Calgary Garden Coach

an inviting scene in my garden, April 12 2012!!

Colorada spruce, feather reed grass, and 'Calgary Carpet' junipers in the front entry garden

snowy outlines in the front entry garden

feathery 'Calgary Carpet' juniper

garden planning - 10 ingredients of a beautiful winter garden

I spend a lot of time in winter, staring out my windows, analyzing the structure of the garden and conceiving of changes to be made in the next year.  Houzz just posted on this topic, and started with the statement:

"Winter is the best time of year to take stock of your gardens and plan for the future. It's the time of year when gardens are laid flat, exposing their bones and allowing you to see the base of their structure. Take advantage of this time to restructure your design, order new plants or start plans for new hardscaping."

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/1006984/list/10-Ingredients-of-a-Beautiful-Winter-Garden

Some of the gardens featured on Houzz are a wee bit over-the-top for the average person, but nevertheless, check out their photos, drool a little, and think about how you can apply the principles inyour garden!

For me personally, I am really enjoying the view of my new trellis out the dining room window (above).  The snow makes it especially nice since you can't see that those chairs are actually fronted by an unfinished pit of mud, rather than by the nice patio that I didn't get to completing last year!

So now you know what (some of) my plans are for this year!  What are yours?

it's not too cold for the waxwings!

Despite the frigid temperatures, a flock of waxwings descended on our mountain ash tree this morning and denuded it of its berries. (I love my mountain ash tree for the incredible fall colour, winter berries, and the birds it attracts!)

What beautiful birds!  Here's a little movie clip, too, so you can take in a little extra nature today - enjoy the sounds of their fluttering and singing!

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_8JeqswRS_I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

... and for the record, it is COLD.

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.

perennials still standing in the front Welcome Garden

It has been a magically beautiful week, with all that snow hanging around on the trees and shrubs, hasn't it?  I was sad to see it all starting to melt yesterday.  Here's a photo of the front Welcome Garden I took last Sunday as the big dump was coming down.  There are lots of  perennials still standing for the winter - although some of them are completely buried in snow at this point!

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

I LOVE this snow!

Yesterday was beautiful, wasn't it?  (As long as you didn't have to drive somewhere!)  I got outside and hung this wreath on my new trellis while the kids toboganned across the Adventure Garden.  I get glimpses of the wreath from the kitchen and dining room and it really puts me in the festive spirit! 

The best part of the snow is you can't see the unfinished patio (a.k.a. mud pit) area in front of the trellis... an unfinished project from last year!  Here's hoping the snow stays!

Do you decorate in the garden?

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!

snow in the butterfly potager: hops, monarda (bee balm) and solidago (goldenrod)

weeping pussy willow in the butterfly potager

There's not much happening in my garden yet - the snow hasn't even melted on the shady side of the yard.  But I noticed this little weeping pussy willow was starting to open its catkins yesterday.  This is a cute little tree I purchased at Safeway last year just for the cuteness of those fuzzy little catkins, and I plunked it in the garden later in the summer, in a fairly shady spot near a downspout (willows are not known for their drought tolerance!)

I just noticed they're for sale again this year so if you're looking for something to perk you up in early spring, head out and pick one up for yourself!  (Sorry for the messiness of the background in these pictures, I guess it will be time to head outside and start doing some clean-up soon! Hooray!)

 

Why snow at the end of March isn't such a bad thing... really!

Are you going a little stir crazy yet?  This is our second day in a row with icy fog, and it is currently snowing out there.  After a long winter with consistent snow cover since November, some Calgarians I know are getting just a wee bit impatient for nicer weather!  We haven't had any chinooks this past winter that were strong or long enough to get rid of the snow for at least short periods, which is unusual for Calgary.  As a gardener I don't really love the chinooks, but the lack of them did make for a long winter, I admit.

But the ice crystals out there right now are so pretty, aren't they?  And actually snow cover on the garden all winter long is a very good thing in terms of insulation against temperature swings and our dry winter winds.  It's too early to do any work in the garden anyway, so I'm just as happy to have snow cover protecting my plants a little bit longer. 

And by the way, my oldest daughter (7 years old) has invented two new seasons which should replace the typical "spring" that other parts of the country have: sprinter and sprummer!  If you've lived in Calgary for a while then you know what she's talking about! 

So while I'm sure you are looking forward to sprinter, please enjoy some pictures I took of the icy beauty in my yard this morning:

Above: the front Welcome Garden.

 
Above: teasel in the front Welcome Garden.

Above: stipa tenuissima in a pot on the front step.  I had originally planned to overwinter it in the coldroom in the basement but I never got around to bringing it inside last fall!  Oops (and that reminds me, I should probably bring in the Christmas arrangement by the front door sometime soon as well...)

