End of September Flowers- What's Still Looking Good

What's Still Looking Good this Late in the Season:

Lavatara still looking good!

After the middle of September the weather can get pretty 'iffy' here in central Alberta. We often have frost at night, which really does a number on most flowers and especially the tomato plants. This year we had a few nights with frost warnings and on a couple of them, there actually was a bit of frost. Luckily we had covered most of the sensitive plants, namely the tomatoes, the dahlias, cosmos and roses. I dragged a few of my nicer deck pots up close to the house. Nothing was too severely affected there except for my tall Morning Glory vine which turned black at the top.

Even my roses continued to bloom and they still have a lot of buds today (October 1st)!
 I cut a few of the prettiest stems off and brought them into the house to enjoy, (Morden Centennials and Pink Turbos).  This is the first time ever that I have had roses blooming on the first of October!  My Morden Ruby rose had a huge cluster of red blossoms at the top, but I forgot to cover them a few nights ago and they took a hit.  Thanks, Jack Frost! :(

The cosmos continue to look great and the bees are still visiting the flowers, believe it or not!

Flower Bed Clean up-
I started my flower bed clean up last week and have all of the long perennial bed done as well as most of the big round Angel Bed.

Cosmos started from seed

The tall Carl Forrester grass there is still in need of trimming, but most of the rest of that bed has been clipped back now. I removed most of the bachelor buttons, spread some of their seeds around the angel bed, and left a few seed stems for next spring as well.

There are a couple of small lupins that have self seeded in odd places, so those will have to be moved next spring, if possible.

yellow rudbeckias and pink lavatara

The Black Eyed Susans are a late bloomer, but they have survived the frost quite well so far, as have the yellow rudbeckias (which may or may not be annuals?)

Perennial Black Eyed Susans

The Long bed:  I planted two authentic Shasta Daisy plants at the far end and dug out some of the white ox eye daisies that like to take over. Also dug up 3 clumps of Maltese Cross which are too big;  the stems just flop over and take up so much room.  I dug out one old original Columbine (the pretty pink one) which was so full of quack grass and I replaced it with a small, self seeded one (hopefully also pink!)

Lilies:
I dug out my lily bulbs on the east side of the Long bed and moved them over about 18 inches towards the middle in the vacant Maltese Cross spot. They were being crowded by the shrub growing next to them.

I also planted a young columbine (that had self seeded in another bed) across from the first one to create a bit of balance.  I wonder what colour it will bloom?

Mystery Day dahlia

Note To Self:
Next spring divide the rest of the Maltese Crosses in the long bed and dig out 2 more white daisies that are crowding the delphiniums.
Dig up lily bulbs from east/shade side of stack stone bed where they are dying for lack of sun…
Dig out the orange day lily in the round Angel bed before it takes over. Where to put it???

Pretty sweet peas. 

I started clipping and cleaning up the triangle bed as well, but still need to clip off the day lilies there. It is always so much work, but I want to use those leaves as mulch around my rose bushes before I wrap them for winter. (I did that about a week later.)

Today I worked three quarters of the way around my big stack stone bed. I cut down holly hocks, pulled out spend lavatara and cosmos, and yanked out tons of long quack grass roots!

I cut off and culled most of the False Dragon Heads as well. Some of the stems were so tall they completely hid my ligularia- Little rRcket. I left a few cosmos plants there, too. They are still too pretty to get rid of. The hard frost will be here soon enough to do in all the rest of the plants.

The sweet peas in the Rock Garden bed (which I grew from seed) are looking really pretty right now. They took a long time to get going this year. I was hoping to get a few seeds from these, as I love the mauve and pink colure but the frost may get them first…

Calendulas

The calendulas are just really looking great now, too thanks to the mild October weather! I had also started these from seed. In Thompson I had calendulas growing for many years in my front (east facing) flower bed. I just shook off the seeds in the fall and they lay on the ground under the snow all winter, then started growing again in the spring. In fact the calendulas were already there when I moved into that house and I had them for 19 years after that!  Here, it seems, the deer and rodents like to eat the new seedlings, so I usually have to start some in the greenhouse.

