Calgary Garden Coach

tulips, iceland poppies and bergenia in the Adventure Garden

January - gardening fever starts again!

So holidays are over, it's nice outside (right now), and I can't think of anything better to think about than gardening planning for 2012.  What, it's not just me, right?  Are you there yet?  Dreaming of big, exciting garden renovations for 2012?  I am so there.  I have some pretty major plans for this year, starting with taking down 2 spruce trees at the back of my Adventure Garden.

Above: here's my Dad yesterday after we had removed the lower branches from the 2 doomed trees (I'm holding the rope!)  Not to worry, I am a tree hugger at heart, and I have plenty more trees in my garden.  These two particular trees were planted too close together, too close to a retaining wall, thus they were ratty and scraggly looking, (not to mention, of course, they were stealing too much sun and moisture from the garden.)  I don't think you should ever feel bad about taking down a tree that someone else planted in the wrong spot.  These two trees will be replaced with a large lilac and some shrub roses in spring, which are hardy and drought-tolerant, will provide privacy, and will help screen the view of that utility pole back there.

... and now I have a big mess on my back lawn to get rid of.  I see a chipper rental in my future!

winter interest, shminter interest!

Since Calgary has such a short growing season, I always encourage people to include lots of plants that will stay standing and add texture and interest to their garden all year round.  My Adventure Garden has lots of ornamental grasses, liatris, tall sedums, siberian iris, and more, that do just that. 

Except, of course, if they get toboganned over.

sparklers!

I took this photo last week-end before the Chinook blew through - it is ornamental allium 'Purple Sensation' seedheads in my Adventure Garden.  One of my all-time favourite plants and the kids love them too.  If you don't have any, put them on your bulb list for next fall.  Here are some pictures of them in their full purple glory in spring.

If, at this time of year, you're thinking that maybe you should have a few more plants in your garden that stay standing and looking good throughout the winter, go to my 'Winter Interest' category and scroll down for ideas... and start planning for next year!

fall leaves in the garden - up to my old tricks!

Ever since I noticed my neighbours putting their leaves in the garbage a few years ago, I have been "rescuing" other people's bags of leaves.  Why?   Because I only have one decent-sized deciduous tree on my property (but many, many spruce) and I don't have nearly enough leaves as I (or the kids) would like.

So I rescue other people's bags and first dump them on the back lawn for the kids to jump in for a while.  When they've tired themselves out, I mow the pile a few times with my push mower to chop up the leaves, then I start dumping them in the gardens for mulch.  Technically you should wait until the ground has frozen to put winter mulch down, but when you're a busy gardener who works full-time and has kids, you do things whenever you have the chance even if the timing isn't optimal!

I've written about the benefit of leaves before - they are high in nitrogen and they insulate the soil from our wild temperature swings and drying winds in wintertime.  This past spring I didn't even bother to clean them up!  You are supposed to remove winter mulch in order to help the soil warm up faster in the spring.  Again, here I don't follow the rules and maybe my garden is a week or two behind in the spring, but minimizing work is a higher priority for me!  Dried leaves don't look as pretty as fresh, clean soil does but you can put some compost on top of them in the late spring for a cleaner look.

I even save and reuse the garbage bags from the bags of leaves that I rescue!  I'm sure the neighbours think I'm crazy, prowling the back alleys and lurking around the leap drop-off area, but I really think I'm doing the world a favour!

purple liatris, echinacea 'White Swam', rudbecia 'Golden Glow', sedum 'Matrona' and annual borage in the Adventure Garden

stealth pruning

You'll never believe what I did today. 

The background: I've decided it's time to get rid of the last two spruce trees in the Adventure Garden that are interfering with my dream of achieving a balanced and beautiful garden.  Don't worry, I will still have 3 other gigantic spruce trees in my backyard, not to mention many other trees and shrubs, not to mention the gigantic spruce trees in the front...  But I haven't exactly informed my husband of this decision yet.  I've removed a lot of trees from our large, mature yard in the last few years (for entirely justifiable reasons IMHO - they were half dead, too close together, too close to the house, etc.) and he's never really been on board but has let me do it.  I'm not sure if he'd approve of any more.

So what did I do this morning?  I got up early to start cutting down branches from those last two trees.  (Yes, it was dark out when I started.)  I thought I could do this weekly - a few at a time - every Friday morning so that I can get them tied up and taken away by the Friday garbage pick-up before he sees them.  I'm sure he'll notice eventually, but I thought I could at least get started on tree removal without having to bother with trying to convince him this was a good idea.  Unfortunately, Daughter #2 (5 years old) woke up early this morning and caught me in the act before I could get all the branches tied up, so I had to leave a few lying around for next week's pick-up. 

