Thursday, October 30, 2008

Halloween Prep




Last night we carved the pumkins. So much work for one night!!! It went pretty good though... no major mishaps although Craig likes the sharp knives and ended up with a couple of little gashes. He gallantly finished the task with a paper towel wrapped around his hand! The carvings are now ready for display on Friday night. Hope the kids (young and old) like them!







Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Devil of a Dog

Very off the topic of gardening...
Don't be afraid... it's just Dexter
a little angel dressed up as a devil for Halloween!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Last Buds

These may be the last buds of the season even so this cosmos will leave behind the seeds of future gardens.








Sunday, October 26, 2008

In Praise of the Hydrangea

Though my limelight outperforms this pink diamond hydrangea I can't help but see it in a different light after taking this photo of it.




Another hydrangea addition to the garden, planted in August 2007 as a scraggly little browning thing, has performed well this year at least in the vegetation department. The flowers will come surely when the plant becomes estatblished.









Saturday, October 25, 2008

Spooky Things in the Garden

Dressing the garden for the seasons has to be one of my favourite things to do during the non-gardening months. Other favourite things are organinzing photos, updating my plant list and of course, planning next year's garden.

In autumn I am grateful for sunny days, fall colours and getting ready for Thanksgiving and halloween. While out photographing the beautiful fall garden it was impossible to overlook that spooky things lurked so I turned camera lens towards them.



Thursday, October 23, 2008

Blue Berries

Oh so many berries. This variegated porcelain vine is teeming with berries this year. The vine itself has grown to twice the size it was last year. It was planted in 2003. The berries start out a deep purple, almost black then lighten to a grape colour and then fade to a beautiful blue.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

What's That in the Compost Pile?

Back in the spring, Craig doubled the size of our compost bin. Now we have a 'new' side and an 'old' side - plus a few plastic compost bins. He moved what used to be in the original bin into the new bin and we started adding new material to the 'old' bin. Confused yet? It gets better. Shortly thereafter, tomato plants started sprouting in the new bin. Knowing we didn't need that many plants but not getting around to the chore of thinning them out, we ended up with a tomato plant explosion in the compost heap! It has been a great attraction for everyone who visits and makes for good conversation. We are also reaping the benefits of a variety of tomato types - beefsteak, cluster, cherry etc.

The fruit has been picked to ripen on its own and the plants have been pulled.
A couple of years ago a cantaloupe plant grew from the compost pile and produced fruit! Not the sweetest cantaloupes nonetheless it was pretty amazing. Any unexpected plant life growing in your compost?

We compost yard waste, grass clippings and kitchen scraps which includes vegatable waste, coffee grinds and egg shells. The compost gets turned once in a while and voila, twice a year we have what I like to call 'black gold'. No special additives to make it work, just natural compost.

If you are interested in composting but need some education, check out the Composting Council of Canada for some good information and helpful tips.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Falling for Fall

In my opinion autumn is pretty only on a sunny day. This season which marks the end of the growing season needs sun to bring out the colours and blue sky to provide contrast. While during the summer months the best time to photograph the garden is on an overcast day the opposite can be true for the fall garden.




Sunday, October 19, 2008

A Good Growing Season

It has been a phenomenal grownig season with abundant rain - not the hot dry weather we are so used to. Everything did well this year. Some shrubs grew to twice the size they were last year. We didn't have a vegetable garden however it would have been a good year to have one.

Fruit, on the other hand was in abundance. In the almost 10 years since this kiwi vine was planted, never has the fruit hung on so long. Bunches of them. Though ot nearly big enough or ripe enough eat they provide ornamental value to the garden. I was close when I guessed in Tour My Garden Part Three that some might make it to half the size of the kiwis we buy at the grocery store. Quite likely this vine was rejuvenated by the pruning Craig gave it when he was replacing the trellis.



Although the kousa dogwood has flowered in past years, I have never noticed so many or such beautiful seed pods. They won't be as prominent once the leaves turn their blazing fall colour but until then they're eye catching.







Monday, October 6, 2008

Tour My Garden Part Four



The patio garden is a haven for birds, bees and butterfiles with monarda, purple coneflower and penstomen tucked in around ornamental grasses, heather, persicaria and oak leaf hydrangea.




and of course a bird bath








the moss grew exceptionally well this year


Stepping stones lead up through the garden on the east side of the house where day lillies, hydrangea, sedum, butterfly bush and kousa dogwood thrive in the sun. In the shadier areas goatsbeard, solomon's seal, helleborus, meadowrue, ferns and hostas feel at home.


Another little garden plot on the back of the house sits on a slope from the back of the house and is home to mostly shade loving plants. Bugbane, hostas, heuchera, ligularia, japanese painted ferns and hakonechloa macra. A sweet pea winds its way up the trellis beside this garden.




Tour My Garden Part One



Tour My Garden Part Two


Tour My Garden Part Three

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Tour My Garden Part Three


A young king crimson maple planted about 5 years ago. I mentioned this in Tour My Garden Part One

This year Craig replaced the trellis that the kiwi vine was growing on. He gave the vine a good pruning but not hard - there was still a lot of heavy vine when he literally laid it down on the ground while he installed the new trellis. Needless to say, it made a strong comeback. I haven't got a clue how to properly prune it, I just enjoy the ornamental quality. It's loaded with fruit this year - some of the kiwis still hanging on - maybe they will even get half as big as the ones in the grocery store?

These raised boxes previously yielded vegetables. I inherited the boxes after Craig decided he didn't want to grow veggies any more (maybe too busy erecting trellises and hauling stuff for me?). The plan is to eventually fill them with mostly cutting flowers.


Looking into the backyard from the pathway on the east side.

Mr. Turtle sprinkles one half of the garden...

and Mr Frog looks after the other half.



The start of my cutting beds. Zinnias, delphinium, glads, dahlias, lavender and more to come.

Looking down from near the back of the house.

and looking up the backyard towards the east side of the house...

where we will tour in Part Four


Tour My Garden Part One
Tour My Garden Part Two