Mandeville vine and white bacopa

Geraniums, blue regatta lobelia, white bacopa

Many of my deck pots still look good. I have been protecting them, but I'm almost ready to let them go now…

Pink Zonal geraniums, blue lobelia and purple pansies

I must try and harvest some seeds from my purple pansies. They can't be that hard to grow from seed. I randomly threw a few on the soil of a stray pot on our deck and there are some small plants growing there now! Guess I should bring the pot inside and I might get some pansies blooming in the early winter. :)

I am still debating about what to do with my tall Hibiscus tree. It's in a pot on the deck and has a lot of fresh looking leaves and some buds, but do I want to bring it back into the house this year? It's so huge and messy with its dropped leaves, although the flowers are very pretty when it does bloom….

My geraniums bloomed so well this summer and continue to do so. I have cut a few slips off them to try and over winter a few. The zonal geraniums slips look fine but the regal geranium slips don't look great so we'll see what happens... I may have to just get new ones next spring.

Regal geraniums and pink diamond frost (euphorbia)

(I forgot to bring my big Hibiscus Tree inside and the hard frost did it it one night, so that pretty much looked after that decision.)  

What a wonderful long almost perfect growing season it was in 2015!

September -Remember

September -Remember

Here it is the middle of September already, almost the first day of Fall!  I am thinking back to this summer of 2015 with much pleasure. It was essentially the perfect summer! This September was quite rainy compared to most years. We had more rain all summer, off and on, than we normally get, but it was nicely interspersed with warm sunny weather, too.   With the warm sunny days in between, we actually had ideal growing conditions. And not that much really hot (+ 30C) weather, so to me, it was the perfect summer! :)

Why do these warm and wonderful days fly back so quickly (whereas the freezing, cold, snow filled days of late fall/ and winter seem to last so long!?)

We had 3 nights of frost warnings this week, September 15, 16 and 17. Out came the old sheets, pillowcases and the odd towel and we covered the 7 huge tomato plants by the greenhouse as well as the swiss chard and 2 tomato plants in the garden.

I also covered my Morden rose bushes in my stack stone bed since they have a whole bunch of buds again and are trying to bloom one last time for the year. I hate to have that kind of lovely enthusiasm nipped in the bud (so to speak) by Jack Frost's nasty tricks.

I also covered my tall stately Firebird Dahlias in the same bed and the ones in the yard barrel/tub.  They are looking so magnificent right now and also still full of buds. The red Thompson Dahlia in my Round Angel Bed got covered as well, since it, too, has a whole whack of new buds on it.  The next 7 days  are forecast to be much warmer with no night frost so I'm looking forward to enjoying my flowers for a bit longer. In actual fact we only had frost on one of the 3 nights, and it only did minimal damage on my cosmos and morning glories.

Speaking of morning glories, the ones that I had transplanted from the west end of my Round bed into the east side of my Stackstone bed loved that new location so much more than the old one. They grew in leaps and bounds and finally started to bloom. I guess there's a reason that the plants are called MORNING Glories as they sure seemed to appreciate the morning sun.

Unexpected visitor

The sweet peas that I had planted in the old Morning Glory spot (west side of Round bed) didn't do anything there either! I have come to realize that once very sunny location is now more a shady spot due to the nearby trees having grown to 40 feet tall in the last few years. Might have to find a shade loving vine or annual for that spot next year.
The sweet peas by the deck (which I started from seed) are finally looking good, though. They got stepped on during the deck reno, but have managed to make a come back.

The Durandii clematis that I newly planted this spring had a second round of a few medium blue blossoms. Not bad for a new plant, I guess. The Nellie Moser is quite disappointing though. It grew a lot of greenery, but hardly any flowers.

Note to self: Fertilize Nellie Moser clematis better next year with a high nitrogen fertilizer. That might help it to set some blossoms.
If that doesn't help, I'll replace it with a Jackmanii or Ville De Lyon which are almost guaranteed to bloom well.