Above: Karl Foerster in the back Shade Garden.

Above: another view of Karl.

Above: a sedge in another pot in the back garden.  It looks like a wig, don't you think?

 

Piet Oudolf in the NY Times - on designing a winter garden

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/garden/10garden.html?_r=1

From the archives:

•  Piet Oudolf-inspired plants for Calgary sustainable gardens

Other resources:

• Stretching the seasons - article about Piet Oudolf from Fine Gardening

in praise of spruce trees... except possibly mine.

If you've been following my blog for a while you know I've got a love/hate relationship with spruce trees. I curse the 9 (large, mature Colorado and white spruce) trees on my lot - a couple would be fine, but nine?  Nine severely limits the opportunities for a diversity of other plants in terms of space, sun, and availability of water and nutrients in the surrounding soil.  Here's my reasoning for having removed a few of them in the past and the results, and part of me would like to get rid of just a few more (really, wouldn't 5 large spruce trees on a regular city lot be plenty?)

Some trees have just plain been planted in an inappropriate spot and should go.  But a full-sized, healthy spruce tree that has been allowed to grow without hacking or distortion of its limbs, is a beautiful sight especially at this time of year!  I took these pictures on my walk to work this morning.  Gorgeous.  I live in a neighbourhood where in general, the trees are three times taller than the houses  (rather than the other way around in newer neighbourhoods) and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Designers would say, trees should be kept in scale with the house.  The trees in my neighbourhood are definitely not in scale with the houses!  But they are in scale with the rest of the neighbourhood.  In the smaller, new lots that are developed these days, there are few places for large trees like this, and there are plenty of newer, smaller varieties that make much more sense to plant on small lots. 

These trees in my older neighbourhood are not only beautiful in winter, they provide shelter and nesting places for plenty of birds each year and they insulate our houses and gardens from the brutal Calgary winds. 

So should I campaign my husband to remove just a couple more trees from our yard (there are 2 in the front and 2 in the back I have in mind, the front ones being the most desirable to get rid of)?  The designer and gardener in me says 'yes'.  The environmentalist says 'no, at least not until it's absolutely necessary'.  Since my husband also says 'no (not ever!)', I guess the problem is solved for now... until a few more years from now when the ones planted too close to the house and/or each other get even more ridiculously large...

a Merlin in the backyard

My husband took these pictures yesterday of a male Merlin hanging out in our Mountain Ash and spruce trees in our backyard.  According to my bird book, these small falcons come to heavily treed areas of cities in the winter to hunt waxwings... which not surprisingly we also had visiting our Mountain Ash tree yesterday.  Watch out, my beautiful little waxwings!

the front entry 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.

the butterfly potager 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.

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.

colour in the late season garden

Yes, Calgary has a very short "growing season".  If you define the season from the last frost in the spring to the first frost in the fall.  But perennials last much longer than that and of course, shrubs, trees and evergreens extend the season even further.  This late fall has been glorious - the first Hallowe'en the kids didn't have to try to squeeze their costumes over winter coats and mitts!  There are many shrubs and perennials still looking very colourful in the garden right now. 

Since my two main criteria for choosing plants is that they must be low maintenance and must have a long season of interest, it just so happens that many of the plants still looking good right now happen to be many of my overall favourites:

Above: sedum 'Matrona' and helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass);

 

Above: blue oat grass again with my new barberry 'Rose Glow' in front;

 

Above: the same blue oat grass from another angle, with ornamental allium seed head in front and sedum, nepeta (catmint) and lamb's ears adding texture and colour in the background;

 

Above: many of the roses still have leaves on them and this one, 'Snow Pavement' also has extra large hips;

 

Above: asters still blooming with a rose, artemesia 'Silver Mound', a purple sedum and perovskia (russian sage) in the background;

 

Above: lonicera 'Scarlet Trumpet' honeysuckle still blooming;

 

Above: scarlet trumpet honeysuckle with perovskia (russian sage) and liatris;

 

Above: ninebark 'Diabolo' at the back of the Adventure Garden;

 

Above: lamb's ears, nepeta (catmint), sedum 'Matrona', bergenia, festuca glauca and calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' still providing colour and texture;

 

Above: sedum 'Autumn Joy' (this particular specimen is getting a little leggy due to its warm location on the west side of the house, so it probably needs dividing next spring);

 

Above: sedum 'Autumn Joy' in more exposed locations in the front Welcome Garden stay more compact;

 

Above: sedum 'Autumn Joy' in front of calamagrostis (feather reed grass) 'Karl Foerster';

 

Above: teasel and feather reed grass in the front Welcome Garden seem to glow when backlit;

 

Above: another specimen of 'Karl Foerster' that I enjoy viewing from the kitchen window all year long;

 

Above: the leaves in hte strawberry patch are turning brilliant colours in front of dwart Alberta spruce (a plant I don't recommend for Calgary, BTW) and calamagrostis (feather reed grass) 'Overdam';

 

Above: and finally, many of my tough, dry, shade-tolerant perennials such as lamiastrum (shown) and epimedium are still looking green and healthy.

