Calgary Garden Coach

the beginning of the end

  I was so busy babying my tomatoes in the cool weather last week that I forgot to cover up the pumpkin plant!  Here it is half-dead from frost.  I think the pumpkins will actually be OK at this point.

I also lost my beans and pots of impatiens.  Everything else still looking good.

  I snapped this pic of the back hill garden on Saturday morning, before my Dad came over to help me take down 2 more spruce trees (OK, I didn't help except by keeping the kids out of the way).  Anyway, those 2 at the back/middle of the pic were too close together and 2 too many for me (there are still 5 big spruce trees in the backyard), so down they came.  Of course, they smashed everything below them as they fell, so I won't be posted any more pictures of this area of the garden until next year!  That's the great thing about perennial gardening - there's always next year!

my yard: a work in progress (there's always next year...)

OK, this is the post where I am going to bare it all.  Usually, I post nicely cropped pictures of plants or combinations of plants doing well in my garden.  Occasionally, I have posted pictures of whole garden areas that are fairly complete.  I have even posted a few pictures of spots that need a lot of help, like the other half of the front yard that I hope to plant next year, and the tree and in a very stupid spot too close to the house.  Here are the other major things I want to fix up next year:

  The steps to the covered back porch.  These "temporary" stairs have been in place for 3 years now, since we had to rip out a rotten back deck due to carpenter ant problems.  This will be my husband's job, but I must remember not to be too ambitious getting my own things done in the garden, so that I can leave time for him to do this.  An extra, comfy chair and a few extra pots, and this is going to be a beautiful, shady place to sit next year!

  The Northwest Corner.  This is a former RV pad that we have been using as our junkyard as we do major house and yard renovations.  It really has to be tidied up.  There are stumps of old trees we've had taken down, sheets of plywood we removed from the garage, branches left over from several of my pruning sprees, and a wasp's nest in the rolled up carpet.  Not safe for adults let alone kids!  My husband wants this area to eventually be his "ship yard" for the hobby he thinks he's going to have when the kids get older.  I'll grudgingly give him the space as long as he lets me plant a few raised beds along the fence - one of the sunniest spots in the yard.  I see tomatoes and a few espaliered fruit trees of some sort here...

  The rotten tree stumps.  This retaining wall was filled with carpenter ant nests when we moved in.  Once we got rid of the ants, wasps moved in.  Thanks to the paper bag we hung up this year, no wasps, but still the wall is crumbling and needs to be replaced.  We're going to have someone do this for us next year, as we have enough to do.  It will be concrete retaining wall blocks matching ones we have in other areas of the yard.  The best thing of all, getting this wall replaced will give me a good excuse to get rid of one pine tree and 2 overgrown mugo pines that will be in the way.

  The back lawn.  Here's a partial view of the backyard (with the plywood in the northwest corner displayed so beautifully in the background!)  I want more veggie space next year and the lawn is the sunniest spot in the yard (besides the northwest corner), so I am going to dig up a patch smack-dab in the middle of the lawn next spring.  Fortunately, my husband is not a lawn guy and there are plenty of other spaces in the yard for the kids to run around.

  The greenhouse.  This butt-ugly behemoth of a structure is coming down next year.  What?  A gardener who wants to get rid of her greenhouse?  Yes, it is sad but true.  Firstly, it is sandwiched between two giant spruce trees such that it only gets about 2 hours max of direct sunlight - not enough to grow anything inside.  So it is essentially a big ugly shed.  Secondly, the plywood floor inside is raised about 30 cm off the ground and is rotting.  I know for sure there are wasp's nests and carpenter ant nests under there and there are probably mice as well.  My nightmare is that one day I am going to step inside and go straight through the floor.  Ugh!

  My goal is to clean this out over the winter so it is ready to take down in the spring.  No small project, as you can see.  We will try to recycle as much as possible, so anyone looking for large pieces of glass, cedar slat blinds or other useful greenhouse materials should contact me!

  ... and once the greenhouse is gone, then we are going to re-use this cedar panelling we took out of our basement and build a play structure for the kids in the greenhouse's footprint.  I'm not crazy enough to think we'll finish that next year, but I'm hoping we can at least make a start.

So there you have it!  Photos of all the not-photo-worthy areas in my yard.  This is why it is going to be at least several more years before I am ready to enter the garden competition...

a place to dig

Yes, its' true, with little kids it is important to have a spot in the yard where they are allowed to dig.  But for me, any place that is diggable soon gets filled up with plants, I just can't help myself!

