first frost
Sigh. The rooftops in my neighbourhood were white this morning. Everything's OK, even the impatiens, which are the first things to go when there's a killing frost. But still... the end is near...
September 02, 2008
August 29, 2008
what to do with clay soil?
Yikes. This is the worst garden soil I have ever seen! There is maybe 10-15 cm of topsoil in this garden, and underneath is pure Calgary clay. Whoever landscaped this yard ripped the homeowner off. Fortunately for me, it's not my soil. But what to tell my client?
There are two ways to improve garden soil. A good 30 cm of topsoil is required for plants to really thrive. 45 cm would be even better. The best way is to get this is to get a Bobcat in to remove the existing soil down to at least 30 cm and have it replaced with good black loam. This is great if you are starting from scratch (and if you are, then I highly recommend doing this! You will not regret it), but if you already have an established yard or just want to add a few plants here and there, it's not very practical.
The other option is to improve the soil as you dig each hole and plant each plant. Faster in the short-term but possibly more work in the long-term. So, in this garden, I dug each hole 3 times bigger than the size of the pot that the plant was in (what a workout!), and mixed lots of compost with the existing soil in each hole. This will make space for each plant to grow its roots into without struggling in the hard clay. Top-dressing the whole garden with 2-4" of compost each spring will also gradually help improve the garden soil.
a sunny, hot front garden part 2
Here again, the client decided to keep what she had, to add shrubs this fall, and more flowers next spring. Here's what it looked like before. She says she likes the look of bare soil, but wants colour, colour, colour.
Well, this is a start. The 'Skyrocket' juniper is the narrowest upright juniper you can get, I think the the blue colour looks great in front of the gold wall, and it will echo the junipers on the other side of the walkway. This one will eventually get 3 m high and only 75 cm wide. We also added 3 potentillas (2 are 'Gold Drop' and the third was moved from the garden in the back), all with bright yellow flowers. They will eventually form a nice, low-growing hedge in front of the bench.
I re-arranged the yuccas, heucheras and fescues, and added some daylilies, since she had too many on the other side of the walkway. They all had to be moved anyway, to make space for the shrubs we added. There are quite a few 'spiky'-shaped plants here, so I definately see some tall sedums in the future, as well as gaillardia, shasta daisies, cranesbill geranium...
Since the client likes the look of bare soil, I recommend top-dressing these beds with at least 2" of compost every spring. It will help keep the weeds down, improve the soil, and fertilize the plants.
screening an air conditioning unit part 2
This client wanted to screen the air conditioning unit, and have more colour. She decided we would add shrubs this fall (a great time to plant!), and flowers in the spring. Here is what it looked like before, and below is after I added the shrubs and re-arranged some of her existing perennials:
The new juniper 'Moonglow' will eventually get large enough to screen the view, without blocking access. In the meantime, the ornamental grass 'Karl Foerster' will help block the view.
There's a Dart's Red spirea in the corner closest to the front door. It will add flower colour in summer and have reddish-purple foliage in fall.
I also added 3 'Black Beauty' elderberries, whose purple-black foliage contrast well with the blue juniper and fescues. They will eventually get 5 ft tall and wide.
The blue fescues were moved from the other side of the front sidewalk, and I also re-arranged the variegated grasses and yellow daylilies a little.
Also, the Karl Foerster grass will be big enough by next year to screen the view as you get closer to the house.
We haven't added any flowers yet and I think it already looks a lot better with the various colours and textures of foliage.
help! the annuals are taking over!!
This was a brand new area of the garden this spring and it looked fairly bare. Because perennials take a few years to get going, I started some annuals from seed to fill in the gaps. I don't really know what I was thinking though, because all the annuals I planted are giants by the end of the season! Here are lavatera, castor bean, cleome and nicotiana taking over the garden.
They look great but I can barely see my new perennials. I'm almost tempted to cut these annuals down just so I can get a better look at the permanent perennial composition. I already pulled out the floppy clarkia and added some 'Husker's Red' penstemon instead (not in this pic).
Hmm, what to do, what to do... Maybe we'll get an early frost and this will all be moot. Wait, did I just wish for frost? It must be getting close to the end of summer and I am getting tired!
stachys byzantina (lamb's ears)
I think I must have 'Silver Carpet', a non-flowering variety, because this plant has never flowered for me. That's OK, I planted it for its leaves. Kids love this plant, and I do, too! The leaves are so, so, soooo soft.
