A Plant wants What a Plant wants!

As a parent, the natural tendency is to provide the very best you can for your children. Nobody's perfect, but as parents, we have the very best of intentions.

It seems I have transferred a little of this parenting style outside into the garden. 

How I wish this were my own Lavender!

I have always strived to provide my plants with the very best I possibly can. 

I began by amending and improving the soil on our property. 

And then, every spring I add compost, bone meal and manure. To complete the process, I top dress the flowerbeds with mulch to keep the soil moist and weed free.

When summer heats up and rain is scarce, I take pity on my plants and out comes the garden hose. 

I battle red aphids every summer.

When pests line up I strike back (organically of course). I can't tell you how many green worms I have handpicked off my roses or red lily beetles I have swished under foot.

Russian Sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia at Edward Gardens in Toronto

I am well aware that plants like different soil types, but for some unknown reason, I haven't paid that as much heed to that as I should. 

Following those parental instincts I reasoned that if I gave my plants the very best soil, they should perform perfectly. Right? 

Wrong! 

A plant wants what a plant wants. If that means poor, sandy soil, it wants poor, sandy soil.  If it needs gravelly soil with really good drainage, then that is just what it wants.

My long line of failures is testament to the truth in this.

Russian Sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia at Edward Gardens in Toronto

Russian Sage. You think with the word "Russian" in the common name, it would have no problems overwintering here in Canada, but I kept losing my plants every winter for years. 

Most recently, I put my latest Russian Sage in the sheltered herb bed. It made it through winter all right, but it failed to prosper. 

I gave it protection, but what it really needed was the right soil. Russian Sage is a huge, flamboyant perennial that can grow to 150 cm (3 to 5 feet), yet my sorry specimen is pathetically scrawny. 

This is what I aspire to: Russian Sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia at Edward Gardens in Toronto

I think it's finally sinking in: get that soil right or it is never going to perform well. 

Other than heat and sun what it needs most is loamy, loose and airy,well-drained soil.

Ditto on the lavender. 

Right now it is in the same herb bed and it is sulking just as much as the Russian Sage.  The best soil for growing lavender is gritty or sandy loam, so no wonder it is not doing well in the black top soil of the herb garden.

I have done some research and I need to either move it or amend the soil. There is already plenty of organic matter for good soil aeration, but I need to make the soil much more free-draining with fine crushed stone. I think I may also have to add some lime (apparently lavender likes soil with a pH factor between 6.0 and 8.0).

Merlin's Hollow, Aurora Ontario

A closer look at the thyme lawn at Merlin's Hollow

One of my projects for this spring is inspired by the thyme lawn at Merlin's Hollow, David Tomlinson's garden in Aurora, Ontario. 

In my case, it is going to be a thyme walk that runs along the path to the back garden (pictured below). 

Out with the boring grass and in with the fragrant thyme!

Like Russian Sage and Lavender, thyme likes really well-drained soil. I have learned my lesson the hard way and this time I am starting with the soil. 

Thyme likes sandy, dry gritty soil and that is just what I am going to give it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Thanksgiving Feast for the Eyes at Edwards Gardens

I swear that I did not doctor this opening shot in any way. 

The fall color at Edwards Gardens was just that outrageous!

This is a long weekend here in Canada. Chill temperatures and heavy grey clouds cast a melancholy gloom over the first two days of our Thanksgiving weekend. I refused however, to let the weather dampen my spirits. I had Saturday morning off from my usually scheduled accounting class and that meant I could go along with my hubby to the local Farmer's Market. We bought fresh vegetables, flowers and feasted on a giant bag of salty-sweet popped kettle-corn. Yum!

Yesterday, on the way back from the St. Lawrence flea market, we stopped in to see the fall colors at Edwards Gardens. The lack of sunlight means my pictures are a bit flat, but the garden itself was beautiful. Take a look:

My only complaint about Edwards Gardens at this time of year is the lack of proper I.D. tags. I have a few mysteries that I hope you can help me solve.

The yellowing leaves of Amsonia or Blue Star. 

The sinister-looking seedheads of echinacea.

Love the shape and the organization of the leaves on the branches of this shrub. 

Do you know what it is?

 Verbena bonariensis 'Lollipop'

Russian Sage

 

Gentian

Asters

Japanese Anemone

Rudbeckia seedheads

Fountain Grass

Chocolate Boneset, Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate'

Mystery shrub? You have to love a shrub that is willing to bloom this late in the season. 

Do you know its name?

 Another mystery. I was so impressed with these flowers that had to be at least 8 feet tall. 

Talk about skyscrapers! Do you know what they are?

Special Thanksgiving good wishes go out to all my Canadian friends!

Down the Garden Path: Part 2

Lost Horizons Nursery, Acton Ontario.

"May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day. May songbirds serenade your every step along the way. May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that is always blue. And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through." Old Irish Blessing.

The plan of Larkwhistle Garden from the book The Art of Perennial Gardening by Patrick Lima, 

Photographs by John Scanlan, Published by Firefly Books in 2000. 

If you look at this drawing of Larkwhistle Garden or at the layout for David Tomlinson's garden called Merlin's Hollow, you will notice that the pathways make up the skeleton or framework for each garden. Pathways link each of these gardens into a cohesive whole.

Merlin's Hollow Garden Plan

With a pathway, a gardener channels visitors through a garden. How a garden is viewed is determined, to some degree, by the nature and even the shape of a path. 

Lost Horizons Nursery, Acton Ontario.

You are more likely to motor down a straight path...

Lost Horizons Nursery, Acton Ontario.

than one that twists and turns.

Merlin's Hollow, Aurora Ontario.

How wide should a path be?  

I personally think that the spacing needs to feel comfortable, not claustrophobic. If a pathway is tight, a visitor has to pay too much heed to each footstep and this can distract from all the visual delights along a path's length.

Brain Folmer's Botanical Gardens near Walkerton, Ontario.

So, what about materials? 

Even an ordinary lawn can function as a pathway between plantings.

Pea gravel is a nice option that has a pleasant crunch underfoot.

Larkwhistle Garden, on the Bruce Peninsula.

This garden has a hard-packed combination of sand and very fine gravel.

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Flagstone is a classic choice. 

(Note here that the gardener here has continued the flagstone onto the lawn and around to the front of the house. In doing so, he saves wear and tear on the grass by directing visitors away from cutting across the lawn.)

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Stonework is more costly and requires a greater degree of skill to install, but is hard-wearing option 

and it looks incredible doesn't it?

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Mulch is yet another alternative and is softer underfoot. It also helps to create a nice woodland effect.

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Of course, you can always combine pathway materials. Here we have mulch combined with flagstone.

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Pea gravel and flagstone.

This is Heather Bradley's Garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Moss and flagstone.

(Deborah of Deb's Garden Blog has written a wonderful post on creating a moss pathway. She has a spectacular woodland garden that you should definitely check out.)

Edwards Gardens, Toronto.

Plantings along a path can be crisp and tidy.

Private garden, Mississauga, Ontario.

Brain Folmer's Botanical Gardens near Walkerton, Ontario.

Or they can be uneven and more natural.

Brain Folmer's Botanical Gardens near Walkerton, Ontario.

In the end, it comes down to the overall look and feeling you are after.

I hope you feel as inspired by these gardens as I do. Have a great weekend!