 

 

 

 

 

ninebark 'Diabolo' holds its leaves late in the season

... and absolutely glows when backlit by our golden, low, November sun.  These pictures were taken mid-day on November 6, but my camera just doesn't do it justice.

ornamental grasses - not just for the perennial garden

Ornamental grasses are some of the showiest things you can have in your garden this time of year.  They're also super low-maintenance plants and have almost year-round interest.  I've been meaning to do a post about some of the perennial grasses I'm growing, but I just haven't got around to it yet.  If you're a member of the Calgary Horticultural Society, there was a good article in the last newsletter. (and if you're not a member, you should be!)

But grasses work great in pots, too!  I've had these two pots of stipa tenuissima (mexican feather grass) growing on my front steps all summer, mixed with other containers of flowers.  While most of the other blooms are done, these pots continue to look great and will do so all winter.  Since stipa isn't hardy here, my only problem is deciding whether I want to leave them outside to look cool all winter, or to put the pots in my cold room to try to overwinter the plants until next year.  Decisions, decisions...

I've also started planting non-hardy grasses such as pennisetums and sedges (not actually grasses but they qualify visually) in combinations with other plants in containers around the garden.  Again, the grasses can be left outside all winter to add some interest.  I wrote about this last spring when the sedge I'd left out all winter in a pot still looked good in March.

If you're going to cut down the non-hardy grasses to overwinter them in pots (inside in a cool, dark place or a heated garage), you can also make indoor arrangements with the seedheads.  I made this arrangement of purple pennisetum seedheads last fall and it still looks good one year later!

[picture coming soon...]

two great plants for texture - rose glow barberry and blue oat grass

It's starting to feel like fall and now is a great time to take stock of your garden, make notes about what worked or didn't work this year, and make plans for next year.  It's also a good time to plant.  While in some ways it is more difficult to plant in fall because the garden is full and it's hard to squeeze in there and mess it up, I actually like planting and moving things in fall since everything is full size and it's easier to see how far apart things need to be.  It's just too easy to plant things too close together in spring when everything is still small!

Anyway, I just added these two plants to my Adventure Garden.  The garden is quite full but there are still just a few tweaks I want to make.  But anything new needs to meet some pretty strict criteria to earn a place here.  It has to have major structural interest and texture, and preferably an interesting foliage colour to provide contrast even when not in bloom.  In fact, I didn't choose these two plants for their bloom at all.

Berberis thunbergii ‘Rose Glow’ is a shrub which is reported to do well in Calgary.  I admittedly haven't had much experience with barberries  - I put a couple in the front garden a few years ago but the hares kept nibbling them to the ground and the poor things never had a chance.  (I've seen barberries on lists of hare-proof plants but let me tell you - they are not!)  The colour of this shrub is fabulous - a mix of mottled creamy-pink new foliage, dark purple older foliage and brilliant red fall colour.  I've planted it in a spot where it will be backlit in the evening and I expect it to truly glow.

Helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass) is an ornamental grass which I already have a couple of, and I'm adding one more because I like it so much.  It's got foliage colour, good textural contrast, winter interest, and is low maintenance... what more could you ask for in a plant, really?  (OK, fragrance perhaps but that's just being greedy!)

Above: 'Rose Glow' Barberry in its new home with purple liatris and 'White Swan' echinacea

the final cut - perennials left standing for the winter

Did you get out in the garden this week-end?  Between other family activities I managed to get a little time on Saturday to start cleaning up.  I had a four-year-old and a two-year-old helping me so I didn't get much done, but it was fun.  They cut down a few things themselves and mostly enjoyed hunting for ladybugs. 

So I thought this was a good time to post about all those perennials that are left still standing at the end of a long, dry, windy Calgary winter.  If you're thinking of adding a few new perennials to your garden this year, why not add something that looks interesting all year long instead of just in the summer?  Here are a few of my favourite perennials for "winter interest" and I've included links to what they looked like last summer:

Above: Calamagrostis (geather reed grass) 'Karl Foerster" in the sunny front welcome garden.  Actually, I have this in several places front and back and love it.

