Garden Share Bristol

Bergenia cordifolia ...  in bloom!

 
A horticultural anomaly! The warm, dry fall that we've experienced here in the Denver area has many plants hanging onto their foliage longer, or coloring up a bit later - or even differently - than the norm. This photo of bergenia in full bloom was taken just a a few days ago.  Typically, bergenia is an early spring bloomer. I wrote about it here back in April. Have you noticed anything weird or different in your garden lately (other than the seasonal ghouls and goblins, of course)?

Acer saccharinum

• Blow out automatic sprinkler system and insulate tap. Our first hard freezes are predicted for mid-week, so get crackin'!
• Remove hoses from faucets; drain.  Store hoses and sprinklers in a handy location for winter watering.
• Winterize water features.  Drain, clean and store or cover fountains and pots.  Remove plant debris from ponds and set up a bubbler (a submersible pump with a short piece of pipe attached to the outlet) to keep some surface area free of ice.  Disconnect pumps to recirculating waterfalls---especially if the water volume is fairly low.  Ice buildup can divert water and cause problems.  Moving water will also make your pond colder, which may be an issue if you have fish.
• Empty all containers of annual flowers or veggies (add healthy vegetation to the compost pile, dispose of the rest).  Remove soil – or the top 8-10” from large pots - (again, off to the compost pile!), and put containers into storage.  My “storage” is the back corner of my covered patio.  A shed or garage would also do the trick. 
• Remove leaves from lawn areas.  I rake my leaves directly into my garden beds for a loose, temporary mulch.  I’ll remove them in the spring for composting.  You can also run your lawn mower over them and leave them, or rake them up for mulch or to compost.
• Winterize lawn mower.  After the last mowing, run it until the gas tank is empty.  Clean mower and sharpen blade.
• Add organic soil amendments  to planting beds.

• Plant bulbs. I'm planning to wait another week or two for this project; once the soil temperature cools down a bit more we'll be good to go.  Here's an amusing take from landscape designer Deb Roberts on how you can tell when the time is right for bulb planting.
•  Wrap young trees.  I don’t need to do this anymore, but here are the directions for “how-to”.
• Clean up/cut back perennials.  I do most of this in the spring, because I like the structure and texture that many plants offer during dormancy.

A few more foliage highlights from the garden this week as fall moves slowly forward...

Syringa reticulata

Euonymus coloratus, Prunus bessyi, and Verbascum bombiciferum

Amorpha canescens

Hypericum fondosum 'Sunburst'

Syringa reticulata

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Sedum 'Frosty Morn'

Aster x frikartii 'Monch'

Gaura lindheimeri

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Phlox paniculata 'David'

Aster 'Lady in Black'

Aster 'Alma Potschke'

Verbascum bombiciferum

Helianthus maximiliani

Berlandiera lyrata

Zauchneria and  Rudbekia

Please visit May Dreams Gardens, the instigator of this monthly flower orgy, to find links to other gardeners participating in October's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  Have fun!

Celtis occidentalis

Sumac are always dependable for fall color, and I have two dwarf varieties: Grow-Low fragrant sumac and dwarf cutleaf sumac. Their foliage textures are different, as are their colors. The Grow-Low will feature intense red to deep burgundy leaves, while the cutleaf tends to lighter yellows, oranges and bright reds.

Rhus aromatica 'Grow-Low'

Rhus glabra 'Laciniata'

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Fraxinus americana 'Autumn Purple'

Amelanchier canadensis

Parthenocissus quinquefolia engelmanii

Parthenocissus quinquefolia engelmanii

Parthenocissus quinquefolia engelmanii

I'll keep you posted as more plants submit to the lure of dormancy and put on their autumn colors. I hope you're enjoying fall in your garden!

signs of the season---mums and asters

It's brainstorming time! Please let me know what you would like to chat about during our Friday Afternoon Garden Club sessions.  What are your favorite topics---plants, design, gardening how-to, seasonal observations, or ???  Also, are there landscape design or gardening topics that you are interested in that I could address in  a lengthier blog post?  Thanks for your input!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend.

Take a look at this article on garlic (It's time to plant!)

And here's a nice quote, fitting for the weekend ahead:

“Eating is the taking into our beings the offerings of those who have worked to bring it to us and the offering of the Divine, whose creation it and we are. Eating is not an act to be taken lightly. All that is involved demands respect and attention – mindfulness. Grace before meals is appropriate, no matter what our religious convictions, as a centering process. Eating is a rite, especially eating together. A lot has happened to make this eating possible. “A lot has been sacrificed,” as the pig said to the chicken after the bacon and egg breakfast. At least let us revere this with our attention and conscious enjoyment. People will eat less and enjoy more if they always sit down to eat, take a moment to say grace or focus on what they are doing, smell, look, appreciate, eat slowly with small bites and much chewing.”

Sylvia Mangalam,
Founding member of the Food Action Committee, Ecology Action Centre

- marnie

Zauchneria brightens the October garden

The Red Forest, by Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos, is a public art piece very recently installed at the base of the Millennium Bridge at16th Street and Little Raven in Denver. I like it very much, and can't wait to observe it on a windy day (plenty of those around here!). The vibrant color adds energy to a bustling pedestrian plaza, and the large scale, grass-like forms are right at home here.
 Unfortunately, I think the site selection  is an incredibly poor match for this piece. The artwork is linear - to the extreme - and it is lost in the busy (and linear)architecture surrounding it: brickwork, riser-less stairs, window frames, etc.  It's also crammed between walls and  a stairway, denying the artist's intent that the sculpture be interactive.

I'm a big fan of public art, so it's especially disappointing to see such a near miss...  

The Red Forest was fully funded by the Riverfront Park Community Foundation.

lichens growing on a walnut tree in northeastern Nebraska

Do you like lichen? Lichens are organisms that tend to be overlooked, but they can add beautiful color and texture to the landscape.  This site offers a great introduction to the world of lichens. In my garden I have a few boulders with small amounts of flat, silvery-gray lichen, but nothing as showy as the growths above.  Do you have lichens in your garden? What surfaces are they growing on? What do they look like?