossed. Sometimes my garden can be a crap shoot... and sometimes I get lucky with that!

The Colours of Fall

Fall has arrived in the yard and the Valley. The hills are full of colour! As beautiful as it is, it seems to be pushing me to get the bulbs planted, perennials trimmed and mulched, pruning done, gutters cleaned... and it goes on and on and on. Of course, that doesn't stop me from standing in the yard with the camera instead of the shovel. Oh well, we are scheduled to have a long, warm fall so it will get done. Tomorrow ;)