After the first snow

The first big snow dump has come and gone, and, even though it requires way more patience to upload pictures on the old laptop I am now using, I just had to show you what my Canadian garden looks like while waiting for its thick blanket of snow.

 The alyssum and the autumn joy sedum are really taking the lead now, filling in for all the less hardy annuals and perennials. 

 But a few of the roses are still hanging in there.  This one was a miniature that I got from the grocery store in spring for about $5.00, and divided into 5 plants.  It's hanging out with the snapdragons that have also been snubbing their noses at the frost.

The grape vines are hanging on to their pretty yellow leaves and so are the meadow rue. 

 

Anything that works well with autumn color and is willing to keep on going through the snow, as this lobelia did, deserves a yearly spot in my garden.

As you can see, I don't rake or do a lot of clean up other than to make sure the iris leaves are removed from the area to prevent over-wintering of the iris borer.

In a few days I suspect my garden will be covered with a blanket of snow that will settle in for a few months. It will have a beauty all it's own, and, if I tire of the blinding white, I can always spend a few hours pouring over my photos, rereading my blogs, and then going through the blogs of other gardeners to get new ideas for next year.

Planters and baskets solve problems

There are often situations in the garden that require creative solutions.   For instance: There is only a narrow distance between the tree on the corner of my lot and the rail of my deck.  Because I  value every inch of garden space, I have fought for the survival of the garden around that tree.  There were a couple of problems that I kept running into:

1.  The ground was thick with thirsty willow tree roots.
2.  The neighbor children thought the garden between the house and the tree was a shortcut home.  It must have cut off at least 7 steps, and it was much more fun going that way.

I love the kids, but I also love my garden.  The solution was to partially block the passage with pots of flowers.  It would make the shortcut difficult to use, and the flowers would not have to compete with tree roots.

I did up some hanging baskets of pansies in early spring to have a pretty barrier between us and the world around us, but by mid summer the pansies were drooping and in need of a lift.  A store near by always gives away the last of their annuals and I always try to be on hand just at the right time.




The inpatients were just what I wanted to give the baskets some color.

 We recently redid the wall of our carport and decided not to bother with windows.  The wall looked terribly blank and boring from the street.  It's not boring any more.  In fact, it gets a lot of compliments.



The garden bed surrounding the birdbath has become overcrowded with campanula and creeping jenny but I like it that way.  The only problem is, I really want more color. So I took a few more of my free annuals and created a couple of colorful baskets.  The thick vegetation  hides the baskets, but the flowers are still able to peek through without getting choked.



Occasionally, I like to start shrubs and roses from slips.  If I try to start them in the ground they usually die on me, but when I put them this big planter box with its rich composty soil, they seem to fair much better, even when surrounded by more of my free annuals.


Pots and planters need to be watered more often, but sometimes I really do believe they are worth the extra effort.