Autumn's Special Moments

Eye catching seed pods

Bright red berries of the Jack-in-the-Pulpit

The Canadian iconic wild flower, the Jack-in-the-Pulpit, has a brilliant head of seed pods that most people haven't seen. The seed pod grows gradually over the summer until the head is a large bright green.  Then as August winds down the pod turns a brilliant red.
 I am lucky enough to have several wildflowers in my garden, because some of my property is the original forest floor.  I have 100 year old trees and ferns that have been growing for centuries. I treasure these heritage plants and am glad that I can look at then every day.

You can just make out the red seed head of the Jack in the Pulpit in the lower right of the picture.

Ah Anemones!

Fall flowering anemones

The best flowers come from friends and I have Sophie to thank for these pretty pink anemones.  They are finally plumping up in my garden.  I don't know which cultivar they are, but I eagerly await the flowers in the Fall.  This plant is just starting to bloom, while the rudbeckia in background have been going strong for a month.  Watching the succession of flowers in the garden gives me great pleasure.

Stonecrop Autumn Joy

 What would Autumn be with out stonecrop!  There are so many varieties available for purchases now.  I love the new purple Emperor, but I just don't have enough sun for it.  This little performer is so reliable that I would recommend it to anyone. In the Spring its bunched circular round growth is a delight and its structure adds to the garden all summer long while you are waiting for it to bloom. Then in the Fall, when you need new blossoms this hardworking plant puts on its show.  What more could you ask for in a plant?

September means teaching

In my other life I was a teacher.  I launched a teaching blog on Jan 24, 2011. It is designed for teachers, and is called Teaching by the Book. It is located at www.teachingbythebook.ca The site contains a recommended read aloud book and lesson plans for teachers from grades K to 8.  Associated books are also listed on the site. We publish 4 recommended books and two lesson plans per month using a theme and based on a reading or writing strategy. The first blog was for Family Literacy Day and September's theme uses alphabet books to introduce the writing process to your students .
Pass it on our link to all your teaching friends!

Worth the Wait

Autumn clematis

This plant is a graduate of the plant sale from the Cloverleaf Garden Club.  It is just 2 years old and has shown itself proud!  Not only is it covered in blooms, but it smells divine also. Thank you to the gardener who divided and brought this to the plant sale!  It has found a happy home in my garden.

The Japanese Beetles didn't get this one!

Bonica Rose

You can count on roses for a second life in the garden.  They bloom again in late August to bring colour back to the to their expansive green bushes. For a while I thought the Japanese beetles would decimate all the roses, but they seem to had died off considerably and I can once again enjoy the blossoms. They ate the leaves of all sorts of plants including birch, climbing hydrangea, calla lilies,  and the blossoms of the sweet pea and Rose of Sharon. What pests!  I can see why people yank out their roses.  But I guess they would still eat all the other things I listed - so drowning in soapy water is the only solution.

What happened?  This beautiful full urn was turned into a scraggly  mess after just 3 days of neglect. 

What happened to the impatients this year? I still have some beautiful urns, but a few have gone from lush to leggy and embarrassingly barren in just a few days.  They are not worth resurrecting since the end of the season is so near. I heard that Oakville cancelled its garden tour for Sept 25, due to the drought this summer.  People's gardens suffered.  For the most part my perennials did well, and I will share more pictures in the following days.