Garden Observations

Index

• Fall colour - By Nancy Smith (November 8, 2005)

• Ottawa Cactus Club and Rob Huntley's Cactus Garden Web Site

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Articles

The following article, by Nancy Smith, highlights plants she has enjoyed while working around our gardens this past fall.

Fall colour - By Nancy Smith (November 8, 2005)

This long warm fall has been a great opportunity to notice plants that go on providing interest and colour right up to snow. Has your garden been looking bare and forlorn the last few weeks? Then now is the time to think about what to plant next spring to keep the garden appealing right through next year's Indian summer. Here are some perennials I have enjoyed this fall.

Traditional favourites may get forgotten in the flurry of new releases. Heleniums are tall plants with small daisy like flowers in yellows, oranges, or bronzes, and seem to last forever. Turtleheads (chelone) have lovely soft pink blooms on stalks about 18 inches tall, and like moist or even soggy soil. Joe Pye weed (eupatorium) carries dusty pink blooms on five-foot stems, somewhat like monster astilbes, and also thrives in damp spots. Tiny woodland asters (aster divaricatus) have masses of frothy white flowers on two foot high plants, good for shady settings. And fall-blooming monkshood (aconitum 'Spark's variety') carries its deep blue flowers on tall stems on into freeze up.

Cultivated goldenrod (solidago) blooms from early September to snowfall in full sun. Three different varieties offer a range of form and height, with bright yellow flowers. 'Golden Fleece' is medium height (about two feet) with plush drooping blooms. 'Crown of Rays' has the shape of a miniature pagoda tree, with a bonsai feel, and is also about two feet high. And 'Fireworks' looks like its name, an exuberant golden yellow show about three feet tall that lasted six weeks in bloom. And no, goldenrod does not give hay fever - the true culprit is ragweed, blooming at the same time in most parts of Canada.

Some earlier stars may rebloom if cut back, watered, and perhaps fed, especially in a long warm fall. In the Reilly's gardens, these have included a whole range of bell flowers (campanulas); yarrows (achillea) ; geums; perennial geraniums; and dianthus of different varieties and colours. Delphinium too has returned for a second show.  Click here for more ideas, provided by Pennsylvania State University, of potential re-bloomers.

Leaves can be surprisingly colourful in perennials. The foliage of goose neck loosestrife ( Lysimachia clethroides) turns a beautiful red-gold colour, and keeps it until the leaves drop. Penstemon Husker's Red maintains its striking purple colour all fall, as do the many purple-leaved coral bells (heucheras). Many Heartleaf Bergenia (Bergenia), also has great reddish fall leaf colour. Reilly's have Bergenias in full sun areas as well as part shade under maples. An added feature of Bergenias is that they are thriving in the dry soils under maples.  Bergenias are also commonly called pig squeak because of the noise produced by rubbing a leaf between thumb and finger. Interesting eh!

More and more daylilies (hemerocallis) bloom non-stop into fall. Continuous bloomers include 'Happy Returns', a soft yellow; 'Just Plum Happy' (deep pink with plum eye), 'Apricot Sparkles' (apricot with diamond dusting); and of course, 'Stella D'Oro', the classic small gold. Other day lilies are repeat bloomers, with a second season of bloom late in the summer: 'Pardon Me', a small red flower on long stems, is a good example.

Don't forget hostas. If you want to see a magnificent planting, look at the gardens on the west side of the War Memorial on Confederation Square. The beds contain a mass planting of hostas with large white fragrant blooms in mid to late August. They may be 'Aphrodite'. Hosta 'So Sweet' was still blooming in late October at Reilly's, with fragrant white blooms (as the name suggests) on medium plants with white-edged green leaves. 'Royal Standard' is another fragrant late bloomer.

And finally, the grasses. Many people are familiar with Karl Foerster Feather Reed grass (Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'), a bolt upright plant often being used now in streetscaping. But do you know its cousin Korean Reed Grass/Autumn Reed Grass (Calamagrostis brachytricha)? This plant is shorter than Karl Foerster, with a looser form and has lovely loose pink-tinged bottlebrush flowers beginning in September and continuing through fall. It has a softer effect, and is more in scale with a smaller garden. Overdam Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis 'Overdam') offers white stripes on the less rigid foliage and is shorter than 'Karl Foerster'. 

You may also recognize the beautiful fall flags of Japanese silver feather grasses (Miscanthus varieties) or the whispy see-through flowers of switch grass (Panicum virgatum varieties). But how about Moor grass (molinia caerulea)? In several varieties and sizes, these are a good option for the same ethereal effect, and the same reddish flowers, but on a much smaller and lower plant.

So don't give in to melancholia as the autumn fades into winter. Instead, start plotting your next fall's garden, and you will have a real head start come spring.

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Ottawa Cactus Club and Rob Huntley's Cactus Garden Web Site

Rob worked part-time at our nursery a couple of years ago. I first met Rob at a social gathering of the Ottawa Valley Rock Garden Society after a presentation on growing cacti hardy in the Ottawa area. Before the evening was finished I had offered him work helping us do what we do at Reilly's - dispense lots of practical local gardening advice plus sell plants appropriate to the Ottawa environment. Click here to see photos of a portion of Rob and Jayne Huntley's ever-expanding gardens - specifically Rob's extensive cactus collection. From this link you can choose further links to visit Rob's Ottawa Cactus Club web site to obtain information on the extensive numbers of hardy cacti being grown by club members. Carole is a member of this small club.