Busted.

what's blooming in the Adventure Garden in late August

Yes, I know it's September already but I took these pictures a few days ago and haven't had time to post them yet.  Are you looking for ideas for perennials that are showy at this time of year in Calgary?  My Adventure Garden at this time of year is taken over by lots of late-bloomers such as sedum 'Matrona', rudbeckia 'Golden Glow',

ornamental grasses such as helitotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass),

and prairie perennials such as purple liatris spicata and echinacea 'White Swan',

and one of my all-time favourite plants, perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage.)  All of these plants do well in a sunny spot and are drought-tolerant.  They're also all low maintenance except the rudbeckia, which is a tall plant that needs staking. 

To see what this garden looks like at other times of the year, click here and scroll down.

what's blooming in the Adventure Garden in late July

Actually, this garden looks a lot like it did in mid-July except that the geraniums and iris have finished blooming and the ornamental grasses are bigger.  There are lots of long-blooming perennials here, and the garden looks different depending on which direction you view it from - which makes it interesting but also a challenge.  And sorry about that kiddie pool in the way - it's just a part of the reality of my backyard! (I managed to crop the tent out.)

 

 

 

Above: the last of the peonies is blooming, an unknown variety of light pink.  Sigh.  It's a bittersweet day when the peonies are done because I look forward tot hem all year.  Also painted daisy and nepeta blooming in this photo.

Above: dianthus, snapdragons, lamb's ears, blue salvia, white peachleaf bellflower, roses and achillea are also blooming now.

To see this garden at other times of the year and how it has evolved, click here and scroll down.

what's blooming in the Adventure Garden, mid-July 2011

This is my favourite garden area at about my favourite time of year!  It is a bit of a challenge though, since it can be seen from many directions and it goes from shady on the left to hot and sunny on the right.  It's still a bit patchy in the top left corner near the chair, but I have some changes in mind for this fall that will hopefully help fill that area in and give it more impact.  Above: the Adventure Garden viewed straight on (from the house, lawn or north patio).

Above: viewed from the Butterfly Potager garden or the back steps of the house.

Above: viewed from "England" (the veggie garden) towards the back Shade Garden.

 

close-ups in the Adventure Garden

Above: nepeta, variegated iris, blue oat grass, white peony, yellow sedum, and pink sea thrift, saponaria and geranium 'Ballerina'.

Above: white peony, pink rose 'Therese Bugnet' and saponaria, blue salvia 'May Night'.

 

Above: white hesperalis matronalis, painted daisy 'Robinson's Red', white peony, siberian iris 'Caesar's brother', blue nepeta 'Six Hills Giant'.

what's blooming in the Adventure Garden, June 30 2011

The Adventure Garden is my favourite garden and this is the time of year where it is really starting to fill in.  It is also 3 years old now so getting quite mature in spots. It is viewed from many angles depending on which area of the back yard you're in (above: from the house or north patio, which is the worst view so I don't know why I put it first...),

Above: from 'England' looking towards the garage.

Above: closer up and looking at an angle up the dry stream bed.

I just finished deadheading most of the dwarf bearded iris and some of my other favourite plants and combinations for sun are blooming in this garden right now:

Above (clockwise from top left): perennial geranium 'Ballerina'; blue oat grass looks good with just about anything; ornamental alliums, siberian iris 'Caesar's Brother', and white hesperalis matronalis (the purple variety is considered a weed but white is a little less vigorous and smells soooooo nice!); pink saponaria (a bit of a spreader but I have it at the back of the garden where it helps keep down the weeds); blue and pink perennial geraniums, variegated iris (great foliage and blooms smell like grape juice! yum!), white hesperalis matronalis and purple siberian iris; the variegated iris backlit with geranium 'Ballerina' and pink sea thrift 'Dusseldorf Pride' in the background.

To see how this garden area has progressed over time, click here and scroll down.

More pictures coming tomorrow!  Now I'm off to celebrate Canada Day at Heritage Park.  What are you and your garden doing today?

what's blooming in the Adventure Garden, mid-June 2011

Above: If you don't count the bergenia on the shady side of this garden, then the iris are mainly what are happening in the Adventure Garden right now.  They were one of the few plants here when I moved in almost 7 years ago and I've gradually spread them around.  Here are some close-ups:

Above: moss phlox and geranium 'Ballerina' are also just starting to bloom.

Above: iris in front of a cherry bush.

Above: alliums are also just starting to bloom.  The kids love these to use as magic wands!

Above: and the iceland poppies are popping up everywhere.  Not a low maintenance plant by any means, but so colourful at this time of year!  I'll be ripping out seedlings for the rest of the summer after this first flush finishes.