So this year I finally had a solution. Why not let them have the bare spot under a spruce tree?  The only problem is that the roots make the ground so hard there that it is impossible to dig with adult shovels, let alone wimpy kid ones.  So when I excavated for a new pathway elsewhere in the yard, I dumped the soil here.  Now they have perfectly good, diggable soil in a place where nothing else would grow anyway.  It ain't pretty, but it works for now!

rose 'Morden Sunrise' and russian sage

These two plants are still going great guns and blooming away.  Both the rose and the russian sage need full sun and they finally got it this year thanks to taking down 2 spruce trees last fall. They have never looked happier.

castor bean 'Impala', rudbeckia 'Golden Glow' and cotoneaster

I like this combination for fall colour.  I think the yellow of the rudbeckia looks so nice with the red castor bean foliage, plus the cotoneaster shrubs turning red in the background.   

Cotoneasters may be common and they self-seed almost invasively, but I still love them for their flaming red/orange colour in fall.  The more sun they get, the better their fall colour will be.

ninebark 'Diabolo'

I planted this shrub last year and I've read that they take a few years to get established and then they really take off.  Mine didn't bloom this year, but no matter.  I planted them for their foliage colour anyway.

These shrubs look great in front of a light-coloured background, but I planted mine around the perimeter of the yard so that they are backlit when viewed from the house at certain times of day(the front ones are backlit in the morning and the one in the backyard is backlit in the evening) and they absolutely glow in the morning/evening light!  They're gorgeous.

This variety of ninebark is hardy and drought-tolerant.  While they like sun, I've also seen them growing in the shade where they bloom less and grow a little more slowly, but the foliage colour still looks great.

more container combos

I don't really plant many annuals because they are generally more maintenance than perennials.  Plus I don't like to spend lots of money on trendy, expensive plants that only last for one season or have to be specially overwintered.  I only used cheap, common annuals that generally don't need a lot of care.  That said, I am fairly happy with the pots I did get around to planting this year.  Here, for the record, are the rest of them (and here's what they looked like mid-summer):

A simple composition of mixed impatiens for deep, dark shade.  They would have done better, I think, if I'd been more diligent watering them in July and August.  The small terra cotta pots dry out too quickly.  Next year I'm going to put plastic pots inside to prevent them from drying out so fast.

  This was a last-minute combination I made with left-overs from Canadian Tire.  I  love the colour combination of pink (geranium), red (wave petunia) and silver foliage (dusty miller).

This one is on the sunny side of the front step.  It has pink allysum (for fragrance), yellow licorice plant and a couple of different varieties of sweet william.

This pot is filled with wave petunias and more licorice plant.  There are also sweetpeas that are almost finished blooming because I haven't been diligent in deadheading them.  The sunflowers and pumpkin are actually planted in a raised bed directly behind the pots.  While it's not very creative or original, I haven't done anything to it all summer except water and it still looks pretty good.  That's my container criteria!!

OK, I've never claimed to be a "container designer" but I'm happy with my results this year.

the year of golden creeping jenny

Golden creeping jenny is a perennial ground crover that spreads nicely but is not invasive.  I love it in my backyard shade garden because it lights up a dark corner, and it also does OK in the front in dry soil with afternoon shade.  But it also looks great dangling out of containers.  My Mom had way too much of it this spring so she kept digging up pieces and giving them to me.  I put them in the garden and also used them to fill up some pots:

Here it is in my garage window box with blue lobelia and red snapdragons,

  here it is on the shady side of the front step with white impatiens, blue lobelia and pink and red begonias,

and here it is in a basket with a wave petunia.

I could see sticking this plant almost anywhere.  And the best part is, I can take all these creeping jenny plants, stick them back in the ground after the pots are finished from frost, and use them again next year!!

sedum matrona and castor bean

  This combo is working well for me.  I like the repeated red colour between the sedum matrona and the castor bean.  I also like the contrast in texture from the bearded iris.  In spring I'll have to move some of the iris so you can see the blue oat grass better (top rhs of photo).

Always a work in progress...

cimicfuga simplex (black bugbane) 'Brunette'

  I picked up this plant this year because I wanted something in my front yard shade garden that would bloom in fall.  (OK it was on sale and I couldn't resist so I came up with this reason why I needed to have it!)  I also like purple foliage which is repeated throughout the front yard using other plants.  

Bugbane likes moisture, which I don't have in my front yard, but I planted it right by the front steps so I can notice quickly if starts to wilt and I can hand-water it easily to help it along.  I generally don't like to plant plants that need extra care like this, but once in a while I make an exception!

