Calgary Garden Coach

more on collecting leaves for the garden

In my October garden to-do list I mentioned saving/stealing leaves for mulching the garden.  Really, this is such a cheap, easy, and beneficial thing to do for the garden, I have no idea why everybody doesn't do it! And don't just take my word for it: Donna Balzer recently wrote about how leaves have more nutrients than manure and Nora Bryan recently wrote about how NOT cleaning up the garden is best practice in Calgary's climate because the plants left standing and the leaf mulch will catch the snow and also insulate our gardens against Calgary's drastic winter temperature changes and dryness (Chinooks).

If you haven't started, it's not too late to save leaves for the garden!  Here are some tips to consider:

• If you have lots of your own leaves, save them!  Rake them onto the garden.  It's better to wait until the perennials have died back so the plants don't smother under too many leaves, but a few leaves in between the still-growing perennials shouldn't hurt anything.
• If you've got extra, start a dedicated compost bin of just leaves, or do the almost zero-work method of turning them into leaf mold that I described in this post last year.  If you've got a lawn mower or mulcher, chop of the leaves first for faster decomposition, but it's not necessary if the leaves are small (see below.)
• If you don't have enough of your own leaves (that's me!), steal them!  I've taken bagged leaves from people's back alleys and also from leaf drop locations (before the leaf drop signs were up so technically that's not stealing, right?)  I am even picky about the leaves I take - pre-chopped leaves are best (you can tell because the bag will be at least five times heavier than a bag of unchopped leaves), and also clear bags are preferable because you can see what's inside (you want nothing but leaves, and smaller, curly leaves such as birch and elm are better than big, flat leaves such as poplar because the big leaves get matted down and don't make as light and fluffy of a mulch as the smaller ones do.)

I'm currently saving bags of stolen leaves to gradually mulch the whole garden as the perennials die back, and I've filled one cubic-yard-sized compost bin as well.  I think I've "rescued" at least 30 bags!  My friends and family think I'm crazy...  Do you?

More reading:

There is also some good information posted at Fine Gardening on this topic:

Fall Leaves Make a Great Garden Mulch

Get an Early Start for your Spring Garden

Improve your soil by Raking Less

fall garden chores in progress

With this wonderful weather I've been plowing through my October garden to-do list and enjoying the time outside in the fresh air with the wonderful smell of fallen leaves.

Lawn cut to lowest height setting on the mower, and raked.  Leaves and grass cuttings put in compost.

 

Raised beds in "England" getting ready for planting next spring.  I've finished laying the recycled patio stones but will put in some edging and gravel mulch between the stones next spring, as well as topping up the raised beds with triple mix.  If only these beds had been ready a little sooner, I could have planted a great late-season crop of lettuce and spinach and been eating it right now, thanks to all this good weather!  Ah well, next year...

What have you been up to?

favourite perennials for late-season colour

It has been a great fall for the perennial garden in Calgary!  Things were blooming a little late after our cool (read: crappy!) summer, but after all that moisture in early September and now this great weather, many things are still looking fresh.

All these pictures were taken Oct 10.  Clockwise from top left: purple asters just starting to bloom (Donna Balzer just wrote about how this is a great plant for the bees); clematis 'Polish Spirit'; raspberry monarda, golden hyssop and purple liatris (and you can just make out the white bloom of a relatively new (to this garden) hydrangea 'Annabelle' in the background); sedum 'Matrona' mixed with annual borage and perennial nepeta, lamb's ears and yellow rudbeckia 'Golden Glow' way at the top of the photo; honeysuckle 'Scarlet Trumpet' still blooming while the leaves are turning; more sedum 'Matrona' with ornamental grass helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass), purple liatris and some dark pink achillea (yarrow) in the background.

more fall foliage - nannyberry

I forgot to include virburnum lentago (nannyberry) in my previously posted list of trees and shrubs for great fall foliage colour in Calgary.  Probably because it's only just starting to colour up now. Other reasons to grow it include its edible fruit and tolerance of partial shade.