Little Missy Mischief- New addition to the family, June 16, 2015

The late summer bloomer, Helianthus always blooms well

The squash plants in the garden were prolific and grew all over the ground, up and out the chain link fence. They produced quite a number of squashes this year, 6 spaghettis and 6 or 7 acorn squashes. It was quite humous to see the squashes developing on the chain link.  Next year I'm going to try and grow some butternut squashes, too. The ground cover kept down the weeds, too. :)

Giant Squash plants and new raised bed in the vegetable garden

Diligent Husband is in the process of expanding the vegetable garden plot right now. We cut down a  Manitoba Maple this spring that was shading the back corner and now we are in the process of moving the chain link fence to incorporate that corner. (Squaring up the garden plot.)
DH is also going to build a new raised bed there. It will be smaller than the first one because of the space limitation, but should do well because of the early morning sun it will get.

The peas, green beans, carrots and beets which we grew in the first raised bed all did so much better than the ones I had planted straight into the ground. More sun, for one thing, in that corner by the pond;  better soil, too.

I think we will just plant a bunch of potatoes in the east half of the vegetable garden, besides the big rhubarb, and the chives that are already there. The west side of the plot grows swiss chard, squashes and zucchinis quite well so I want to continue to do that.

Deck Renovations
This summer Diligent Husband was very busy replacing our old deck railings, the 13 wide steps leading up to the deck and many of the deck boards.  The rest he ( and our helpful daughter) pressure washed and stained. He also added lights on top of the posts and some on the side posts leading down the stairs. It looks great!

I sewed some covers for our deck furniture which really gives it a splash of colour!

New look for the deck

All in all, it has been a very productive summer!  :)
My garden is my happy place!

Delphiniums, Monkshood, Maltese Cross Galore

Delphiniums and maltese cross in Long perennial bed

Double cosmos grown from seed

Guaillardia 

John Davis climbing rose bush

Pink lavatara grown from seed and Morden blush rose 

Red/orange lilies and maltese cross, astilbe on right

Monkshood 

Morden blush

Cosmos blooming well in Rock Garden bed/ grown from seed

Firebird dahlias- Stackstone bed

Deck destruction by Chris :)

Top of rock garden bed

Morden Belle rose with self seeded sunflower

Early August Garden, Mildew, Lilies and Saskatoons

Red/ Orange lilies and maltese cross

  

Here it is early August already! July went by in a whizz of sunshine, thunderstorms, big blossoms and wicked weeds.   The lilies and maltese cross are blooming and attracting the hummingbirds! I love those tiny birds!

The tomatoes are ripening on the vines now to our delight. The Tumbler tomatoes on the deck are producing nice little red juicy orbs every day. My deck pot of mixed lettuce and dill has provided many tasty salads already which Im pleased about. (Thanks for that idea, Judy, K!)  Some lettuce plants are going to seed now but I've been cutting off the flowering portions and still eating the rest.

vegetable garden

The rainbow swiss chard plants in the vegetable garden are growing really well and have provided numerous tasty meals already. The regular green swiss chard that I started from seed is still very tiny. I guess I haven't been fertilizing them enough. The squashes that I started from seed are GIGANTIC and trying to take over the garden! We have cut 2 squashes off already (ate one) and there are at least 3 medium sized ones still growing there as well as a few tiny ones. Some of the leaves have mildew on them now, though. We have had so much rain this summer compared to the normal July amount (which is usually next to none!)

I found a mildew fixing "recipe" online:
Mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda with a 1/4 cup of milk and 2 quarts of water.  Put in a spray bottle and spray the leaves.

It works like a charm! It got rid of all the mildew off the cucumber leaves in the greenhouse. (Sprayed them twice.) I also sprayed the garden squashes (and zucchinis) once with it, but the rain washed most of it off, I guess, and the mildew is back now. I cut off about 2 dozen of the worst leaves yesterday. Time to spray the rest of the leaves, but today it is raining again so it'll have to wait for a sunny day.

Squashes blooming on fence and raised bed

The beets are growing nice big leaves (especially the ones in the raised bed), but the beet roots are not big enough to eat yet. The carrots (raised bed) are struggling, but likely because the beets leaves are shading them from the sun.  
Green Beans- I started 2 batches of green bean seeds in the house about 2 weeks apart. I planted some seedling straight into the ground and planted some in pots in the greenhouse. The ones in the ground took forever to sprout and show them selves. The ones in the greenhouse pots grew much faster.

The bean plants in the ground are still pretty small,  but they do have some nice green beans on them (finally). The bean plants in the raised bed are twice as big with twice as many long green beans growing on them even though these I started most those plants 2 weeks later. I guess that couple of weeks of greenhouse time made all the difference.

