Calgary Garden Coach

What's blooming in my Calgary zone 3 garden, June 22 2009

Here's what's happening in my garden.  Sorry, no time this week to list all the plants or to add links to previous posts about each plant (will I ever have time again this summer?  I'm thinking not...)  But if you have questions please add a comment below and I'll get back to you.

The front garden:

The "new" side of the front garden:

The entry garden closer to the house:

The shade garden on the other side of the front:

The side garden as you head around to the backyard:

The butterfly/hummingbird potager garden:

The backyard shade garden:

And finally, the kids' adventure garden on the hill:

Schatzi's favourite spot

This is Schatzi's favourite spot, in the shade of the Mountain Ash tree.  He digs in a few places and occasionally tromps on something (not to mention the brown patches in the lawn), but generally he's a pretty garden-friendly dog. 

last day of school: flowers for teacher

Yesterday was my oldest daughter's last day of kindergarden.  I can't believe it! 
She was quite proud to bring her teachers these bouquets that were cut from our very own garden.  They will look a little better, I think, once they are in proper vases!
And someday I really must learn a little about flower arranging... I only know how to grow them, not how to arrange them very well...

pink sea thrift and moss phlox, and geranium 'ballerina', purple iris germanica and viola johnny jump-ups

iris germanica 'bounty' and snow-in-summer

mint, golden oregano and chives in the herb garden

yellow iceland poppies, pink and purple alliums, purple iris germanica and blue cranesbill geranium

orange geum, leopard's bane, anemone sylvestris, purple iris germanica and bergenia

what is this invasive groundcover?

Ack!  It's the evil creeping bellflower, campanula rapunculoides!  It doesn't have flowers yet, but it will, and don't let their pretty appearance fool you.  This is a nasty perennial weed.

The garden at my current house was full of the stuff 5 years ago when I moved in, and I am still trying to get rid of it.  If I were you, I'd start trying to get rid of it now.  I would start by trying to dig it up, and be careful to get as much of the root system as possible because any tiny root will grow into a new plant.  After you get rid of the majority of it, you will have to stay on top of it for another few years, pulling up every leaf you see until the roots finally die.  I've even resorted to painting Round Up on some of the leaves with a small paintbrush if they are in an area where they are mixed in with other plants I want to keep.  (That was before I put the pesticide-free signs on my lawn!)

Good luck. 

iris germanica, arctic phlox and armeria maritima (sea thrift)

What's blooming in my Calgary zone 3 garden, June 15 2009

I should have waited until today (June 15) to take pictures, because there are several more things blooming today compared to yesterday (thanks to the heat, finally!), but anyway, here you go:
Clockwise from top left: pulmonaria still blooming in the butterfly potager; bearded iris, iceland poppies, ornamental allium, moss phlox, and bergenia in the adventure hill garden; spurges, bearded iris and ornamental allium in the front welcome garden (and there's a pretty patch of white snowdrop anemones waaaay back in front of the brick chimney); leopard's bane and bleeding heart in the front woodland garden; bergenia, leopard's bane and snowdrop anemone in the shady side of the back hill.

And because someone asked, here is the side garden with the "automatic" rain barrel watering system.  I went and got a "sprinkler hose" rather than a soaker hose, and the barrels drain much faster now.  The clematis are definitely happier this year and even the "drought tolerant" perennials such as echinops (globe thistle) appreciate the extra water - the globe thistle seems to grow visibly each day now! (This is what this area looked like last year at this time.) Snow-in-summer and hesperalis matronalis (sweet rocket) are just starting to bloom here.

And finally, a few more close-ups just because you can't see everything in the collages above!  Also blooming, clockwise from top left: allium, bearded iris and iceland poppies; cushion spurge and bearded iris;clematis macropetala 'Bluebird'; anemone sylvestris (snowdrop anemone); bergenia still going strong with yellow iceland poppies in the background; geranium (cranesbill) 'Johnson's blue'; lily of the valley; bearded iris, sea thrift and moss phlox; lilacs.

Hydrangeas in Calgary zone 3?

