Saturday, Sept 15th

A beautiful warm sunny day here today. Yesterday we took a trip to Dwight Nursery. It wasn't as large as I had at first thought, but there were plenty of plants to be looked at and some to be bought. Of course, most of the perennials and shrubs are on sale now so they can clear out the stock before winter comes.

A very helpful garden assistant was more than willing to chat about plants, fending off deer, growing invasive plants, we could have talked for hours.

She showed me some perennials with burgundy foliage and I told her I was not a particular fan of that colour. She understood completely and said that sometimes they help to make another plant "pop". Okay, I will let time tell on that one. They just don't appeal to me, too dark and sombre for my tastes. Perhaps too sophisticated too.

They had no climbing hydrangea which was a shame, just after I had read about how Martha Stewart plants them to grow up the trunks of trees on her estate. What a great idea!  I have a lot of maples here that would look great with a flowering vine growing up their trunks.

They did have a sweet autumn clematis though. And I scooped it up even though the helpful assistant told me that it was invasive. I said there was enough space that that was not a worry to me. And after checking out many images on google, I am going to plant this one right next to the clothes line pole and let it climb up that. I may have to put some other supports for it but those can wait until next spring. I really don't care if this is invasive and covers a lot of ground; that is what I am looking for, plants that leap for joy and grow everywhere. They can always be clipped back if they prove too energetic.

I also bought a Virginia Creeper. I had this for years in my garden in Halifax and it was lovely. My neighbour get the best of it though as the only sun came from the east so the leaves all faced her side of the fence. She got the lovely show of leaves while I got the back side. They turn a brilliant red in the fall and they grow quickly. So this will go next to the back deck on the west side. It is shaded from direct sun by the maple there, but it gets enough light to flourish and it will look great climbing up the deck and latching on to the lattice work there.

Another hydrangea, how could I resist this one? It is a lace cap called Wedding Gown. The ticket says that it will only grow 3 feet tall, but will be 3 to 5 feet wide, so a low spreading shrub. This one I will put somewhere in more sun than the others as this type can tolerate more sun. It is a macrophylla hydrangea and the blooms turn deep pink in the fall.

I read in a gardening book by Marjorie Harris that, when starting a new garden, you should put in the shrubs and climbers right away. They are the bones of a garden and should get the earliest start. With that in mind, I picked up a Hall's Honeysuckle which will have white/yellow flowers and black berries in the fall. This is going in the raised bed by the driveway closer to the front side of the house. It is the first plant to see when parking in the driveway. I have grown two honeysuckles in Halifax, but neither had a great location - not enough sun, in my opinion - they grew and produced flowers but not abundantly. I have seen honeysuckles that are just loaded with flowers and I hope that this one will succeed like those. I will put in a trellis against the wall next spring once it gets going and needs support to climb up that wall.

I bought a single aster, how stupid is that?  I should have bought three and put them together. When will I learn?  I will pop this into the bed beside the driveway where I am going to be planting many of the perennials that I ordered from Vesey's (irises, peonies).

I picked up a tall Shasta daisy perennial and will put this together with the Annabelle hydrangea that I got at Home Hardware on Friday. These will go in the back garden off to one side. This is a spot that gets a fair amount of sun and, if the grass is anything to go by, the soil there must be good. The grass there is lush and green compared to the rest of the yard which is rather seedy. This was where a previous owner had his vegetable garden so the soil here may have been improved by him so I can now benefit from it.

Pictures to follow in the next post.

I succumbed to another ....

hydrangea, of course. This time it is an Annabelle Arborescens hydrangea. I had said that I was not fond of the big mop-head hydrangeas, but I have bought one anyway. I couldn't resist this one when I was at Home Hardware today. They had a whole bunch of perennials brought in from a nursery north of Quebec City. The clerk told me that this nursery grows their perennials in pots for 2-3 years before selling them; the implication being that they will be extremely hardy for our Canadian climate.
I asked her "so aren't they pot-bound then?"  She hesitated and then said "well, yes I guess so". Duh!

You never know what advice you are going to get from people. She rang in my purchase and asked if I knew how to plant it, I nodded my head yes, then another store clerk passed and said "coffee grounds, mix in some coffee grounds".  We shall see, I actually have a bowl of dried coffee grounds on the kitchen counter to use when planting. Perhaps this hydrangea will benefit from some of those.