This was new this year, but eventually it will get over 1 m tall and about 60 cm wide.

spec's: likes rich, moist soil and partial shade

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).

what's blooming in my Calgary zone 3 garden in September

Here is my Garden Blogger's bloom day post for September.  It's been fun keeping track of the garden in June, July, August until now.  Things are winding down here now and these pics will also make a great record for winter planning which I will be doing before I know it... (I must be tired, I'm already thinking about winter!)

 

The shade garden:

Nothing left blooming here except the astilbes.  Thank goodness for hostas and golden creeping jenny!!

  The back hill:

perennials: russian sage, liatris, rudbeckia 'Golden Glow', echinacea, catmint, sedum matrona, dianthus, garden phlox, yarrow, 'Hansa' and 'Morden Sunrise' roses

annuals: castor bean, lavatera, nicotiana sylvestris, cleome, cosmos, and self-seeded borage, snapdragon & clary sage

This is the new, middle part that I added this year viewed from straight on - not bad for one season thanks in part to the annuals!  Here's what it looked like in spring.

  the butterfly/hummingbird/veggie garden:

Most of this garden was also new this year.  I have to figure out how to keep the dog out of it...  Anyway, this fall I will be planting an annabelle hydrangea and a joe pye weed in that back right corner that looks pretty empty right now.  They'll both be happy near that downspout!

perennials: agastache, bee balm, clematis, rose 'John Cabot', yarrow, honeysuckle vine, liatris, lamium

annuals: sunflowers, scarlet runner bean, verbena bonariensis, marigolds (and harvesting peas, beans, lettuce and carrots)

the front curbside garden:

perennials: sedum 'Autumn Joy' (starting) and 'Purple Emporer', daylilies, rose campion, potentilla 'Pink Beauty', and a few bits of shasta daisy and blue veronica still going...

 
the front entry garden:

perennials: bee balm and annabelle hydrangea, heuchera and monkshood (finishing)

annuals: clary sage

  the strawberry/pumpkin patch:

I've never grown pumpkins before but thought it would be fun for the kids.  I don't really have space but I planted one anyway - it's going to take over the lawn and patio!  It looks like we're going to have 3 nice big pumpkins.  Worth the space?  I haven't decided yet.

ornamental grasses, bergenia, bearded iris and hosta

  This is a combination that I just re-tweaked and I think it is finally just right.  There is such a variation in leaf shape and colour, plus plant shape, that this combination looks so great even when nothing is blooming.

I moved the yellow 'Sun Power' hosta beside the blue fescue, and now the colours really pop.  The irises were just moved too so they are a little wonky right now.  When the 'Karl Foerster' feather reed grass gets a little bigger, this is going to look even better.

Like I keep saying, it's all about the foliage, baby!

'Annabelle' hydrangea and pink bee balm

heuchera micrantha 'Palace Purple'

I have several of these in my front yard garden because I like the leaf colour (deep purple in spring, bronzy-brown in summer).  They are surviving, but not thriving, due to the 5 large spruce trees that make the soil very dry. 

Still, they make great plants for the front of the border because they are compact (30 cm wide and 20 cm tall) and the flowers look nice in arrangements, too.

Heuchera is a trendy plant these days and there are all sorts of new varieties with frilly leaves and cool colours.  However, some are not tried-and-true hardy in Calgary (making many of them very expensive annuals).  This variety is hardy and cheap!

spec's: prefers moisture but will tolerate dry soil, prefers afternoon shade

rose 'john cabot' and clematis 'polish spirit'

lamb's ears, sedum matrona and variegated bearded iris

a fall bouquet

  I quickly zipped around the garden yesterday and picked some flowers to take to a baby shower. 

They include: pink astilbe, baby's breath, lavatera, cosmos; purple russian sage, clary sage; white liatris; artemesia 'oriental limelight' for foliage.

what's wrong? pine needles turning brown

 

Nothing's wrong. 

Every year I hear someone asking this question.

The inner needles on pine trees and shrubs turn brown and fall off at this time of year - perfectly normal.  They only keep their needles on the outer ends of their branches.

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.

getting ahead of myself again

  Next year I am going to finish removing grass and plant the rest of the front yard as a drought-tolerant, low-maintenance garden.

Have I already bought and planted shrubs even though the site was not prepared yet?  Yes.

Do I have time to do any more planting this year?  No.

What did I say when a friend offered to dig up a few pieces of his plants for me?  Yes please!

