While we had some setbacks in the garden this year, in general, it did us proud.
The weather, of course, was crazy. In March we were hanging a swing-chair from a bough on the Honey Locust and enjoying the sunshine. In April, we had snow on the ground, and by the time we opened the pool, the water was a wonderful shade of green because of the warmth. More recently, this was the first time I can remember putting up Christmas lights and switching to winter tyres in shirt sleeves. So the plants reacted in different ways.
Our large pots, which we use for annuals, were quite spectacular, especially the begonias. So much so that the sunflowers the birds helped to plant didn’t stand a chance. On the other hand, the morning glory we planted didn’t really do much until October, and the daffodils got caught in an April snowfall. Many of our original (2004) plantings are suffering from the loss of light due to the tree growth. Also the softer plants are falling prey to hungry squirrels. In some places we have more chicken wire doing squirrel fending than we have plants. The balloon flowers have mostly gone due to this, with one lone plant still struggling. We also lost one rhododendron plant in the front.
I got several garden projects completed. The renovation of the paving areas which I started last year did get finished, with all the weeds removed and new polymeric sand installed. In fact one area I fixed last year got done again this year because the spruce roots like the relatively soft underfill.
We hired a tree company to trim most of our larger trees and bushes, and to remove the Sumac and the Mugo pines down the side. They also severely trimmed the pines at the front. We rebuilt the side area for replanting and moved a bunch of things around. We now have clementine plants (which used to be under the sumac) everywhere, but even more sumac saplings, which appear anywhere a root comes within a foot of the air. And keep on coming – every week I’ve filled buckets with sumac I pulled up.
The honey locust has been spreading and shading more of the lawn, and something about the roots drives our dog to digging. None of this was conducive to growing lush green grass underneath, so we decided to extend the bed by the deck.
We also found a hanging chair which we bought at a home show about 20 years ago and had intended to hang under the second story deck at our last house. With nowhere to hang it in this house, we planted the honey locust and waited for a branch to grow strong enough.
As it turned out, the place feet would drag under the chair was in the new flower bed, so I put some paving stones in a strategic location.
Anna loves the swinging chair and will probably use it until it’s covered in snow. Clare still digs for roots, but at least it’s not in the lawn now. I also discovered that one of the lawn sprinkler heads is now in the new flower bed. Ah well.
In other news, I recognised a weed I was about to pull in the front garden was a tomato plant, so on a whim I left it to see what would happen. It turned out that it was a cherry tomato plant and it grew as tall as (and supported by) the surrounding bushes – actually the aforementioned mugo pine – and produced hundreds of tiny tomatoes. I brought them in after the first frost, and many continued to ripen indoors. It was only last week (Mid November) that the last one graced my lunchtime salad!