Above:  Here's Karl in the back shade garden.  A younger plant so it is smaller, and the kids like to pick the seed heads so this one isn't looking quite as good after the winter, but this photo is an excellent example of how great ornamental grasses look when they're backlit!  Consider this when placing grasses in your garden.

Above: achillea (yarrow).  This one happens to be "Moonshine" but all varieties of yarrow look good all winter (and make great dried flowers if you're into that kind of thing).

Above: Centaura macrocephala, also in the front welcome garden.

Above: Kinnikinnick "Vancouver Jade" in the new side of the front welcome garden.  Its leaves turn reddish for winter and are just starting to change back to green now.  A great groundcover.

Above: Deschampsia cespitosa (tufted hair grass) also in the front welcome garden.  This one got a little smushed by snow.

Above: Nepeta (catmint) 'Walker's Low' also in the front welcome garden.  Not the greatest picture but you get the idea.  It looked good and kept its shape all winter long.

Above: Hydrangea 'Annabelle' in the shady front entry garden.  The seedheads are so light that most of them have blown off, but this is the last one left.  Also would be great for dried arrangements but very delicate.

Above: Liatris spicata (gayfeather) in the side garden.  That's cerastium tomentosum (snow-in-summer) in the background, a great, evergreen groundcover for a sunny dry spot, as long as you have space (it spreads!)

Above: Sedum "Angelina'.  Gotta love all groundcover sedums for their low-maintenance, drought-tolerant properties.  They also green up early in spring.  Angelina happens to stay this colour all winter.

Above: Clematis viticella 'Polish Spirit' in the butterfly potager.  This vine should be cut down in spring because it blooms on new wood (if you don't cut it down all the blooms will be way up high where you can't enjoy them.)

Above: Sedum 'Autumn Joy' in the butterfly potager.  The taller sedums keeps their seedheads all winter, although I've noticed that something eats them in the front yard.  Only the sedums in the back still have their seedheads by this time of year.

Above: Agastache foeniculum (hyssop) in the butterfly potager.  A favourite of bees and kids (the leaves smell like licorice).  I like this variety 'Aurea' for its yellow leaves.

Above: Astilbe in the back shade garden.  One of the few shade plants that I grow that likes moisture.  I try to give it a little extra water once in a while to keep it happy.

Above: Sedum 'Matrona' in the back adventure garden.  Another taller sedum that kept its seedheads all winter.  Love this plant!

Above: Here's Sedum 'Matrona' again in front of Helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass).  This ornamental grass got smushed by now but I've seen it in other gardens looking great all winter.  I think mine needs a couple more years to get bigger and then I expect great things from it!

Above: Blue oat grass again.

Above: Linum lewisii (blue flax) in the sunny adventure garden, although this one happens to be in a spot that gets quite a bit of shade and seems to do OK.  A great, low-maintenance plant with long-lasting blue flowers.  Easy to grow from seed - buy a package and spread it around the garden now, and you'll have it forever!

Above: Perovskia (russian sage) in the adventure garden.  Sorry, the light was terrible for this picture but I had to include it to make the list complete.  The white, wiry stems of russian sage look great all winter.  It is a shrub in warmer places but usually dies back to the ground here.  No worries - it comes back every year and blooms in late summer.  

Above: Feathery seedheads of Clematis alpina 'Blue bird'.  This kind of clematis blooms in spring and doesn't ever need to be cut down because it blooms on old wood.  Blue Bird is a very tough, drought-tolerant variety which grows under one of my spruce trees with no special care.  Amazing!

Above: Here are 3 Festuca glauca (blue fescue) at the bottom of this picture in the back shade garden.  It is evergreen in Calgary and doesn't even need to be cut back in spring.  A great edging plant and I'm going to add more this year.

sedge in containers for winter interest

I don't know why I didn't think of this years ago!  I like to leave a few pots outside to look at in the winter, but I never get around to those fancy winter displays of evergreen branches and berries that look so great.  But here's a pot in my backyard that had a carex (sedge) planted in it last summer.  Carex is not hardy here but treated as an annual it looks great in containers all year long!  This year I'm planning to put sedges in more of my pots - especially the ones that I can see from the house during the winter.  Here it was in summer with a geranium and something else that I can't remember right now:

veronica spicata, achillea (yarrow) and potentilla in the Welcome Garden

For pictures of this garden during the growing season, click here.

calamagrostis (feather reed grass) and sedum 'Autumn Joy' in the Welcome Garden

For pictures of this garden during the growing season, click here.

birdbath viewed from the front entry garden

I have a few interesting (I think) things to tell you about, but I'm not quite finished posting pictures from our frosty week-end last week...

a frosty backyard "Adventure Garden"

For pictures of what this garden looks like in the growing season, click here.

verbena bonariensis and agastache (hyssop) in the butterfly potager

 

For more pictures of what this garden looks like during the growing season, click here.

astilbe and Calamagrostis (feather reed grass) in the back shade garden

For pictures of what this garden looks like during the growing season, click here.

juniper, weeping spruce and rosa "Therese Bugnet" in the Adventure Garden

These plants are all quite new and small but I'm expecting them to put on a great winter show in a few years.  The rose "Therese Bugnet" is known for its bright red stems, although they don't show well in this photo with all the ice on them.  I highly recommend this rose though!