I know the older varieties PeeGee and Annabelle will do well in Calgary, but there is still some debate about some of the newer varieties.  I only grow Annabelle so I can't speak from experience, but I have heard of gardeners trying Endless Summer and LimeLight and being disappointed. 

The secret is finding the right spot - not to mention a little bit of luck!  Hydrangeas definitely like shade and moisture, so if yours isn't doing well, try a spot with only morning sun and make sure it is getting enough water.  Annabelle dies back almost to the ground for me, BTW, but she always comes back bigger and better the next year.

Does anyone out there grow any of the newer varieties of hydrangea with success?  Please, let us know!

Shade, dry and height. Possible?

Sure!  There are not a lot of options, but there are some.

First, how shady and how dry are we talking, here?  I'm going to assume very shady and very dry, like under-a-spruce-dry.

I've already posted about some shorter things that will grow under a spruce, but there are a few options for tall as well:

• euonymus nana: a tough shrub that will do well in dry shade.  It also turns a beautiful red in fall, but only if it gets enough sun. 
• clematis macropetala 'Bluebird': this is a vine that will need support, but I actually have one growing under a spruce with no extra care (including water!) at all.  I've also heard of yellow-flowered clematis tangutica doing well in shade.
• aruncus dioicus (goat's beard): a tall perennial that would do better with moisture, but will grow in a dry spot if you take care to give it some extra water once in a while.

front yard garden to replace the lawn... check!

It just so happens that the topic of Gardening Gone Wild's monthly design workshop happens to be front yard gardens this month.  So, I am going to summarize the evolution of my front yard from a pathetic lawn surrounded by too many trees, to almost all garden and only one more tree to come down...

Above is what it looks like now.  The right hand side (in the picture) is the established side, and the left hand side is what I just finished this year.

 

Here's a close-up of the established side.  It's still spring for us here in zone 3 and you can see a couple types of euphorbia (spurge) blooming, plus dark purple ornamental onions and bearded irises that are hard to see in this picture.  For views of what this area of the garden looks like through the seasons, click here.  Those ladybug signs, BTW, are pesticide-free signs from the Sierra Club (rectangle) and City of Calgary's Healthy Yard program (circle).

 

Now here's a view of the other side.  Not much to look at yet, I know, but the other side started out this way just a few years ago so I promise you by the end of the summer this area will look good, and in one more year it will look great (if I do say so myself!) When you're doing a garden makeover on a tight budget (money and time, actually), you have to be patient!  Still gotta cover that ugly soaker hose with some mulch...

Instead of digging up the grass like I did on the other side (and this really is the best way to get rid of grass unless you want to raise the soil level by building a berm or some raised beds), this time I took the lazy route and smothered the grass with carpet.  I'm not sure I'd recommend this, as bits of carpet glue disintegrated all over the grass.  Anyway, too late now and I'm not planting any edibles here.

Out of my original list of plants I planned to plant (how's that for a tongue twister?), I ended up with:

• kinnikinnick
• red leaf rose
• sumac 'Tiger Eyes'
• sea holly
• iris germanica 'bounty'
• daylilies
• sedum 'Autumn Joy'
• creeping sedums
• echinacea 'purple magnus'
• gentians
• liatris spicata
• nepeta (catmint) 'Walker's Low'
• asiatic lilies 'Brunello' and an unknown variety

And by the way, this is what it looked like in 2004 when I first moved in and started digging up grass:

reorganize the butterfly potager... check!

Way back in winter I decided to redo the "butterfly potager garden".  Basically, I wanted to have something more interesting to look at than that barricade-of-a-fence that my neighbours put up.

So, I planted the trees, and I want to get a concrete bench and some kind of year-round ornament to put on the fence above it.  That meant I had to move all the plants around because I needed to put in some stepping stones to get to the bench... these projects never turn out to be small!

Anyway, I'm finally done.  I've put in the stepping stones, planted various kinds of low-growing thymes around them, and moved around the perennials that used to be there (delphiniums, lilies and bee balm).  There are peas and beans planted to grow up the two teepees, and carrots and beets in the two little raised beds. 

