Planting Continues

The warm September days continue and, since  the lady at the nursery said you can continue planting right through October, I bought more plants.

I bought a second Virginia  Creeper (parthenocissus quinquefolia Engelmannii), thinking I would plant it with the other one. But after visiting many garden sites and reading lots of posts about this plant, I am a little hesitant to overwhelm one area with it.

Some sites call it "invasive"  and warn against planting it near your deck. Other sites say that it is a great plant to cover a space quickly. But one site in particular showed a man removing the many long tendrils of this plant that had grown under and over his deck. Mind you, I think he lived in Cuba, a different climate than northern Ontario.

Still, to be on the safe side, I have planted this in the far corner of the garden so that it can climb over an unsightly shed. It is the fall foliage that is the beauty of this climber and there is one down the street that looks beautiful scrambling over an old wooden shed.

I also bought a Boston ivy (partenocissus veitchii robusta), another climber that promises fall colour. I decided to move one of my climbing hydrangeas to the front bed and put the ivy in its place against the garage wall on the east side. Since it is a hardy climber, it should be able to take the rain that pours down off the garage roof and also the heat of the morning sun as it reflects off the white siding. Some people complain about the little feet by which this clings to surfaces and I have heard tell that it can damage brick and wood. But I figure this is aluminum siding and by the time this climber damages anything, I will be long past caring and it will be someone else's problem.

Here is the hydrangea in its new position. Hopefully it will climb up and around our bedroom window. this plant is not at all threatening and it can be easily controlled so I hope it thrives here.

Then the last plant I bought was another honeysuckle. This one is called Major Wheeler and it is a honeysuckle that promises to bloom heavily with red flowers. I decided to plant this against the new part of the back deck and will put a trellis in place to help it get up there. If it proves to be too energetic, it can be easily pruned.

                                            

As I was digging this one in, I could see just how dry the soil is. We badly need some rain. It is hard to know how much water I am giving these new perennials. I water each every second day, doing the front yard on one day and the back on the next. It takes half an hour to get them all watered. Many more plants and I will be doing nothing but watering. And the water here in this town is expensive. So I am hoping for a downpour to fill the new rain barrel.

And one of the first hydrangeas planted has produced two baby blossoms. This is Jack Cataraqui, a variation I had never heard of before. This type is often pruned to become a tree, however I don't trust myself to do that, so I will just let it be.