Lamb's ears likes full sun and is very drought tolerant. In fact, the only way to kill it is to give it too much water or too rich soil.
nicotiana sylvestris (flowering tobacco)
Here's an annual I started from seed to fill up some new spots in the garden, and fill them up it does!
This one is huge (150 cm tall?) and I chose it for its beautiful fragrance. It is in full sun.
hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'
There are lots of newer varieties of hydrangea that can be babied through Calgary winters, but Annabelle is a reliably hardy shrub. It dies back to the ground every winter, but just needs cutting back in spring and grows quickly into a large shrub again.
Hydrangeas like moist soil and partial shade, so I have mine near a downspout and it needs no extra care.
The flowers are huge and they last and last, and they even look nice dried (I leave mine on the shrub and they look nice all winter long).
liatris, russian sage and purple sedum
Here's one of my favourite combinations for fall colour in full sun:
purple sedum
I used to have a purple echinacea in here too, but lost it last winter. I think I'll have to get another one next year...
liatris spicata
These spiky plants come in pink, purple and white, and the flowers open from the top down. You can find them for cheap, cheap, cheap if you wait and buy bare bulbs in the spring.
These are so easy to grow that I stuffed some extras in the "cutting garden" at the side of the house, so I'd have some for bouquets without spoiling the display in the main garden.
spec's: 90 cm tall, full sun, drought tolerant.
monarda didyma (bee balm) 'Marshall's Delight'
Here's the other colour of bee balm I have in my garden. This variety is also highly mildew resistant, which is a bonus.
Again, I like bee balm for its late summer colour, drought tolerance and ability to bloom in partial shade. Not to mention that hummingbirds and bees love it!
spec's: 75-90 cm tall, 45 cm wide, sun to part shade, drought tolerant, low maintenance.
August 25, 2008
blue fescue and bergenia
Do you keep reading articles talking about the importance of contrasting foliage for season-long interest? You can't get much better than blue fescue and bergenia (actually, I like any ornamental grass paired with bergenia).
artemesia and clary sage
artemesia 'oriental limelight' and annual self-seeded clary sage (plus annual cosmos in the background)
a garden salad - my kids eat veggies!
After reading lots of articles about how growing veggies will get kids more interested in eating them, I can finally report that yes, it's true! This lettuce is growing right beside the patio and my kids like to walk over and yank off leaves to munch on while they're playing in the backyard. I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!!
... and here's the salad I made last night. The kids didn't eat the flowers but at least thought they were interesting! They had 3 helpings of lettuce and tomato.
After blogging about how borage flowers are edible, I decided to give them a try. I wouldn't say they taste like cucumber, but they do have a pleasant, very mild flavour. I still think they're nicer in the garden, though.
verbena bonariensis
This is the second year for verbena bonariensis in my garden - a butterfly magnet!
I've seen it in the perennial section of certain garden centres for big $$ but it doesn't overwinter here. I started mine from seed, and bought new seed this year because I didn't want to risk not having it again. But, my plant from last year self-seeded all over the place and now I have verbena bonariensis growing up between my patio stones! Not hard to remove, though.
The self-seeded ones are blooming only a week or two behind the ones I started inside this spring, so hooray! Looks like verbena bonariensis is here to stay.
disappointed in chocolate cosmos
I planted these because they supposedly smell like chocolate, so I thought they'd be a fun plant for the kids.
Ummm, not. If you stick your nose right into the flower and inhale very deeply, you might catch a faint whiff of chocolate. But it smells more like the fake-chocolate of the smelly stickers I collected when I was young, rather than a real chocolate fragrance. No wafting of scent from across the patio, that's for sure...
Also, these are in a terra cotta pot and need watering every day or else they wilt in the heat. Too much maintenance for me.
Still, I do like the flower colour and I don't give up easily. Maybe I'll try overwintering them in my cold room just once and if it's not too much effort, I'll keep them and put them in a glazed or plastic pot (more moisture-retentive) next year.
a fast-growing bean teepee for kids
Here's my first attempt at a bean teepee. I realized when I made it that in order to make the base wide enough for 2 kids to fit under, the tee pee was going to be too short. Next year I'll invest in some bamboo stakes at least 8 ft long.
Anyway, scarlet runner bean is a fast-growing vine, but it still takes until the end of august for it to fully cover the teepee. Maybe I should have planted more densely? I'll give it another shot next year before I decide if the whole effort is worthwhile...
The flowers are finishing now and the beans are starting.
