Visiting a home garden is one of the best ways to learn how certain plants perform in a landscape. It’s an opportunity to see how they mature and what they look like paired with others. If the garden is located in your neighbourhood, so much the better: What grows down the street from you will likely succeed in your own plot, too. However, visiting gardens farther afield also … [Read more...] about Visits inspire garden design ideas
September in the Garden
4 fabulous ways to harvest homegrown garlic
Healthy, homegrown garlic can be enjoyed in four wonderful ways — as young or mature bulbs, scapes and greens. Incredibly easy to grow, this superfood even deters pests from the rest of your garden, and if you let a few plants flower, the stunning spherical blooms help to support our struggling bees. How to grow garlic To grow garlic, plant large cloves in fall. Buy local … [Read more...] about 4 fabulous ways to harvest homegrown garlic
Leave some seed for birds
After a season of hot, dry summer weather, the garden often looks like Tobacco Rd. — worn out and ready for a cleanup. I start to cut back spent perennials and remove exhausted annuals slowly and in phases, trying to neaten plants that are truly finished for the year, while leaving anything still green and vigorous to prolong the season through fall. While some of these plants … [Read more...] about Leave some seed for birds
Culver’s root and turtlehead: Late summer stars
In mid-August, I visited the perennial gardens at the Stratford Festival in Ontario to see what was in bloom. Predictably, there were several large clumps of phlox, but I was surprised to find tall thick stands of culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum, 4 x 3 feet / 1.2 m x 60 cm) and turtlehead (Chelone obliqua, 3 x 2 feet / 90 x 60 cm), two old-fashioned Zone 5 plants that … [Read more...] about Culver’s root and turtlehead: Late summer stars
Time to move plants and tubers indoors
As fall settles in, I check the temperature every morning, and today it was 8°C. It’s time to move plants and tubers indoors. Favourite summer annuals (like pelargoniums and tender herbs) anyone is hoping to keep going over winter should already have been brought indoors. They can survive these cool nights outdoors, but the adjustment to sudden warmth of house temperatures can … [Read more...] about Time to move plants and tubers indoors