So come on summer, I'm ready for ya!

what's blooming in my Calgary zone 3 garden, June 7 2009

... all this despite snow, hail and frost on the week-end!

ornamental allium and iceland poppies

 ornamental allium 'Purple Sensation' in front of yellow iceland poppies, and there's a little dwarf bearded iris in there, too!

bearded iris and moss phlox

 arctic (moss) phlox behind dwarf iris germanica in my sunny back garden.

iceland poppies and iris germanica

bearded iris and cushion spurge

 Dwarf iris germanica in front of euphorbia (cushion spurge) in my low maintenance front welcome garden.

bleeding heart and leopard's bane

 Leopard's bane and bleeding heart, just starting to bloom, in my front shade garden.

for the record: frost in Calgary zone 3, June 7 2009

Did you lose anything this week-end?  I have yet to go out and do the rounds this morning, but I think everything should be safe.  I lost one raspberry cane which doubled over and broke under all the heavy, wet snow we got on Friday night, but I think that's it. 

I wasn't too worried about the snow on Friday night - as long as plants don't actually freeze, they are OK.  The ground is pretty warm now and moisture is always a good thing in Calgary!  The worst that can happen is that branches can get broken (like my raspberry), but I moved some of my tenderest pots (impatiens) and my unplanted seedlings into the garage on Friday just in case.

Then came the hail yesterday (Saturday).  Well, at least it was small and didn't do any real damage. 

Now frost this morning!  That is the real danger for plants.  I'm glad I threw some blankets over the tomatoes and cucumber last night.  Let's hope they're all OK.  I'll go outside and check when it gets a little warmer...  if it gets a little warmer?

firepit design revisited

  This client had some trees removed downhill of this firepit last year, in order to get a better view of the city.  What to replace them with?

We didn't want anything too tall that would block the view again, but there is a hill that slopes downward immediately behind the firepit so anything too short wouldn't be visible either.  The client is also a fan of orange flowers, and specified NOT PINK.  This is what we came up with:

It's hard to see but imagine this in a couple years when the plants are bigger: a hedge of 5 yellow 'Dart's Gold' ninebark shrubs around the back of the firepit, a drought-tolerant garden of ornamental grass, gaillardia, iris germanica and cushion spurge on the left, and a 'Diabolo' ninebark and dwarf globe blue spruce on the right for year-round colour, plus some daylilies and sedum 'Autumn Joy'.

Here's a close-up of the left-hand side.  There is cushion spurge and iris germanica for spring colour, 3 catmints along the front for summer colour, 3 gaillardia 'Frenzy' for summer/fall orange-ish bloom colour, and an ornamental grass for season-long interest. (We still need to finish topping up the bark mulch.)

To the right of the golden hedge are 3 orange daylilies 'Frans Haal', and a dwarf globe blue spruce for year-round colour.

And on the far right, a 'Diabolo' ninebark to contrast with the blue spruce and repeat the burgandy foliage colour that exists elsewhere in the yard, plus 3 sedum 'Autumn Joy' for textural contrast with the daylilies and fall bloom colour.

Whaddya think?

for the record: hail and snow in Calgary, June 5 2009

Here are some pictures I snapped this morning (from the shelter of my front and back doors) as the hail  and wet snow came down.  It is 3^oC today and there is a forecast for more wet snow tonight and tomorrow morning.
Sigh.  I'm not really worried about most of my plants; I know the perennials will do fine, and most of the annuals too.  They may not be happy and will go into shock and stop growing for a few days, but they'll survive.  I'll probably throw a towel over the tomatoes in Kozy Coats, and move a couple of pots planted with very tender annuals (eg. impatiens) into the garage, not to mention all those little seedlings sitting on my picnic table that I still haven't got around to planting... 
Let's hope the snowfall isn't too heavy or it may be the trees that that will suffer the most!

more on getting rid of dandelions

Q:  "I do not want to use any chemical pesticide. What is the alternate effective way to get rid of growing dandelion in my yard? Somewhere I read, I forgot where, that I can use a mixture of vinegar and water solution. Does it work and what is the ratio?  If pesticide is the only effective way to go, what kind should I get?"