The plant I bought has no blooms, so I am going on trust that it is what they say it is. Unlike the other hydrangeas, I am going to plant this one in a sunny spot and then next summer I am going to plant some tall daisies next to it. I saw this combination in a video and it looked really nice, the white of both plants complementing each other.

Deck Reno

This is a photo of the newly renovated deck. The previous deck was very solid, but it was also very enclosed and gave no view of the back yard. I am so pleased with the renovation that has just been completed. It adds more space to the deck in a small lower level, plus it adds a set of steps that descend right into the yard. Previously we had to go down the ramp, then step right and down a cement step to access the yard.

This is a direct view from the back yard. The lattice was removed from one section of the old deck and then the new part has posts which give much more visibility.

Now, of course, I can plan what to plant. This is a south exposure and one side of the deck has western exposure but is also shaded by a large maple. I would like to grow some climbers on that side, perhaps Virginia creeper or Boston ivy or perhaps another climbing hydrangea. I just wish they grew faster. 

September 12, 2017

We are supposed to be getting a week of beautiful weather, day time highs in the mid 20's and the night time lows around 7 or 8.  No frost yet. So gardening can carry on.

Today, I weeded the bed in the front of the house, below the living room window. The previous owner seems to have thought that adding straw and bark to all beds was the way to garden. There seems to be endless amounts of the stuff. And many baby maples trying to get a place for themselves. A couple of hours digging and pulling out stuff has left this bed ready for some fall planting. I added 5 bags of black topsoil from the grocery store - great price of 5 bags for $10. I may have to get more of this for the raised beds, at that price it is a real bargain.

I am not entirely sure what I will plant in this bed as it receives no direct sun at all. This is the bed with the sad hydrangea that only blooms on one side. I plan on cutting it right down later this fall and see it if makes a recovery next spring. If not, it will be replaced with another hydrangea to fill the spot.

This bed may just be devoted to annuals that like the shade, such as coleus and impatiens. One plant I read that likes the full shade is browallia, but I don't believe I have ever seen that for sale in the nurseries around here. But then I wasn't looking for it either. I am sure it can be found in a mail-order catalog.

Speaking of which, Vesey's fall catalog arrived last week, and I have ordered a zillion bulbs, daffodils, crocus, tulips, three peonies, and several types of iris. I know that deer like tulip bulbs so I am going to plant those in pots and winter them in the garage, and then bring them out on the steps next spring. I doubt that the deer will come that close to the house.

And this is a picture of the hardy mum that I planted three weeks ago. I think it is just gorgeous. That lovely pink with the golden centre, and the plant is just covered with blooms. I am so glad that this is a hardy mum and should come back next spring.

And this is a plant picked up at the grocery store. The mix of colours, gold and that mauvy shade of pink is just perfect to me. I love that contrast. There is an ornamental cabbage in there, and the rudbeckia can be planted in the garden in a couple of weeks, as it should return.

September 8 - add some gold

Today's gardening is getting the rudbeckia plants in place in the back yard. This is the edge of our property, the shed and woodpile behind belong to our neighbour Ernie.

These plants are quite vigorous; they all came out of 2 pots purchased at the grocery store. These are a little different from the usual black-eye susans; they have a dark ring around the central cone and then the petals are gold. I had planted another one of these in the bed beside the driveway and it is flourishing. I had thought of moving it to join these, but it is doing so well that I will leave it where it is for now.

Next summer, I plan on adding more of these in this spot and then putting a ring of purple coneflowers in front. Or beside perhaps, as coneflowers will probably get taller than the black eye susans and I wouldn't want to interfere with such a pretty sight. I love the combination of the gold and deep rose that comes in fall; I find it particularly pleasing.

And today, I added the grass clippings to the raised beds, then put cow manure on top of that. Then I threw some of the soil that was dug up in the course of planting on top of it all. I have about 6 more inches of soil to make before these can be planted with vegetables, so there is quite a way to go yet. But this should be a very fertile place for veggies to grow.

