Sunday, September 19, 2010

Looking for lateseason colour? We have answers.

Some call it fourseason gardening. Some call it fallscaping. We call it fun.

Now that the heat of August has been washed away by some much-appreciated rain, it's a perfect time to be working in our gardens. We don't know about you, but we're still planting things, dividing perennials, moving shrubs...and enjoying the late season blooms like these wellnamed silvergrasses (Miscanthus).

We talked a lot about grasses in our last post, but now is really the time when they are shining stars. Whether you like the tall, elegant varieties with their showy flowers like the miscanthus, or the more subtle, low-growing clumpers like Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa), there truly is a grass or ten for every garden.

Do you deadhead your coneflowers? If you do, you probably are seeing plenty of blooms in many of your varieties too. Check our display beds when you visit us: they are't perfect, but there's still lots of coneflowers showing their colour.

One of the most beloved of lateseason performers is the tall, or border sedum. There are many varieties, some with different colours of foliage, and many with different colours of flowers. The alltime favourite for many gardeners, of course, is 'Autumn Joy.'

Want to try something a little different in your fall-colour garden? How about Callicarpa, also known as 'beautyberry'. You can see why it's called beautyberry; after flowering a few weeks ago, our shrubs are now festooned with incredible purple berries,

We believe that plants with great foliage colour and texture are as important as flowering plants. This 'Plum Pudding' heuchera doesn't need to have blooms on it to look fabulous all season long.

How about these dwarf golden conifers? They don't 'flower' the way a lilac or a sunflower does, of course, but with gorgeous foliage like this, these dwarf chamaecyparis are allstars all year long.

Once the miscanthus begin to bloom, they genuinely sell themselves. Their graceful heads of silver, purple, red or rose-bronze flowers shimmer in the light.

Deadheading lavender will often prompt a nice later flush of flowers, and of course the grey-green, needle-like foliage is always handsome.

We love hydrangeas, especially the Paniculata grandiflora (PG) types with their longlasting panicles of cream to rose flowers. This one shows up nicely in front of a purple barberry.

We're open Monday-Saturday at this time of year, and are often up on the hill working with the plants. Just beep your horn, and someone will be down to help you as soon as possible. We look forward to helping you with your fallscaping ideas.