To see what this garden looks like at other times of the year, click here.

To see pictures of other areas of my garden at this time of year, please see:

• the front Welcome Garden, mid-June 2011
• the front Entry Garden, mid-June 2011
• the front Shade Garden, mid-June 2011
• the Side Garden, mid-June 2011
• the Butterfly Potager garden, mid-June 2011
• the back Shade Garden, mid-June 2011
• the Edible Gardens, mid-June 2011

bergenia, iris, tulips and iceland poppies in the Adventure Garden

Are you looking for something to jazz up an area of your garden at this time of year?  Here are some of my favourite plants blooming in the Adventure Garden right now.  Bergenia and iris are especially great because they have very strong textures and their foliage stays healthy all season, which adds interest to the garden even after the plants are done blooming.

tulips and poppies in the Adventure Garden - June 1 2011

Above: Here is my back Adventure Garden in late May/early June. Doesn't look that impressive yet, does it?  The roses at the back haven't even leafed out yet.  But this is a reality gardening blog, so here you go.  To see impressive pictures please check out some from last year!

The right side is sunny and the left is shady, so it is a challenge to get a sense of continuity across this garden.  The right side is also more mature.  The iceland poppies are spreading all over the place - not exactly a low maintenance plant, but I let them stay because they add so much colour at this time of year.  In a couple more days I should have more of them blooming on the left (shady) side as well.  Both early and late tulips are also blooming right now thanks to the short, condensed spring we have had. 

This garden needs work to add to the spring show, I think.  I tend to plant spring bulbs last once I am happy with the overall layout of perennials and shrubs, which I think I am for this garden.  So that means I'm making notes right now of where to plant more bulbs this fall.  Like maybe a whole bunch of tulipa tarda in front of my catmint and also in the top left in front of the feather reed grass.

Since the above picture isn't very impressive, here are a few close-ups:

Above: Another challenge of this garden is that it can be viewed from many directions.  At least from this side, it looks a little more full.

Above: tulipa tarda and helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass.)

 

Above and below: the Darwin tulips are just starting to bloom.

 

what grows in my Adventure Garden: 2010 reflections and 2011 planning

The Adventure Garden has got to be one of my favourite garden areas in my yard.  The sunroom at the back of my house looks out directly onto this garden and the slope allows for a great show with plenty of layering of textures.  This garden is also one of the most challenging areas because it ranges from a dry shade area on the left to a hot, exposed sunny area on the right, so repetition of plants across the entire width of the garden is impossible.  I am still experimenting with incorporating repeating colours and textures with different (shade and sun-loving) plants to improve the continuity of this area and it's definitely a work in progress. 

There are many young shrubs near the back of this garden that need a few more years to mature and really strut their stuff.  Eventually you shouldn't be able to see the fence at the back.  This garden is very low-maintenance with mostly shrubs and perennials, and just a few of my favourite annuals for added colour - I like to plant snapdragons and cosmos every year, and borage self-seeds itself around this garden with abandon.  Fortunately, it's easy to recognize in spring so I just pull up the unwanted ones or gradually cut them down over the season if they get too big.  The only plant that's not low maintenance here is the iceland poppy, but it provides such early season colour that I can't quite bring myself to get rid of it.  But I wouldn't recommend it if you want low maintenance 'cause it seeds itself all over like crazy and is perennial, not annual.

Here's what this garden looked like in 2010:

Above: In late May, tulips, dwarf bearded iris and iceland poppies (also shown in close-ups, below) are providing some colour.  But the area on the right side of the dry stream bed is much more mature and full.  The area on the left needs a few more years to fill in, and a lot more bulbs which I will plant once I'm happy with the placement of the shrubs and perennials (this fall I hope!)

 
Above: by mid-June things are taking off and you can see perennial geraniums, ornamental alliums and iceland poppies in bloom here.  Things change fast and below is the garden at the end of June:

Above: iceland poppies, nepeta (catmint), painted daisy, geraniums, sea thrift, blue salvia and siberian iris in bloom.

 Above: close-ups in June.

 
Above:  In July, just before I went on holidays, here's how the Adventure Garden looked.  I'll be honest here and admit that I keep cropping out the left-hand side of this garden area because it doesn't look like much yet.  That's where the transition is to the dry, shady side and I'm still experimenting with plants that will do well here and fit with the rest of the garden.  This year I plan to try some calamagrostis 'Avalanche' to the left of those pink, painted daisies to add some tall foliage texture which is sadly lacking at the back left right now.   This particular grass has variegated foliage and should do well in the part shade there.

Above: peonies, columbine meadow rue, painted daisies, blue salvia, peachleaf bellflower, roses, cosmos(started from seed), yarrow, nepeta, iceland poppies, siberian iris, dianthus, and blue flax bloom in this garden in July.