Hydrangea Heaven

Yes, more hydrangeas being planted. A trip to Gerber's yesterday resulted in a Quick Fire hydrangea and another Bobo hydrangea. I really wanted to get a Little Quick Fire, but they didn't have any of those at this point. So I debated whether or not to get the Quick Fire, which grows larger - 6-8 feet in height and width. But there is a spot in the back yard where this could grow nicely and get just as big as it wants. It also gets filtered morning sun and then again another hour or two of filtered afternoon sun. Apparently most hydrangeas can take full sun in this northern climate, unlike those in the south which can only take morning sun and afternoon shade or they will fry.

This shrub has already changed colour for fall and I hope it gets a good few weeks of root growth before the cold weather sets in. I plan on mulching all of these perennials and giving them some extra winter protection as this will be their first winter. 

This is the Bobo hydrangea - how could I resist this one? It is just so pretty. These only get 3 feet tall and wide, so that is a nice shrub size.

I am going to plant the Bobo hydrangea in between the rosa rugosa and the Quick Fire hydrangea. It will get a fair amount of sun in this location and the three shrubs will form a kind of informal hedge between our yard and the new neighbour who will be moving in next door.

Here it is sandwiched between the rosa rugosa and the Quick Fire. 

I plan on getting a garden bench for this spot in the corner. There are some nice stones piled up and a corner fence of old logs and it is a favourite spot of mine to sit for a while.  The hydrangea should grow and make this an even more inviting spot to spend some quiet time.

With each of the shrubs I have been planting, I have dug up the grass, then chopped away the soil from the sod, mixed that with purchased soil from Gerber's (loam, manure and compost mix), and then backfilled the hole with my mixture. It should help the drainage problem.

Now as for the raised beds, which will be the start of a vegetable garden next year. I watched a video on YouTube on making and planting a raised bed in 30 minutes. This assumes that you have all the components on hand which I don't. But it is an interesting concept. After building the beds, you lay cardboard on the ground in the beds. We have plenty of cardboard from our move; all you must do is remove any tape or staples from the cardboard. Better that it isn't heavily printed with ink. This should be a couple of layers thick. The purpose is that the cardboard will suppress the growth of the grass and weeds. The next step is to thoroughly soak the cardboard. Then you sprinkle dry grass clippings over the cardboard. These provide nitrogen. 

Here is a link to the video for this method of making a raised bed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gArx4ZKdc8w

                                 

Cardboard is in the beds, next is the grass layer. Very satisfying to know that you can create soil with these waste products which we normally send to the landfill. They are going to make a different kind of fill here.

Since I just cut the grass this morning, I now have the grass clippings.  After that, you layer manure, then shredded paper, compost, wilted nettles (for phosphorus) and calcified seaweed at the last. I don't have all of these components, but I figure that half is better than none and I can make it up as I go along. So far I have the cardboard, the grass clippings and the manure. So next I will get some compost (as my own compost hasn't materialised yet) and keep layering. This should all work together and become a viable bed next spring. It will certainly be better than planting in the existing soil which is heavy clay and doesn't drain well.

September 2

A beautiful day here with sunshine and a temperature of 18 outside,  perfect for a planting.

Another hydrangea planted on the edge of the front yard. I read in a gardening book that, if you want to have a garden, never call your property a "yard" but always call it a garden. I think that you have to have  made some progress in gardening  before you can call it that. I am nowhere near that.

This is a hydrangea called Little Lime, a dwarf version of the popular Limelight hydrangeas. This one will grow between 3 and 5 feet tall. My plan here is to see how this fares with regards to the deer. If they eat this plant, then I will have to forego the idea of a hedge full of these. But if they leave it alone, then next spring I can plant an entire row of these along the curve of the driveway.

Seen from further away, it is about 18" tall at the moment. Full of blossoms that are beginning to turn their fall shade of pink.

And seen from the front step with the foxgloves (and the ugly downspout) in the foreground.

I think that is about it for planting perennials this year. It is getting too cold at night and I am not sure that plants would get much of a growing start before frost comes. There will be bulbs to be planted however, and those will probably be in a month's time.

I have been watching a lot of gardening videos which accounts for my new love of hydrangeas. I had never heard of Mackinaw Island before, what a paradise for gardeners.

This is a link to one garden tour. So beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P9EG5rHGzw