That is just one example of what can happen when a simple tweaking can take on a life of its own and grow into something much larger than originally intended.  So it is in the garden as well.

 Last fall, during the season end clearance sales, we purchased the cutleaf Japanese maple (Acer palatum dissectum Inabe Shidare) we had both been wanting for many years. Purchasing it was the easy part. Once we got it home, the discussions began on where to plant it. Let’s just say the only thing we did agree on was the maple would be planted in the back garden where we spend most of our time and could therefore fully enjoy it.

 We began the process of trying to agree on its final home by moving the small tree (still in its pot) around the yard. Agreement didn’t happen. So imagine my surprise when I came home from work a few weeks later to find that the maple had been planted! As a result, this spring we will be moving a Dwarf Korean lilac (Syringa patula) standard, several Stella D’Oro plants, three hibiscus, some rocks and, some boulders. Plus we will need to widen and re-shape the bed! The yew can stay where it is.

 All that work because of one little tree!  I shudder to think of will come about when I add to the perennial bed.

While in the fall, I do remove the spent annuals I do not deadhead perennials. I prefer to leave the seed heads for the birds that visit our yard. As spring grows nearer, we’ll put bird feeders out to help our winged visitors through the nesting season.

Seed catalogues are piling up and I’m forcing myself not to look at them too much lest I be tempted to over spend and over plant. Not that I have the room for overplanting anymore, Economics has made maintaining our hobby greenhouse rather difficult. In other words, heating it throughout late winter and early spring months has become “cost prohibitive”.  Last year I attempted to grow seedlings in a lighted plant stand with mixed results. The lack of humidity was the biggest reason the plants did not fare well. Then there was the light. Or should I say lack of light. Despite the grow lights, the seedlings all became too spindly. Pinching and pruning didn’t help much. The other thing that didn’t work well in the plant stand was vines! I love flowering annual vines such as mina lobata, cardinal vine, canary vine. And no matter how hard I tried to keep them separated, I couldn’t. What a mess!  I will try again this year to grow seedlings in the plant stand. In a pre-emptive move,   I have purchased a roll of clear plastic to make a humidity cover for the stand. That has to help! I’ll let you know how it turns out.

In the meantime, the houseplants are receiving my attention. They are being watered regularly, fertilized (at half strength), brown tips and leaves are kept to a minimum, and the plants that need some shaping are getting just that. They seem to be pretty grateful for the extra care as they are looking much healthier than when I brought them back into the house after a summer outside. The bougainvillea that hung outdoors all last summer in all its green glory finally decided to show some colour this month.  The spider plant is producing dozens of babies. Not bad considering I purchased three little spider plants for $ .75  last fall  during the season-end clearance sales. They were in 3” pots and all leaves. I potted them together in a 10” hanging basket and waited. My patience has been rewarded.

The Herb Garden

A few observations:

The spring bulbs are all but done, replaced by irises, dames rocket, lily of the valley, aquilegia and bleeding hearts. The old fashioned roses have begun to send out a few brave blossoms to test the waters. It will not be long before the rest of the rose buds follow.

I have noticed the irises and lilacs are producing smaller flower heads than in previous years. At first, I thought ours were the only ones blooming on the small side, but travelling the county, I see a good many in the same condition. The same with the aquilegias.  A result of the extreme cold and deep snow of this past winter perhaps?

Now that the perennials have leafed out, the effects of a cold winter and a wet spring can really be seen. We have lost all of our foxgloves, delphiniums, lupins and perovskia and a few ferns. Will they be replaced or will we take this opportunity to redesign the gardens, adding different plants? We won’t make that decision until the summer when we’ve had a chance to live with what’s left and given our imaginations time to dream up new landscapes.

The bridal wreath spirea hedge at the front of our property is blooming more prolifically that ever before! I was beginning to think that the hedge I fantasized about when we first planted it would never happen. How nice to be wrong!

This weekend has been set aside for planting up container gardens. Having learned my lesson a couple of years ago when I potted up forty-three container gardens, this year I’ll stick to five or six. Oh wait, I’m already at six, so maybe I’ll limit myself to nine.

Year two for the “new” herb garden and it is already too small! The perennial herb plants have grown like crazy leaving no room for annual herbs. Guess the annual herbs will have to go into containers. So much for limiting container gardens to nine! This fall we will have to seriously re-think the size of the herb garden. I foresee an expansion in the future.

Come to think of it, our entire yard seems to be shrinking more and more every year. Hmmm. Either the gardens have to be downsized, or we have to eliminate most of the remaining lawn area. Or we have to move to a property with more land!

Spring is at last in full bloom in our little corner of the world. It seemed to take forever to get here, but now that it is, we are revelling in the colours and scents, warmer days, the gale force winds and pounding rains.

We have had more than our fair share of rain and high winds of late making it difficult to get into the garden, never mind mow the lawn. Somehow, gardeners, hardy lot we are, manage to find a way to putter away at our hobby in spite of Mother Nature’s attempts to confine us to the indoors.

This weekend, the seedlings will need to be transplanted. Though I started them several weeks later than usual, and cut back considerably on the number of seeds I usually plant, I foresee several hours of transplanting ahead.

Some of the spring flowering bulbs are ready for deadheading. I need not worry about a lack of colour though as I had the foresight to plant early, mid-season and late flowering bulbs. If the weather does not warm up too quickly, we should have bulbs in bloom until the end of May.