 

Above: By early August, the lilies have started blooming  - one of my favourite flowers!

 Above: close-ups in August.  Let me know if you have questions about any of the plants in these photos!

 
Above: I love the colours in this late September photo!

 
Above:  still a few annuals blooming and plenty of late-season perennials.

Above: We had a nice, long Indian Summer in October this year and the sedums, ornamental grasses, rudbeckia, liatris and russian sage looked great!

 

 

To see what this garden looked like last year, click here.

To see other areas of my garden in 2010, check out:

• the Butterfly Potager 2010
• the Back Shade garden 2010

If you would like an urban paradise that rejoices the eye and refreshes the spirit, view My Services for consultation details.

the Adventure Garden in winter

If you would like an urban paradise that rejoices the eye and refreshes the spirit year round, view My Services for consultation details.

what's blooming - the Adventure Garden in late September

Above: sedum matrona has filled out and is still attracting bees (below.)  Perennials in bloom: liatris, echinacea, russian sage, lamb's ears (second bloom), yarrow, rudbeckia, astrantia, roses.  Annuals in bloom: borage, sweet peas, snapdragons, lavatera (cosmos succumbed to frost already.)  Irises, grasses and daylilies provide interesting texture.

what's blooming in the Adventure Garden, Sept 15 2010

Here's the adventure garden in its full frontal view.  It has been a bit of a challenge to design because it is so deep and can be seen from so many directions in the yard.  I still have a few more tweaks to make next year, but I'm pretty happy with it.  Here's another view:

Above: from "England" looking towards the back shade garden beside the garage.

Below: close-ups

 

Here's what this garden looks like at other times of the year:

• August 31 2010
• mid August 2010
• early August 2010
• late July 2010
• mid July 2010 (my favourite time of year for this garden!)
• early July 2010
• late June 2010
• early June 2010
• 2009 overview

what's blooming in the back Adventure Garden, August 31 2010

This is my favourite garden at my favourite time of year.  Scroll down for plant identifications and close-ups.

Above: the view from the dining patio.  I apologize for the shadows... I'm not on holidays anymore so I don't have the option of waiting around for the best light.  This is how the garden looks first thing in the morning before I leave for work! 

Above: and the view from the sunroom at the back of the house. 

 

In the above photos: borage, asiatic lily 'Landini', elder 'Black Lace', achillea (yarrow) 'Cerise Queen', liatris picata, helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass), sedum 'Purple Emperor', perovskia (russian sage).

In the above photos: perovskia (russian sage), annual cosmos from seed, blue salvia 'May Night', yellow asiatic lily; aconitum (monkshood) and cosmos; rose 'Morden Sunrise', yellow daylily and borage.

In the above photos: snapdragons 'Ribbon Series' and borage from seed; rudbeckia 'Golden Glow' and cosmos; rudbeckia in front of 'Diabolo' ninebark; rudbeckia 'Golden Glow'.

Here's what this garden looks like at other times of the year:

• mid August 2010
• early August 2010
• late July 2010
• mid July 2010 (my favourite time of year for this garden!)
• early July 2010
• late June 2010
• early June 2010
• 2009 overview

what's blooming in the Adventure garden, mid August

Lots blooming in the Adventure Garden right now.  The perovskia (russian sage) has reached its full height (bigger every year); blue salvia, cosmos and roses are still blooming; and the lilies, aconitum (monkshood), snapdragons and borage are providing lots more colour. 

Fall bloomers such as echinacea and liatris have lots of buds on them.  There are a few empty-looking spots in the middle picture where I've planted some new ornamental grasses - they take a little while before they take off but I'm hoping next year they will add some much-needed colour and texture. 

Stay tuned!

Here's what this garden looks like at other times of the year:

• early August 2010
• late July 2010
• mid July 2010 (my favourite time of year for this garden!)
• early July 2010
• late June 2010
• early June 2010
• 2009 overview

the adventure garden in early August

the Adventure Garden in late July

Maybe I should call this garden the "Bee Garden" instead, as it is always just buzzing with them!  The kids like to catch them in their little jars and give them some flowers, watch them for a while and then let them go. 

In this area I've got blue salvia, dianthus and nepeta (catmint) which have been blooming for a while, plus roses and yarrow starting and lots of lilies with big fat buds on them.  On the annual side there is borage which self seeds itself around and is always in a slightly different spot each year (I gradually cut them all down and leave only about 3-5 plants because they get so big - but they're pretty and the bees love them), cosmos and snapdragons. 