A:  No, pesticide is not the only effective way - in fact I'd say it's a last resort that is justifiable in only a few cases.  But the non-pesticide methods do involve some exercise!!  I've written before about general weeding tips, and using boiling water in a spot like a patio where it is hard to get a the roots.  Vinegar (100%) can also work although be aware you may need to do it more than once.  The best time to use it is in the morning of a sunny day, to let the sun's rays burn that vinegar into the leaves.  Don't do it right before it rains.  Whatever spray you use, make sure you don't get it on other plants - I wrote about the dangers of RoundUp here.

Donna Balzer just wrote a post about the water weeder and also comments that poor soil, often caused by overuse of commercial fertilizers, can lead to more dandelions.  Another reason to go organic!!

June 2009 garden to-do list for Calgary zone 3

Ack!  Is it June already?  May was a flurry of gardening activity for me, plus consulting, so I almost got through my May to do list.  I didn’t really stay on top of the weeding, as I had recommended, but that will definitely be a priority for June!  I also didn’t start moving soil to get ready for the retaining wall project, but I’ve decided to postpone that until July when I’ll have more time.  I did, however, almost finish planting the new area of the front welcome garden, which wasn’t even part of the plan!  I always like to get all my planting done before the monsoons of June arrive… and I’m almost there.

 

My June to-do list is as follows:

 

• Finish moving perennials and planting annuals – I’m almost done…
• Because of the new trees I planted and the bench I want to eventually put in the butterfly potager garden, I need to put some stepping stones in.  The kids and dog walk through it all the time anyway so at least this way they won’t be stepping on plants!
• Weeding.  I know I said I would do it in May, but this month I really mean it.  This needs to be done before developing seeds plus the rains of June combine to turn the garden into a weedy jungle!  Make a pass through each garden area at least weekly and at least pull the weeds that have begun to flower or gone to seed.
• Continue spreading compost on the garden – this needs to be finished this month before the plants get too big.  Compost will help retain moisture, keep down weeds, and will eventually break down and provide nutrients to the soil.  It’s all about the soil, baby.
• For the remaining compost pile, turn it over occasionally to help hasten decomposition.  What am I saying… I never do this!  The compost breaks down eventually even if not turned and I never seem to get around to it.  But if you want faster compost, keep it moist and turn it over regularly.
• Water newly planted annuals and perennials regularly when it doesn’t rain.  Most of my established perennials are drought tolerant and after one year they’re on their own unless there is a sustained heat wave in July or August.  I water my gardens with soaker hoses to water deeply and minimize water loss to evaporation, and the pots of annuals are the only thing that are “high maintenance”.  They need regular water and fertilizer.
• Water the vegetable garden regularly.  Veggies don’t like to dry out!
• Keep an eye on the taller and vining plants and give them support before they flop over…
• Prune roses – usually I find there is some tip kill from the inevitable cold spell in… May!  Prune by cutting the canes just above an outward facing shoot. 
• Spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs should be pruned right after they finish flowering – prune them by cutting out the oldest wood right at the base, rather than shearing them.  But don’t prune off finished flowers from shrubs that produce fruit, such as viburnums and saskatoons.
• Deadhead (remove finished flowers from) annuals continuously to promote new flowers, and most perennials once they have finished blooming, to tidy them up and/or to prevent self-seeding.  Some perennials that have showy seedheads, such as ornamental allium, can be left standing.
• Edge the borders between garden and grass – I have so little grass that there is only one area where I need to do this!  A well-cut edge really does make a big difference.
• Continue cleaning out the greenhouse, organize tools, and make myself a potting station on the north side of the house.  I can barely wait for this – it’s going to be so cute!