The wild violets are already done as are the spring anemone. The Star of Bethlehem has not even bloomed yet in our garden, but in a friend’s garden twenty-five kilometres north of here, they have finished blooming already. Where’s the justice? The apple and pear trees are in bud and about to burst into full bloom any day. The cherry tree is already in full colour.

Tomorrow, my job will kick into high gear as my crew starts work for the season. There are many jobs lined up already and many more to come as we travel the county sprucing up gardens, trimming trees and shrubs, building new gardens, renovating old ones. My back is aching already at the mere thought of all the work ahead! But, it is a great job and I consider myself very fortunate to be working in a field I love.

Enough chatter for this morning! I cannot justify sitting at a computer when the sun is shining, the wind has died down and the temperature is warming up quickly. It’s time to head outside and putter away in my own gardens and to get those seedlings transplanted!

The last of the sweet peas of 2008

Photos of the plants still blooming after our 6″ snowfall.

Black-eyed Susans blooming under a blanket of snow

Another garden surprise.

When I began writing this particular instalment of Bert’s Bloomers on November 14, the temperatures were relatively warm for November. The thermometer has suddenly dropped out and we now have a dusting of snow on the ground, but, Mother Nature is still astonishing me with her stubbornness to let go of the growing season. In other words, what I wrote about, is still current news.

A tour of our rather wild and barren garden this morning has brought many delightful surprises! Still blooming are two roses – New Dawn, and The Fairy, as well as sweet peas, black eyed susans, alyssum, feverfew and garlic chives (we’ll pay dearly for that last one). How exciting to see anything blooming in November in our area!!  I can perhaps understand the cooler weather plants, but how does one explain the tenacity of the roses? Heat loving, sun loving roses?  While I’d like to take the credit for the survival of all those spots of summer, I can’t. The credit goes to Nature herself.  Incredible, wonderful, never to be understood, Nature.

Having survived the shock of seeing plants in bloom, my attention was drawn to a number of gardening tasks yet to be attended to. There are still containers of plants to be emptied, still some perennials languishing in pots, a bird bath to be stored for the winter and let’s not forget about the patio furniture that has to be stored yet. And leaves to be raked off the lawn. I should forget about writing and go outside.

I guess while I’m out there, I really should shut off the outside tap and drain the hose, and store the hose.

Some of the more delectable plants (according to our neighbourhood rabbits) need to be caged. Those would include all of the roses, the flowering quince, the chestnut and a dwarf burning bush. Caging them may prevent the ravenous rabbits from pruning them down to the ground. I say “may” because if we get enough snow built up around the cages, the rabbits will still be able to reach the plants. 

I haven’t cut back any of the perennials nor do I intend to! I’m leaving the seed heads for the birds, and the stalks for added winter protection for the crowns of the plants. The theory is, the stalks will cause snow to build up around the plants, and the snow is a natural insulator, therefore, no winter mulching is required. That’s been my story for twenty odd years, so I’m sticking with it! Besides, it really does work.

One bit of trimming I continue to put off is removing the wild grape growing between the walls of our greenhouse. Perhaps the description of where it’s growing is explanation enough for why it has not been removed. And since it isn’t interfering with the greenhouse, I figure, why mess with it? If it ain’t broke and all that. Common sense says I’ll kick myself some year for not dealing with it. Maybe when we re-skin the greenhouse the grape vine will be dealt with?

Enough rambling for one day! I’m off to the gardens.

In gratitude to all who have served.

Having been Christmas shopping lately, it came to mind that the Christmas and gardening season are very much alike. Think about the similarities:

Decorating – We decorate our homes inside and out. During the spring and summer, our decorations are garden art and flowers and trees. At Christmas our seasonal art is in the form of collections (Fathers Christmas, Snowmen, Angels), trees and greenery, while the flowers are poinsettias, amaryllis and cyclamen.

We haunt the garden centres for plants and fertilizers every spring. With the approach of Christmas, we haunt the shops for gifts and food.

In the summer, we light lanterns in the garden. At Christmas, we string lights up outside and light candles inside.

Summer evenings are often spent by the bonfire in the back yard enjoying marshmallows or pie irons. At Christmas, we cosy up to the fireplace with hot chocolate and/or whatever else we fancy.

Family and friends unite for BBQ’s in the back garden for times of bonding and fun. And there is always too much food. A dining table laden with turkey and all the trimmings bonds us to our loved ones at Christmas. And there is always too much food.

We bring flowers from our gardens and arrange them in vases for our tables. The holidays see us purchasing fresh flowers from our local florist for table arrangements.

The gardening season allows us to gift our family and friends with plants or cuttings. Christmas is also a time of giving gifts.

The approach of gardening season brings with it a great deal of work that we happily put our hearts and souls into – planting, weeding, trimming, deadheading. The same is true of the Christmas season but it involves baking, cooking, decorating, wrapping.

Mowing the lawn is one of those evil necessities we have to contend with all gardening season. Snow shovelling is the winter equivalent,

At the end of the gardening season, we expel a huge sigh and think “That was a lot of work, but well worth it!” After the last of our Christmas visitors leave, we think the same thing.

The two seasons have so much in common that it’s no wonder they are my favourite seasons!