I have started snapdragons from seed the last few years but I have decided that is just a dumb idea.  I never start them early enough and they're so slow growing that they haven't started blooming until just the last couple of days.  One of the reason I love snapdragons so much is that they're frost tolerant so you can put them out early and they stay late in fall - but there is no advantage to that if they don't bloom until August!  Snapdragons from the garden centre from now on.

Here's what this garden looked like last year.

the adventure garden in mid-July

 

it's already worth it!

I entered the Calgary Horticultural Society's garden competition this year.  I keep saying I didn't do it with the expectation to win anything - and that's not just false modesty!  Some areas of my garden still need work, some are actually under construction (can you say mud pit?), some of the "finished" areas still need to mature, and I just don't have time to make everything perfect down to the finest detail.

But, I entered for the experience and to get the feedback from the judges.  I'm interested in seeing my garden through the eyes of other gardeners... and I would like to enter more seriously in a few years and this way I'll know what to expect. 

But I already won something!  I won the 'early bird prize' for entering - an adirondack chair from the Calgary Chair Company.  It's solid cedar and super comfy!  So now I can say I entered the garden competition and won!  Ha ha!

Pyrethrum tanacetum (painted daisy) 'Robinson's Red', iris sibirica 'Caesar's brother' and helictrotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass) in the adventure garden

backlight in the adventure garden

poppies, cranesbills, sea thrift and alliums in the adventure garden

the adventure garden May 25 2010

My adventure garden, two years old now, is filling in nicely.  There's a saying about planting perennials that "the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap".  This is leap year and I'm looking forward to big things!

The kids have been using the dry stream bed as a "slide" recently so I'm going to have to get some more gravel to fill in the top - the rocks seem to keep collecting at the bottom!  But I love that they use it to truly be IN the garden.

Pathways for kids are one of the best ways of helping them enjoy the garden without worrying about things getting trampled.  Best thing I ever did!

the Adventure Garden, 2009 reflections

Here is the last of my posts which look back at the garden this year, what did or didn't do well, and what I'd like to change for next year.  They start from the Welcome Garden at the front sidewalk, and work their way around to the back of the house.  This Adventure Garden is in the center of the backyard and can be viewed from the sunroom, an addition on the back of the house which is one of the things that made me fall for this fixer-upper of an old house... 

The majority of this garden was new last year.  One of the best things I've done here is to put in a couple of pathways so that the kids can run around in the garden.  They love their little hideaway in the back, and they play chase and run circles around the garden too.  I really wanted them to feel free to explore the garden, and I highly recommend pathways through a garden for anyone who has little kids!!

 

The Adventure Garden (year 2)

Mid-June.  The top photo is the garden viewed from the back Shade Garden beside the garage, and the bottom photo is the garden viewed from "England".  Bergenia, iceland poppies, geraniums, anemone sylvestris, iris germanica and hesperalis matronalis are in bloom here.

 

Early July.  My favourite time of year for this garden!  Iceland poppies are continuing to bloom, plus nepeta (catmint), painted daisy, peonies, blue salvia, shasta daisies, sea thrift and more.  It looks a litlte bare at the back of this garden because I took down some spruce trees last year and planted some very small shrub roses and a lilac bush - which should start to make more of an impact next year.

 

Mid-July.  Dry stream bed in progress.  Daisies, nepeta and salvia still blooming; dianthus and peachleaf bellflower also blooming now.  Lamb's ears about to bloom.

 

Early August.  Annuals such as snapdragons, lavatera, borage, verbena bonariensis and nicotiana sylvestris, which I planted to fill space at the back while the perennials are still small, are really taking off now.  I'm not sure I'll have room for them all next year but I'm not sure which ones to get rid of since I like them all so much!!

Late August.  Wow.  That nicotiana sylvestris is huge!  It also smells heavenly.

Early September.  In addition to the annuals, rose 'Morden Sunrise', russian sage, liatris, echinacea and sedum matrona also in bloom now. 

Late September.  The lavatera was cut back since it was starting to look straggly - all other annuals still doing well.  Asters and rudbeckia 'Golden Glow' are now blooming in addition to the perennials still blooming from early September.

Early October.  It was a great fall this year, wasn't it?  Here's the garden just before the deep-freeze hit!

 

December.

Other parts of the garden:

• the front Welcome Garden, north side
• the front Welcome Garden, south side
  
• the front Entry Garden
  
• the front Shade Garden
• the Side Garden
  
• the Butterfly Potager
  
• the back Shade Garden
  
• the Veggie Garden aka 'England'

honeysuckle, russian sage, liatris, verbena bonariensis, nicotiana sylvestris in the adventure garden

lavatera, borage, verbena bonariensis, liatris, echinacea, blue oat grass and more!

the dry stream bed in the kid's adventure garden: too full?