June flowers in Calgary zone 3

Here's some of what we have to look forward to over the next month.  (Finally, there are enough pictures from last year that I actually have to break each collage down into separate areas of the garden!)  So, here is a little tour of what was blooming in my Calgary garden in June 2008.  To find more information about these plants you can go to the June 2008 archives.
This is the front "welcome garden", which was completed in 2007.  Clockwise from top left: view from the sidewalk; alliums and snowdrop anemone; sedum acre; shasta daisies; cranesbill geranium; iris germanica, alliums and shasta daisies; more daisies; euphorbia; snowdrop anemone.

Here's the shade garden closer to the front of the house.  It is still a work in progress and I expect it to improve once I get that tree taken down... this fall I hope!  Clockwise from top left: muscari and bleeding heart; virginia bluebells; bleeding heart; lily of the valley; leopard's bane.

The side garden is supposed to be low maintenance because nobody but the neighbours really see it.  It is on the south side of the house and very dry.  Left to right: iris germanica 'bounty'; snow-in-summer; the view from the front corner of the neighbour's house; sweet rocket.

Here's the butterfly/hummingbird/potager garden around the south back patio.  Because I have a tendency towards pink flowers, I am trying to restrict myself to warmer colours here - both to attract hummingbirds and also just to be different from the rest of the garden (you can tell I find it difficult to restrict myself since I could only narrow down this area to butterfly/hummingbird/edibles!!)  Clockwise from top left: red peony; raised beds with lettuce, carrots and spinach plus peas growing on the trellis; siberian iris; peony and cornflower; cornflower close-up.

And finally, the back "adventure hill garden" that was completed last year (more or less!)  I call it an adventure garden because it has pathways throughout designed to let the kids roam the garden (or play chase!)  Left to right, top to bottom: snowdrop anemone and iris germanica; sea thrift; clematis alpina; bergenia; johnny jump-up; catmint, sea thrift and moss phlox; ornamental allium and iceland poppies; peony and siberian iris; cranesbill geranium 'Johnson's blue'; moss (arctic) phlox; iris germanica and iceland poppies.

it's aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

Here's my little 'Tiger Eyes' sumac bud.  Yippee!  A friend gave me a piece of a root last year and I wasn't sure it was going to make it through the winter.  It was in a pot in the strawberry bed and hasn't shown any signs of life until just these last few days.

It is going in the new front garden, which I will be ready to show you soon!  It's almost done...

Tiger Eyes sumac leafs out very late, so I hadn't quite given up hope yet.  Other perennials that come back very late (every year I wonder if I've lost them...) are hostas and eupatorium (joe pye weed).  These are all just starting to poke up now in my garden.

what's blooming in my zone 3 Calgary garden - May 31 2009

  Above left to right, top to bottom: epimedium rubrum; daffodils and muscari; epimedium rubrum; bergenia; euphorbia; rhubarb (first rhubarb pies this week-end, yum!); leopard's bane; darwin tulips and bergenia; darwin tulip; iceland poppies; iceland poppy buds; fritillaria; dwarf iris germanica; pulmonaria and daffodil; bergenia; pansies.

And below: the finished side of my front yard garden.  I'm thinking I need a few early-blooming spring bulbs here, but I'm sure I planted some last fall... perhaps the squirrels got them?  Bah!

iceland poppy and iris germanica

iceland poppy and dwarf iris germanica (the shorter ones bloom earlier).

pulmonaria (lungwort)

Pulmonaria captured my heart when I first saw it in bloom - it has pink and blue flowers at the same time because the flowers open pink and change to blue.  So pretty!  And the speckled leaves are cool, too.  There are different varieties with many different variations of green and silver variegated leaves.

This is a super tough plant that does well in shade, even dry shade.  Not only that but its leaves are not appetizing to slugs, unlike the leaves of that other foliage plant for shade, the hosta (which isn't drought tolerant, either).  And pulmonaria leaves don't get ripped up in hail, like a hosta.  Pulmonaria trumps hosta in Calgary's garden climate!

What more can I say?  A great, low maintenance plant for shade.

pulmonaria & daffodil

pulmonaria (lungwort) and daffodil

leopard's bane, tulips & bergenia

doronicum caucasicum (leopard's bane), darwin tulips and bergenia