For pictures of the Adventure Garden during the growing season, click here.

ornamental allium (onion) and perovskia (russian sage) in the Adventure Garden

 

Notice the poor rose bush in the bottom picture with all its leaves still frozen on, thanks to the long, warm September and sudden deep freeze in October!  It may suffer some die back this winter but it should pull through.

For picture of the Adventure Garden during the growing season, click here.

linum (blue flax) in the adventure garden

 

for pictures of the Adventure Garden during the growing season, click here.

winter beauty

I know I said I was busy and I wasn't going to post for a while, but there's nothing like a heavy frost to remind you how beautiful a Calgary garden can be in the winter!  That is, if you have lots of evergreens, colourful branches, ornamental grasses and berries.  These are pictures from my morning walk today - pictures from my own garden coming later this week-end...

still on holidays... sort of...

Are you enjoying your winter?  The off-season for me is the time to be a normal person, rather than the garden-obsessed fanatic I am for about 7 months of the year (in a way I'm lucky I live in Calgary where the season is so short!)

I'm starting to think about seed ordering, but things are busy in my "real job" not to mention family and things I'm trying to get done around the house, etc, so I'm taking a bit of a break from regular posting.  I'll be ordering seeds in about a month and from then on gardening will be first and foremost in my mind again!  See you then!

Hello December!

Brrr, it is cold.  This is a bit of a shock, after such a mild November, isn't it?  As a gardener, I am at least thankful that we have some snow cover for this cold, windy spell we are having.  I am also thankful for ornamental grasses and tall sedums, because they look great in the snow!

 

more frosty pics from this morning's walk

In addition to the amazing blue oat grass, here are some other plants that caught my attention:

A frozen white phlox backlit in the morning sun.

A frosty cotoneaster with the leaves still green from the late summer weather and then sudden freeze we had.

Plants can be beautiful even in our crazy, frozen October, can't they?

helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass) in snow

I snapped a few pictures on my way to work this morning.  A gardener in my neighbourhood has lots of mature blue oat grass in her front yard and it looks amazing.  All year, actually.  But particularly in fall (once the seed heads have matured) and winter - these plants will look great like this all winter long.  Each of the clumps below are planted in groups of 3 for a larger effect.  I have two specimens of this plant in separate spots in my back adventure garden, but none in the front.  I think I must add some next year...

Good-bye Karl... but not for long!

I am just finishing cutting down all last year's perennials this week.  Here is the before and after of the front "welcome garden."

I was a little sad cutting Karl down.  Seriously, calamagrostis (feather reed grass) 'Karl Foerster' is one of my favourite plants.  This one is several years old and almost as tall and wide as a real person, so I think of him as one.  Every time I walk past, I say hello to Karl!  (The kids love this plant too but they think it's wheat!)

He has such presence in the front garden - he makes a great vertical accent, and as you can see stands tall all winter long.  It's easy to give people directions to my house because I can just say "it's the blue house with the ornamental grass - you'll know what I mean when you see it."  He may not look like much after his haircut but by June he'll be several feet tall again and interesting to look at for another 11 months.  I also have one in the back to screen a gas meter, and added another to my back hill garden as a "bookend" last year.  I've recommended it as a fast-growing screen for a kids' play area and as a substitute for pink pampas grass, too.

winter interest - calamagrostis and sedum

winter interest - rose hips in front of liatris and perovskia

red branches of "Therese Bugnet" rose in winter

sedum 'Autumn Joy' in the winter

 

 

sorbus (mountain ash) in winter

   

 

calamagrostis (feather reed grass) in front of centaurea macrocephala

centaurea macrocephala in the snow

liatris spicata in the snow

annabelle hydrangea in the snow

 

I'm still lovin' winter!

  Calgary's had snow cover for over a month now - very unusual for us!  How could you not love it when it insulates the garden (against temperature variation as well as our dry winds) and looks so beautiful?  Plus I'm getting some other projects done around the house that would never get any attention during the gardening season.

Still, it will be time to order seeds soon...