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You are here: Home / Archives for In The Garden / Garden Buzz

Some of the last flowers of Autumn

by Tricia

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It was a beautiful weekend! I think we might have had a very late Indian Summer here in Toronto! The temps got up to 17 C or 63 F and tomorrow’s going to be warm for this time of year too.

Of course, the warmer weather probably isn’t doing my garden much good as it has been cool here for a few weeks and in a few days it will be cool again. Yep, the garden is pretty much shutting down for the winter.

I still have some roses that seem stuck in bloom and some rose buds that haven’t opened and that probably won’t, but most of my flowers are dying down.

About two weeks ago my New York Asters were in full bloom – now they are fading although there’s still some pale purple/ blue color on the plant.

Here’s what the flowers looked like when they are at the height of their bloom-

First new york aster blooms 2

The pink salvia was also putting out new blooms – but they too are pretty much gone now as well.

Pink Salvia bloom

My Liatris plants stopped blooming by late August or so, but they developed seed heads in September and October.

faded liatris bloom 4

I collected the seeds off of some of the Liatris stocks and planted them in a few sparse areas of the garden. Perhaps in a year or two I’ll have more Liatris coming up in areas that desperately need some permanent plants.

Has your garden begun to shut down for winter?






Filed Under: Garden Buzz, Green Thumb Sunday, Photography Tagged With: autumn, garden, gayfeather, Green Thumb Sunday, GTS, Indian Summer, Liatris, liatris seeds, new york asters, pink, rose buds, roses, salvia, seeds, sparse areas, warm

Just about time to put the garden to bed for the winter

by Tricia

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It’s hard to believe but November is here.

It’s starting to get colder and the leaves are falling off the trees and my garden plants. It’s time to start putting the garden to bed for the winter.

As far as gardening goes I dislike this time of year the most.

Yes I still have some flowers blooming, but it won’t be long before the first snow arrives and my garden will be awash in white. It’s a long wait until spring and new garden life – isn’t it?

Yellow Mums

In the last two weeks I’ve spent some time closing down the garden. Trimming plants and removing plants that have died down. We’ve put away our patio furniture and just this past weekend all the solar lights and torches were put away for winter. Tropical plants such as my Passion Flower vines, Hibiscus and Jasmine have all been brought inside as they can’t withstand our very cold winters here in Toronto.

There isn’t much left to do, other than cover the garden beds with tree leaves that have been falling heavily over the last few days. Soon the trees in the area will be bare – but their leaves will be protecting my garden beds.

I still have to cut down the sunflowers that I grow in the front boulevard …

Sunflower in the sun 2

They are still blooming and most look pretty good – but I know that won’t last. Perhaps next weekend we’ll chop them down … oh yes I mean chop, normal garden pruners just don’t do the job on Sunflowers thick stems.

Have you started getting your garden ready for the long winter? What do you do to prepare your garden?

Filed Under: Autumn Tasks, Garden Buzz, Garden Maintenance, Green Thumb Sunday, In The Garden, Photography Tagged With: autumn, chores, falling leaves, garden bed, Garden Maintenance, Garden Mums, garden to bed, Green Thumb Sunday, GTS, prepare for winter, pruning, sunflowers, tasks, winter

Lady Bugs Everywhere!

by Tricia

On Tuesday I spent some time outside in the garden with my husband. It was a nice Autumn day reaching about 16 Celsius (60 F) – warm compared to the last two weeks!

My husband was busy fixing a storage area and I’d come outside to take some photos of my fall blooming flowers – Monkshood, and Toad Lilies in particular. Much to my amazement I noticed that there were Lady Bugs everywhere!

I mean, hundreds … maybe even thousands!

I guess the warmer weather drew them out. I’ve noticed that this happens at least once every fall, but most often in September. However I haven’t seen this many lady bugs in one day in a few years!

We had to shake them off every time we went into the house! I’m sure we brought a few in with us.

I wish they’d come out like that in June or early July when the aphids are eating my new rose buds!

This past summer was so cool that I don’t recall even seeing any lady bugs until August when we started getting our normal hot humid days that had been missing in July and part of June.

It rained most of the day yesterday so I didn’t see any lady bugs – but I didn’t really expect to – at least not in such high numbers. It’s been my experience that there’s usually only one day each year of such high lady bug levels. (sometimes there’s also a day of small gnats – usually in the fall too, but I didn’t notice one this year). I did see a few lady bugs flying around outside in the early afternoon today … but then the winds picked up and it got cooler so I guess they found shelter.

Have you had a day when you saw a lot of Lady Bugs or other insects this year? Have you notice that this seems to happen every year?

I certainly hope that seeing so many lady bugs the other day is a good sign for next year. I love having lady bugs in my garden as they eat the aphids and I believe some of the other pest bugs that damage my plants.

BTW I’ll post some of the photos I took the other day soon!

Filed Under: Garden Buzz, In The Garden Tagged With: autumn, buzzing, fall, flying, garden, gardening, insects, lady bug, shelter, taking photos, thousands of lady bugs, Toronto, working in garden

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