Way back in spring I planted some lavatera, nicotiana sylvestris cardoon and verbena bonariensis from seed, in order to "fill up" this garden which was only started last year.  Yikes!!  They're all huge and blooming away now.  You can't even see the cardoon at the back and I have to keep cutting the self-seeded borage back.  But still, annuals are a great way to fill up space while you're waiting for your perennials to mature.  I think I'll skip the nicotiana sylvestris next year, though.  It just takes too long to get big - in the spring you wish it would fill up a spot faster, and now it's so huge you can't walk on the pathway beside it!! 

... the lavatera, however, can stay.  It's just too beautiful!!

a backlit calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' in front of the kid's adventure garden

finish the dry stream bed - check!

The best idea I've ever had for a kid-friendly garden was to make some pathways through the deep garden on the hill at the back of our yard.  The kids love to wander through the garden, as well as to play chase.  And this way they're allowed to run through the garden and I know the plants are safe.  But since it's a hill, I decided that a dry stream bed would look really nice.  Way back a year and a half ago I dreamed up the idea, planned it, then planted it that spring.  Here's what it looked like then.

I finally got around to finishing it this week!  Yay!  It's been on my big project to-do list for a while!!  Actually, I don't know what took me so long because it didn't take much work at all.  First, I weeded the pathway, dug out a couple inches of soil and levelled it.
Looks better already, don't you think?

Then, I put down landscape cloth (the only place where I have used the stuff in my yard, by the way) and a couple hundred kg's of 'rainbow rock' from Burnco. 
I'd like to spend a little time arranging some larger rocks on the edges, but there's no point in doing that just yet.  My 18-month old has already starting moving the rocks around the yard for me...!  I'm hoping that once the dry stream bed isn't so new anymore, she'll find something more interesting to do.  In the meantime, the kids have discovered that the rocks warm up nicely in the sun and they like to go lie on them to warm up after being in the freshly filled, freezing cold wading pool.  I'd say the dry stream bed is a hit!

partners for nepeta (catmint) 'Six Hills Giant'

I love this plant!  And the bees do too.  Here are some of the things I have growing with it (clockwise from left):
helictotrichon (blue oat grass), painted daisy, elder 'Black Lace'; pink sea thrift and iris pallida (variegated iris); lady's mantle and astrantia.

partners for pyrethrum tanacetum (painted daisy)

This 'Robinson's Red' painted daisy looks good with several other things in my garden.  Clockwise from top left:
ornamental alliums and elder 'Black Lace'; siberian iris; helicotrichon (blue oatgrass); blue oat grass and ornamental alliums again; hesperalis matronalis (both purple and white); catmint, ornamental alliums, hesperalis matronalis and iceland poppies.

lonicera caerulea: haskap (blue) honeysuckle

Something funny going on with the underline function today, but anyway...

Here is one of my blue honeysuckles that I planted last year.  They are very new (just released in 2007, I think, and I got 2 small rooted cuttings last year) and I am thrilled they are growing and already blooming. The shrub itself as well as the flowers are supposed to be very hardy (zone 2) so therefore perfect for the prairies.  They are being promoted as a substitute for blueberries (which don't do well here because they don't like our alkaline soil), are supposed to taste similar but not as sweet, and are similar in colour but much more oblong in shape.

I won't hold my breath for fruit this year since the plants are so small, but since they flower so early, they usually produce fruit in June, much sooner than cherries and other berries here.  Can't wait!

locally sourced Christmas tree

I've read a lot about the debate on real vs. artificial trees in terms of the environment.  For me it's a no brainer - it's got to be a real tree for emotional and nostalgic reasons.  But there are still many factors to consider when you choose a real tree (how far was it shipped?  was it sustainably grown and harvested?  has it been sprayed with fungicide or who knows what else?)  It's enough to make a person want to give up!!

This year I am happy to report that I didn't have to worry about any of these issues!  I had a pine tree in my backyard that I've been wanting to take down for a while now - and I saved it until now.  How's that for a locally grown, organic, small carbon footprint tree?!?
We're going to chop off the top to bring inside for our Christmas tree this year, and the rest of the branches will be put on the garden for winter insulation.

This is the last tree I wanted to get rid of in my backyard.  It had to go because it was too close to a retaining wall we want to replace next spring.  Besides, someone landscaped this yard nicely about 30 years ago but planted way too many trees and shrubs way too close together (a pet peeve of mine), so I don't feel guilty at all about taking down a tree or two (or ten).  Now only one more tree to get rid of in the front yard, if I can only convince my husband...

indian summer

  I think this is my favourite time of year.  Yes, spring is exciting, but you don't get to be outside enjoying the exuberance of growth that exists at the end of the season.

