Front yard - current plan doodle

Now that Fall is here and I've been doing some yard clean up, I thought it'd be a good idea to record what I currently have so that:
1) I can plan out (and dream about) my dream garden during the cold winter months....
2) So that I can remember and find all the plants I had without accidentally digging plants up....
3) Monitor how my plants are doing year after year....

So I drew up this plan over lunch break today as a mini-record.  I think my drawing is a bit out of scale (bigger than it actually is compared to the proportions of the plants - maybe it's my subconscious hoping the yard was bigger).  After some cleaning up the last few weekends, I managed to make some space between all the over-grown shrubs and now can start to see the plants individually.  I'm still not too happy about the positioning of the Viburnum and the Wiegla - I think they're too big to be up front like that.  Maybe I'll prune them a bit before winter to see if they'll grow back next Spring in a somewhat manageable size.

Now, the next thing to think about is to plant bulbs or not to plant bulbs.... I'll save that for the next blog entry :) 

Hydrangeas

 

I'm so happy that the Lime Light hydrangeas in our yard is turning out so beautifully in the Fall.  I read about how this kind of hydrangea turns pinkish in the Fall, but did not expect this pretty of a colour to show up.  I think they are especially beautiful during the colour transition when they're just turning pink but still has traces of lime green and white left.  

Nature is just so beautiful - the colours, the textures, the details.... make sure you look to nature every day and appreciate all it can offer! :)

Fall cleanup

Last weekend I began doing some Fall garden cleanup.  Other than digging up the dead purple sand cherry plant and clearing away some other bits and pieces, I actually needed to clear up some room to plant the remainder of the perennials I bought from Northland Nursery several weekends ago.

As usual, as I dug through the yard I usually find some really random objects.  Sometimes I wonder if people just decide to throw ANYTHING into the ground to fill it out - oh here's a brick, let's toss it in... and here's a broken flower pot, let's toss that in too, and why not a broken plate...?

Anyways, the several hour of work was very productive.  I moved around some daylily plants and planted in the new ??? plant.  I also planted the new clematis plant.  The only one I have left to plant is the new shrub rose...

The new lavenders I added are doing well ...

As I was clearing out the yard, it occurs to me that maybe I shouldn't clear certain plants because I heard before that some plants do better over winter if some of the foilate is left to stay.  So I went to the ever so useful inter-web and found two pages that tells you what plants you can cut in the Fall and what you should wait till the Spring.  Check it out! 

Fall perennials to prune:  http://gardening.about.com/od/maintenance/a/Fall_Pruning.htm

Plants to prune in the Spring:  http://gardening.about.com/od/maintenance/a/Spring_Pruning.htm 

Also, I found a link to a nice little page at Home Depot's website for Fall garden maintenance:  http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/GardenCentre?storeId=10051&catalogId=10051&langId=-15&display=gardening_articles_6 .
It covers briefly a wide range of things to do... lots of stuff people probably already know but excellent information for me the novice gardener :) 

Happy pruning!! 

Beautiful Shed

Dream shed #1 (from Sheridan Nursery)

Backyard Landscape Doodle

So here is my first amateur attempt to sketch out the "existing condition" of our backyard (I want to learn to draw like a real landscape designer...)

As you can see, the shape and proportion of the yard is very long and narrow.  The previous owner did a nice job of putting in the deck and landscaping in the middle (some spots needs to be fixed up and thinned out).  I'll have to try to draw this again in scale next time, but at least it's a start.  From these sketches, I plan on playing with the design and shape of the garden all winter long (when it's too cold to be out there!) and hopefully by Spring time we'll  have a newly designed plan! :)

Happy planning! 

Northland Nursery

Last weekend we ventured out to Northland Nursery near Guelph, Ontario to check out the 1-gallon plant sale.  It was about an hour drive from Toronto and pretty easy to find.  We arrive at the nursery and all you see is just rows and rows and rows of plants.  We were like little kids in a candy store! 

The nursery carried a large variety of plants, everything from perennials, to ornamental grass, to trees....all in 1-gallon pots....  and the best part is, they were all $5.99 each! 

They even have a few horses and donkeys (not for sale) - perfect entertainment for little kids who are bored from the plants.  We made some nice purchases that day.  Among those, I got some pretty purple flower perennial (forgot the name)

A beautiful "Morden Sunrise" rose.... (have no idea where I'm planting that yet, but I can decide later!)

And many many more others!  We barely got everything to fit in the car.... 

Until next time..... we'll definitely be back for more! 

Happy Gardening! 

Front yard Plant ID - Lime Light Hydrangea

In the front we have a beautiful hydrangea plant.  From the research I've been doing online, I think this is one from the Paniculata Hydrangea family - in particular a "Lime Light" Hydrangea (http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/limelight.html).  I learned (online) that the word "paniculata" relates to the somewhat "panicle" (cone) shape of the blooms.  I thought it may have been a "Little Lamb" hydrangea before but I think those blooms are slightly bigger than these... 

The blooms start off white in colour mid-summer.  Towards late summer and into early Autumn, the flowers starts turning pink and now at the beginning of October they are becoming a even more gorgeous shade of pink.

I'm still not 100% sure if my plant is a Lime Light, but form my comparison to ones I saw at the nursery it was pretty close.  I'm looking forward to drying these gorgeous flower when it gets cold out, I heard that they preserve pretty well when dried.

Orange and green planter arrangement

A beautiful planter orange and green arrangement I saw at Sheridan Nurseries the other day.  I really love that light green leafy plant (I think they're called Sweet Potato Vine?).  It really freshens up the arrangement and goes with practically everything.  I think they were quite popular this summer as I saw them at many gardening centres.  Hopefully next summer they will still be "in style" so I can get some for my container gardens :)