The aim of many flower gardeners is to have something in bloom from the cool days of early spring to the shortening days of early fall. Now that we’re in the last days of August, two bold perennials are hitting their stride: Joe Pye weed and rose mallow.
Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium maculatum and cvs.) is hardy to Zone 3, rose mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos cvs.) to Zone 5; both grow best in sunny locations in moist soil.
Magnolia scale reminder
If it’s not one thing, it’s something else. If you have a magnolia, you might want to check for the tiny dark crawlers of magnolia scale. Here’s what to look for and how to keep them under control.
Hungry hummingbirds
A hummingbird visits the purple salvias in the pots on the patio outside our back windows several times a day. We see him often, because that’s where our dining table is, and consider him our most frequent guest — socially distanced, of course.
There are more than 350 species of hummingbirds, but ruby-throated and rufous are the two types common to Canada. Learn more about these two, as well as Anna’s and black-chinned types here. To learn more about feeding these tiny creatures before they disappear for the season, check out these recommendations.
Vegetable growing tips from Manitoba
This year has meant fewer, if any, in-person visits to see what’s going on in other gardens. However, a few Manitoba Master Gardeners were able to visit an eight-acre farm in St. Adolphe recently and pick up several neat tips (milk cartons to cover celery plants) for growing in a short season. Colleen Zacharias reports about the visit here.
Welcome to the agrihood
A troubled area in Detroit is undergoing a turn-around, due in part to an organic, self-sustainable two-acre urban garden and a 200-tree fruit orchard. It wasn’t easy: it’s taken 8,000 volunteers, 80,000 hours of work and four years to get this far.