Summer is great but when it's too hot I resent having to water my pots (and there are not many) and veggie patch every day.

This time of year we are enjoying the harvest of the veggie garden, still enjoying plenty of flowers, there's still lots of good weather to come, my big projects for the year are done, and the cooler weather means almost no watering.  Ahhhhh (sigh of contentment).

designing for multiple viewpoints

  Here is my back hill garden at the end of its first season.  It stretches across almost the whole width of the backyard and is the widest and deepest bed I've ever designed.  It can be viewed almost anywhere in the yard and also the house, so that made it more challenging as well. I spent all last winter planning it.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.  Only a few tweaks in mind for next year.  The left side here is shadey...

... and the right side is in full sun.  That makes it hard to do the "repeat plants for unity" thing.  I had to try to tie it together more with repeating colours rather than repeating plants.  So I ended up with repeating silver and blue foliage (lamb's ears, russian sage, artemesia, blue oat grass and blue fescue), with red foliage (castor bean, elderberry, penstemon, ninebark, sedum matrona) and blue flowers (clouds of self-seeded borage, catmint, russian sage).  I also like to have lots of bearded iris throughout the bed because the shape is so stand-out - the ones in more shade bloom less but the leaves still add great texture (it's my favourite "repeat plant"!).  And finally, varying heights of things really helped make such a deep bed look interesting too (rather than just having short plants at the front, medium in the middle, tall ones at the back).

While I also love yellow foliage, I kept it mostly out of this garden because there would have been too much going on.  There is lots of yellow in my shade garden, though.

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!

the new orchard

There used to be a hedge of cotoneasters here, at the north edge of the back garden.  I took them out (I do like their fall colour but I have more elsewhere anyway), and replaced them with 5 fruiting bushes.  In a few years, we'll have a little Upik in our own backyard!

The two shrubs you can see are my two new cherries, Crimson Passion (at the top) and Carmine Jewel (at the bottom).  I had trouble deciding on the varieties, but decided on these two.  I picked Crimson Passion for its large, sweet fruit and Carmine Jewel for its earlier, sweet fruit with a small pit.  Both are classified as sour cherries but are sweet enough to eat out of hand.  The shrubs are big enough I should get a few cherries next year.  Can't wait!

I have also planted 2 haskap (honeyberry) bushes and 1 saskatoon.  They are all seedlings so you can barely see them in this picture.  If you look closely, you'll see the wire cages that I put around them so the kids and dog don't step on them.  Fruit in maybe...  3 years?  We'll see.

planning for the future

I like to take pictures of the garden every few weeks so I can review them in the winter months and remember what I wanted to change.  It is especially important to take pictures right now because now is the time of the Calgary Horticultural Society's garden competition, which I hope to enter in a few years!  Yes, I do try to design the garden for year-round interest, but it doesn't hurt to pay extra attention to what the garden will look like when the judges come out!

I tried to deadhead the poppies before taking this photo but got stung by bees twice!  The blue salvia and creeping sedums are just buzzing with them.  Oh well, deadheading can wait.

Anyway, the cranesbill at the very bottom of this photo has got to be moved to a spot with a little more shade next year.  Every year by July the leaves turn brown.

This part was new this spring and with the help of a few annuals from seed (castor bean, lavatera, nicotiana, cleome), is filling in well.  In a couple years it will be a crowded jumble like the photo above.  Also I can barely wait for the rose bushes at the back to get established!!  I think it helps when you're making a new garden to always try to imagine it as it will look in 5 years...

June/July tapestry

The peonies are just finishing and the daisies and lilies are starting.  The rains of June have greened everything up and the garden is looking fresh and full.  I love this time of year!

perennials: the first year they sleep...

Here's my back hill garden at the beginning of July.  The middle is the new part where I took out the grass this spring.  It looks a little sparser than the sides, which are 4 years old now. 

It may be tempting to plant perennials really close together, but if you want to save yourself some work in a year or two (and save money by not buying too many perennials), remember to leave space for their full size.

There's a rule about growing perennials:

"the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap."  This is because they take some time to get their roots established before their growth really takes off.  So be patient, use mulch and wait until the third year before you decide you really need more plants!!

 

Here's what part of the same garden looked liked last year at this time:

back hill renovation... check!

Except for a few annuals I started from seed, my back hill renovation is complete!  This area was all grass when I moved into my house 4 years ago, and I've gradually got rid of a little more every year.  This year I decided to get it over with and finish the whole thing.  I don't know what I was thinking... it was February when I started planning and I always get a little crazy by that time of year! 