Here it is with a viburnum trilobum 'Bailey's Compact' in the background and a purple bugbane in front, in the back shade garden.

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...]

Snowberry - a low maintenance front yard shrub that hares don't eat!

Due to the four large spruce trees in my front yard, I've been having some trouble finding some low-maintenance shrubs that will tolerate the shade and dryness in this area without a lot of babying.  I've also lost several shrubs to the local hare population in the past. 

So, when I decided to try Symphoricarpos albus laevigatus (Snowberry) this spring, I bought only two with the intention to get at least one more if the shrubs lasted through their first year without getting nibbled to the ground by the local "wildlife".

I'm happy to report that the hares haven't touched them! 

Snowberries have roundish, blue-green leaves on arching thing stems, and will eventually get to about 5 ft tall.  They bloom with small, white flowers in mid spring and produce white berries in early autumn.  They are drought-tolerant once established and do well in low light conditions and infertile soils (hence why I tried them near my spruce trees).  Unfortunately, the birds do not like their berries, but I have heard of people using branch cuttings with berries for seasonal decorations so I will try that in the future once my shrubs are bigger.

Snowberries do sucker a little but they are easy to control and they make great informal hedges (i.e. don't require pruning i.e. low maintenance!) if you have the space. 

my garden to do list, October 2010

There's not much left to do out there, but to just enjoy these last few days of beautiful weather!  I got some spring bulbs in last month, harvested the last of my veggies, and I've already started cutting down a few perennials - I leave most of them to stand for the winter except for iris, daylilies, hostas and a few others that just turn into a soggy mess. See last spring's post for photos of the some of the perennials that stay looking good all winter long.

But if I have time and the weather's good, here's what I'll be doing:

• watering trees and shrubs with a soaker hose (I've already started - with all our September rain they shouldn't need as much as usual but since I have so many spruce trees that suck up the moisture out of my yard, it wouldn't hurt to add just a little more.  Not sure if you need to water?  Dig a few inches below the soil surface to check.)
• cleaning and putting away containers as the annuals succumb to frost. 
• putting out a few decorative winter containers - some evergreen branches and berries on the front step, back porch and window box on the garage
• stealing leaves - I only have one medium-sized deciduous tree on my whole property (again, too many spruce!) so last year I took to stealing leaves from the neighbours to make leaf mold.  I'm hooked and determined to do it again!  I'll be using them for mulch and maybe (if I get greedy and steal enough) starting a designated leaf compost bin.
• mowing the lawn one last time - to the lowest height setting on the mower, and leaving the clippings on the lawn as usual.  Now would also be a good time to topdress with a thin layer of compost if you have time and energy, but I'm going to wait until spring.
• cleaning the eavestroughs once all the leaves have fallen.
• enjoying the downtime and planning for next year, of course!

do you plan for fall foliage when choosing trees and shrubs? you should!

Check out this photo of one of my neighbour's yards a few days ago.  Gawd, don't you just love fall?

Normally I don't really like the look of shrubs and trees planted in the middle of lawns with no connection between them - they are each their own little island floating adrift in a sea of turf grass.  But right now they look spectacular and all is forgiven!  From left to right in the photo above:

a red viburnum; an orangey-red hedge of cotoneaster in the background; a green lilac just starting to change colour; a yellow nanking cherry; and a red crabapple (probably Thunderchild?)

Here's one more view 'cause they're just so godd#m gorgeous right now:

What are your favourite plants for fall foliage? 

Some more of mine (in addition to the ones above) include the Sorbus spp. (Mountain Ash tree), Aesculus glabra (Ohio buckeye), Acer ginnala (Amur maple), Acer tataricum (Tatarian maple), Euonymus alata (winged burning bush), Euonymus nana 'Turkestanica' (Turkestan burning bush) and Cornus spp. (dogwoods).

Close-ups of leaves help if you're trying to identify something, so also check out this post at Gardening zone 3b.