Marmot varmit :)

Marmots- We have a family of marmots living in the vicinity and one of their tunnels is right under the deck. Strangely enough they have not been a nuisance  in my flower beds. I did spray Bobbex at the start of the growing season and several other times since (but not recently). The rodents have not been destructive at all to the self seeded sunflowers this year. The small finches and chickadees are happy. They have been eating the seeds right off the sunflower heads now, so most of the stems are horizontal. The sunflowers are small this year, but I'm happy that the birds are enjoying them.


The rabbits are still around, but they too have been leaving most of my plants alone. My lilies are spectacular this year!  The white lilies have finished blooming now and the 4 foot tall two tone pink ones at either side of the round bed are in full bloom now. Too bad lilies don't bloom longer, but the nice thing is that each of my different types of lily seem to bloom at different times, one after the other, so I've had lilies blooming for over a month now!

Two tone lilies - bulbs from the Lily Farm Hwy 11

Prolific day lilies

Saskatoons

The saskatoon berries are huge and plump this year. Have never seen them this juicy or abundant in the 9 years that we have been here, It's great! We have picked saskatoons three of four times now. I have made 2 pies and 3 batches of muffins at different times. Have also been eating them in my cereal every morning for weeks now. Thank you Mother Nature!

Big, juicy saskatoon berries

Delightful Dahlias and Raised Bed

Delightful Dahlias

My best dahlia performer this year is the red “Thompson” dahlia. It has been blooming for about 10 days now! I'm so pleased with these tubers as I have been growing them for 12 or 13 years now, since we lived in Thompson. It is so easy to just dig up the fat healthy tubers in the fall and keep them over winter in some peat moss in the launder room. The following spring they are sprouting and eager to grow for another season. 

Firebird Dahlia- Stackstone bed

The Firebird dahlia in my Stackstone bed is opening its gorgeous orange and yellow blossoms right now as well.  The clump in my yard tub next to the electrical pole is growing, but seems quite a bit further behind, probably due to the fact it gets less sun there.

Creeping pink baby's breath and red dahlias

I bought a new dahlia tuber in a bag of three this spring called Mystery Day. Eventually they should produce some pretty two tone blossoms. They are growing okay, but are nowhere near producing buds yet. One pot is in the greenhouse and two are on the deck.  Must remember to fertilize them with high potassium Miracle Grow and maybe they will set some buds then.

I love Morning Glory vines and this spring I started some Morning Glories from seed again. The first ones which I planted out in my Round “Angel” Bed have done nothing! They are just hanging in there, but not growing at all. Maybe they don’t appreciate the late afternoon/ early evening sun there.

The second batch of Morning Glories which I had planted in my Stack Stone bed face south east and they are growing tall along the trellis. Hopefully they will start blooming soon, too.

Raised bed

I’m really pleased with my new raised bed that my diligent, thoughtful husband built this June. We planted radishes and carrots in there and  we might actually get a nice crop for once! We had no luck at all growing radishes in the ground since our soil is too alkaline and radishes prefer more acidic soil. It doesn’t help that the sprinkler water from the well pump is high alkaline too. 

We also have some green bean plants, some peas, some onions and a big squash plant in the raised bed. The squashes are growing really long and are producing big yellow flowers, but the lazy bees aren’t doing their job of pollination so no fruit is growing yet. Diligent husband has been using cutips to help that process along, so we’ll see what happens... :)

Bearded irises (left and right) Miss Kim miniature lilac bush (centre back), Splendins Lychnis in centre

The Splendin Lychnis is struggling this year, and had few blooms, but that's likely because I had dug it up a few weeks ago to remove some of the encroaching perennial asters.  The continuous rain showers we had for much of June has caused the asters to grow tall and healthy.  The asters were so weak and tiny for about 3 years that at one point I was debating about composting the whole lot of them!  They will bloom some time in August when most other plants are done, so that's one nice benefit of being patient.

Beautiful rogue lily growing in rock garden

And the weeds, of course are also growing huge! Had to weed my Stackstone bed again this week, especially the shady east end.  And of course that's an ongoing process in all the rest of my flower beds, too. 

Happy gardening!

beautiful buds