I was very motivated to get it done this past week-end because there's a playdate at our house tomorrow, and there may be up to 7 kids running around in the back yard!  The pathways on left (bark mulch) and right (future dry stream bed) are meant for the kids to be able to run around the garden.

I've been so busy planting that I've fallen behind on the weeds - that's the next thing to do before I go on holidays in 2 weeks!!

How to re-design a perennial bed

After reviewing planting design books and my garden photos all winter, I am ready to re-work a section of the “back hill”, which is viewed from my sunroom.  I learned a long time ago not to plant just one of everything, because it results in a spotty composition that is unrestful to look at.  However, I have been grouping all my plants in roundish clumps of 3 or 5, which makes a bigger impact but still just results in bigger “spottiness”.  Now I want to re-work everything in larger drifts, that are interconnected and interwoven to make a “tapestry” of plantings.

To truly follow the design process, the plants should be chosen last, after you have drawn a lay-out and specified height and width for each plant grouping, among other things.  However, how many of us will do that?  Normally we already have some plants we want to move around, or we are working with some pre-existing shrubs for background plantings, and we want to plant the flowers we know we like.  So, I distilled some major design principles and some practical pointers down to these rules, which I used for the composition shown above. 

The rules are in order of importance (I think), and they are also in order of difficulty, starting with easiest if you are a beginner gardener.  Work your way down the list as you grow more plants and have more confidence combining them.  Also, this year I will be posting photos of some great combinations under the “Captivating combinations” category on the sidebar, so check those out too.

• Situate plants in the locations that suit them i.e. shade lovers in shade, sun lovers in sun, group moisture-lovers together, etc.  This is a no brainer – if you do nothing else, do this!
• Plan for combinations of at least 3 plants together that compliment each other i.e. bloom at the same time and/or have foliage that look good together.
• Make sure that neighbouring plants differ in at least one (preferably two or more) aspects: plant height, plant shape, and leaf shape, colour, size or texture.  Notice I didn’t mention flowers here.  If you create contrasts using plant and leaf characteristics, then the combination will look interesting even when the plants aren’t in bloom.  This is key for perennials, which only bloom for a few weeks.
• Repeat a few plants throughout the composition for unity.  For maximum impact, these should be plants that look good all season and that have interesting foliage.  I am using siberian iris (thin, straplike leaves), bearded iris (flat, sword-shaped leaves), a tall sedum (upright with rounded, fleshy purplish leaves) and lamb’s ears (short with rounded, silver, fuzzy leaves).  They all have stand-out foliage and it just so happens they’re easy to grow so I have lots to spread around.
• Plant in drifts as much as possible (long, skinny blobs as opposed to round ones).  The drifts should overlap and weave in and out of each other and have smooth transitions between them.  The lines between each plant grouping will allow your eye to move smoothly across the composition, rather than jump around as it will while looking at a “spotty” composition.

There are more design principles such as balance and proportion, focal points, etc., but follow just the rules above and you will be well on your way to having a designer-quality garden.  Then again, rules are made to be broken so  remember to follow your heart.  Add your own personality!!

keep mature plant size in mind!

How many times have I seen trees and shrubs planted too close together?  Or a large spruce planted too close to a sidewalk, driveway or house? 

It's hard to imagine the little pot from the garden centre is going to grow into a large tree or shrub, but please pay attention to the full size of something (height and width) when you're planting.  That goes for perennials too, although at least they can be moved or split when they get too big.

These people have done a nice job of keeping their evergreens trimmed, but unfortunately, the beautiful trimming job just seems to draw attention to the poor tree that had its top cut off, don't you think?  What do you think is worse - keeping a tree that looks silly because it's in the wrong spot, or putting it out of its misery?

big plans

This is "the hill" in the backyard as seen from my sunroom in March.

Well, there's nowhere to go but up, as they say!  There is a lot of work to do here.  On the right I have taken out two large spruce trees, and I am going to replace them with shrubs this year.  We have 5 giant spruce in the (small) front yard and there were 10 in the back when we moved in.  Apparently when someone landscaped the backyard about 30 (?) years ago, the only trees and shrubs available were spruce, pine, cotoneasters and junipers.  Ugh.  Boring. 

The hose shows were I am going to extend the garden to this year.  I also want to build in some fun stuff for the kids.  They like to climb up to the back of the hill so I was planning to put in a mulch pathway for them (easy to remove later).  But today we had friends over and had 3 4-year-olds and 2 2-year-olds chasing each other up and down the hill, and I realized I needed a circular path!!  In a sudden flash of brilliance, I realized that one of the pathways could eventually be turned into a waterfall for the pond I'd like to put in in a few more years.  Once I finish getting rid of those spruce trees...

(by the way, those are spruce cones, not doggie do's!)