Autumns little glories

Halloween  display

"I love Autumn, the one season of the 

year that God seemed to have put

there just for the Beauty

of it."

                                         -Lee Maynard

                                    

Blooms from succulents

   In the Autumn when we start to see our gardens die off there are always a few plants that seem to hang on. This is a perfect time to enjoy those last few blooms by bringing them in. 

I don't know about you but I hate to see those beautiful flowers sitting out in the garden not being appreciated by anyone. Also it gives us a chance to grasp the last few days of summer by brightening up our homes. 

Blooms from succulents

Climbing Rose

     I always seem to have roses that want to hang on, not giving in to cold nights and frosty mornings, so why not help them out and let them thrive inside. This red rose below is that lovely rose of mine that has such an intoxicating scent, there is no way I could leave it outside given the chance of smelling it one more time. 

Shrub rose

Pineapple Sage flowers

  This bouquet is the flower of Pineapple Sage. Unfortunately it seemed to bloom very late this year and so when I started to clean up my garden it was just in full bloom. Instead of cutting it down I decided to bring it in and I do think it makes a lovely display. Just remember the ants love this plant and hide in the deep throats of this flower.
    So give them a good shake and check them carefully or you might have ants crawling about the house.



   And then there are the grasses. They make a great display for Thanksgiving and Halloween.  I love the Northern Sea Oats because you can bring them in, place them in a vase without water and they just dry beautifully. They add lovely colour and texture to your Thanksgiving display and will remain that way until you throw it away. Talk about easy. You can do the same with Hydrangea's and Sedum blooms which make a lovely fall bouquet and would look great among the Sea Oats.

Northern Sea Oats

   The tall grasses are perfect for Halloween, especially the ones with feather like blooms. Just cut them and place them where you want, as they dry they have more character so it's a good idea to cut them maybe a week before Halloween.
    I also left my urn with it's grasses out for Halloween which made a colourful and interesting and not to mention easy display. All I did was add a few plastic skulls and faux leaves and I was done.

   So before you start tearing your garden down, look around and see if there is anything you can bring in, allowing you to savour summer for a few more days.

Happy Gardening!

Porcupine Grass 

Zen and Now

If you are having trouble seeing clearly,

take a moment to relax

and just enjoy

the view from where you are.

Zen garden/ground covers

  I don't know if you remember me talking in a previous post about my Zen garden but I had mentioned the fact that it was a great deal of work. 

  As you can see in the pictures it was very full and required many hours of weeding to keep it looking good. Now being a Zen garden I found it was not providing me with tranquility but frustration at the speed in which the weeds would grow.

  Even though I did love the way it looked and all the lovely ground covers,  I needed to change something.  So as the garden season came to an end I decided it was a good time to do just that and make my life a little easier. 

Zen garden

   I decided to make good use of the space and at the same time retain some of it's character. I left quite a few of the grasses on the edge of the garden and also my new Japanese Maple.















  This is my now empty Zen garden, it makes me a little sad to see it this way but I know I will enjoy the extra time I will have to spend elsewhere in the garden.
  I managed to move quite a few of the ground covers to different areas of my garden so I will still get to enjoy them, just not in such abundance. I also managed to give away most of the grasses so I feel good about that. Waste not want not.

    And this is my new patio. I am so happy with the way it turned out and can already picture how it will look with my planters and furniture in the summer.  As you can see some of the grasses are still there but it all looks much neater. I love the way my Japanese Maple is centre stage and hopefully it will thrive in that spot.

 I also find that the patio makes the whole yard look bigger and the area itself looks so much bigger even though it is almost the same size as before. 

    In the spring I will use various planters to add colour and character to this new 'Zen' type patio. I plan to put my stone bench back, maybe along the window wall and hopefully add a water feature as well.

   I  am also really pleased at how well it works with the deck, especially the colouring. It has a nice flow and turned out just as I had pictured.

  One thing for sure is I already feel more Zen just thinking of relaxing in that spot rather that being on my knees weeding.







  So remember, fall is a great time for making changes and if you are planning something like this I highly recommend the fall. I was not anticipating the amount of dust that would be involved and would not want that in the spring if it can be avoided.

  Also, when the snow starts to melt and those lovely spring mornings start calling you outside, the work is already done.
  You can sit back, relax and watch your garden come to life once again.

  I think that 'Zen' is already working for me.

Happy Gardening!