I am very happy with my new 'Tiger Eyes' sumac, curry plant and variegated grass.  They are all going to look great in the new front garden next year. 

What to do with them in the meantime?  The yard is not ready and I have no other space in the current garden to give them a temporary home.  So, I stuck them in pots and will baby them for the next few weeks.  After the veggie garden is finished, I'll bury them, pot and all, in the veggie plot to winter them over (by then it will be too late to plant them because the roots won't have enough time to get established).  Then in the spring I can dig them up and put them in their permanent home.

I never say no to free plants, especially when I don't have a particular type yet and when I still have a half a front yard to fill!!  Thanks again, Michael!

sedum 'matrona'

  This medium-height sedum was new for me this year and I am very happy with it.  It is only just starting to bloom, but it looked nice all season thanks to the greyish-purple leaves and purple stems.  The purple repeated a colour I have throughout the same garden, from elderberry, castor bean, ninebark and more.

The succulent leaves got a little pockmarked in the June/July hail, but still looked OK (but then I'm not a perfectionist).  I like it paired with bearded iris and ornamental grasses for the great contrast in textures.

spec's: 45 cm tall and wide, likes full sun, drought tolerant.

this tree has got to go

  I am trying to convince my husband that we need to get rid of this spruce tree in front of our house.  What is the point of a big beautiful bay window if you look out right at this?  I think the view of a garden from inside a house is just as important, if not more important, than outside.  It used to be even worse before I limbed up the branches a bit.

Not to mention there's already 4 other giant spruce trees sucking all the water and nutrients out of the soil and shading the garden by the front steps.  It is very challenging to grow stuff here.  Also not to mention the horrible red shale mulch that I am still trying to remove from my property 4 years after moving in.  Curse the person who put down red shale!

I want to have this taken out in spring, so that I don't have to worry about the existing garden getting smushed when the tree falls.  It's not going to be cheap, but it needs to be done.  If I can't convince my husband, I may just book it anyway and surprise him... I wonder if he'd be mad...

planting tulips with kids

I know I said I don't like tulips but the flowers are so recognizable and showy, I couldn't resist buying a few packages in my daughters' favourite colours: pink and purple.  This week-end we planted them around the garden together.  It is fun to do as long as you're willing to let them do the "design" work.

The kids picked the spots, we dug each hole together, I put some fertilizer in the bottom and they dropped in five bulbs each, then we covered them back up and they got to stomp the dirt down.  How fun is that?

the most serious gardening mistake

  Very serious.  You can't tell from this perspective, but that cable line that this newly planted tree is directly under is only about a foot above the top of the tree. 

I mean, I know not everybody spends as much time thinking about garden design as I do, but are these people totally clueless?  Make sure you check the full size of a tree before you plant it, and give it room!

Perennials can be moved.  Shrubs can be pruned to control their size.  Trees however, do not liked to be heavily pruned to control their height, or at the very least it is high maintenance to do so.  This swedish columnar aspen, which will want to grow to 10-12 m high, is not going to be impressed if it is kept to a height of 3 m. 

Why, why, why?

September to-do list

Well, gardening season is pretty much over for me.  The perennials have a couple of months left of looking good (or at least decent, for the most part), but my gardening usually happens in the mornings for a half-hour here and there on the days I manage to get up before the kids.  This time of year, it's too dark and cold that early in the morning!!

Anyway, here's my list for this month, for what it's worth, modified from the Calgary Horticultural Society's to-do list:

• Keep harvesting raspberries, peas, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots.  Yum!
• Water pumpkin plant every day - those suckers need lots of water!
• Move and divide perennials – now is a great time as they are full size so you are less likely to plant things too close together.
• Keep up with weeding - ya right...
• Deadhead annuals and some perennials to encourage more bloom; leave some seedheads for decoration or to collect seeds.
• Stop fertilizing trees, shrubs, and roses – any surge of fresh new growth now will just weaken the plant before winter.
• Stop deadheading hardy roses for the same reason.
• Plant spring bulbs as soon as possible - I went overboard buying bulbs this year as usual.
• There’s a whole slew of advice on how to keep your containers and plantings going as long as possible, but by this point in the year, I’m getting tired and frost is welcome!!  There will be no trucking pots in/out of the garage every night/morning at our house!
• Cut flowers that preserve well and save them for indoor arrangements or winter containers (e.g. globe thistle).
• Think about what worked or didn’t work this year, while it’s still fresh in memory, and start planning for next year!!

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...