What theme would best catch the听flavour of the current season? Appropriate perhaps would be 鈥淚nto the Dark,鈥� for the eight-week period ahead of ever decreasing daylight hours 鈥� unlikely timing, it would seem, for useful gardening. Yet much can be done on usable days between storms and downpours to help smooth a pathway to an improved, more convenient garden and an easier, more relaxed spring. Consider these projects.
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鈥� Finish planting spring-flowering bulbs. Plot corners and pathway edges are wise site choices for small-flowered bulbs like crocus, dwarf iris, glory of the snow (Chionodoxa) and dwarf daffodils. Or plant a few pots with bulbs to display in the spring at windows and on decks, balconies and patios.
鈥� Bring added convenience to the garden by widening and re-edging unsuitably narrow paths.
鈥� Weedy paths? Clean their surfaces minimally, lay down cardboard and/or thick pads of newspaper, and cover with wood shavings.
鈥� The cool-weather season is ideal for adding and shoring up structures like compost enclosures, fences, and arbours.
鈥� Weed and clean emptied vegetable and annual flower beds. Lime all except for sites to be planted with potatoes. Cover the bed surfaces with compost or/and manure. (No manure for potato sites.) Lime lawns and plants that do best in slightly alkaline soils, such as lilac, artichoke, mock orange, pinks.
鈥� Tidy. Cut back the more unsightly dead growth of perennials but leave some to mark their positions and help protect the plants. Shorten overlong rose canes that are prone to damage in winter winds.
鈥� Mulch winter vegetables with compost, chopped leaves, or/and straw.
鈥� Store leftover seeds in a uniformly cool, dry, dark place. I use a closet next to the north-facing front door.
鈥� Even a small flowering house plant will brighten a room. Rieger begonias give wonderful value with a long bloom season.
鈥� Pot an amaryllis bulb next week for Christmas flowers.
鈥� Send for a few seed catalogues to fuel new visions for the 2017 garden. Consider delving into the unknown: Grow a few previously untried flowers and vegetables.
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Back to summer. Reflecting on highlights in the past summer鈥檚 garden can play a useful part in planning for next year and lifting the spirits as we head into the gloom.
As I comb through the new catalogues each year I keep special watch for European Fleuroselect award winning flowers. They never disappoint. A Fleuroselect winner I chose to grow this year is a fringed pink (Dianthus) called Supra Formula Mix, from the William Dam Seeds catalogue. Purple was the first colour developed in the series, which has now become a mix of several colours. The young plants flourished and displayed exquisitely formed and charmingly serrated flowers through the summer and well into October. I expect equally impressive displays from the planting in听future years.
I鈥檝e been experimenting with large-flowered, hardy hibiscus plants, starting with plants purchased from Vesey鈥檚 spring bulb, shrub and perennial catalogue. Last year I also grew plants from seed, choosing Deep Red in the Honeymoon Series from Stokes Seeds.
This past spring I stationed all the potted purchased and seed-grown plants in a warm and mainly sunny alcove against the south-facing wall of the house. The result: The purchased plants failed to bloom, though they did flower in early autumn last year on the open patio. The Honeymoon plants stayed naturally compact and began flowering in August. By mid-October the purchased plants were leafless while Honeymoon still bore bright green leaves and flowerbuds.
These results have prompted the decision to find a sheltered spot at the fully sunny top of my sloping back garden for the purchased plants, perhaps by the fig tree, and move them there in the spring. Honeymoon will stay potted, on the open patio.
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GARDEN EVENTS
VHS meeting. The Victoria Horticultural Society meets Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre, 813 Darwin Ave. in Saanich. Local author Gwen Curry will give a presentation based on her book Tod Inlet: A Healing Place. The pre-meeting workshop at 6:30 will feature Sheila Mitchell, who will discuss chrysanthemums, including techniques for cultivating this showy perennial.
