Colour for a cloudy day

It's one of those drab, chill, dreary and of course windy days that is a harbinger of the NO-month, NOvember...days like this can fill my heart with dread and make me want to retreat to the comforts of hearth and home. I want to drink tea (or wine, or single malt, depending on the hour) and dive into a book, a catalogue, a magazine, a garden blog....ANYTHING to push back the darkness of the outside and make me remember that such days do pass.

But I was brave. I put on a bright red vest (lest one of the buck-fevered hunters out today mistake me for a deer) and my turquoise crocs, and camera in hand, went out to look around the garden (for those who have asked, my camera is a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, and it's smarter than I am!--but I'm more creative than it is)


I am constantly delighted and charmed by the poppies in our garden; not only for the artistry and colour of their irrepressible blossoms, but the exuberance of their flowering. It's late October, and I'm still finding them popping up and putting their brilliant faces out to show. With Remembrance Day rapidly approaching, it seems appropriate that it's the scarlet corn poppies (Papaver rhoes) that are festooning the yard with their brilliant, life-blood coloured blossoms.


Months ago, in my recommendations for favourite garden centres in the region, I admitted that though I go most often to Blomidon Nurseries (they're one of the closest to me with a website), I didn't have a great photo of the nursery. Well, I've been teased about that by some people (hi, Michelle!) and so here is a fall-swept photo of the entrance; granted, there's been a bit of frost, and some trees have relinquished their leaves, but this is a welcoming and wonderful nursery. I was a tiny bit alarmed that the Christmas shop is being constructed, but on the other hand, I LOVE their Christmas shop, and I don't expect to see any blue poinsettias there, either.


Blue, however, is my favourite colour in flowers (that would be my mostest bestest favourite colour, as opposed to other favourite colours like green, purple, magenta....) and I was amazed to find that Black and Blue sage is still not only blooming, but blooming madly! Can you tell which way the wind is blowing? It rarely stops here this autumn, which is a bit irritating, but a fact of living on a hill above the Bay of Fundy.


The fact that the sage is still in bloom, plus the fact that this silly plant has finally put out a whole whorl of flowers, convinces me that we have YET to experience a significant frost. This surprises me, as I was sure that there would be damage Thursday and last night. But the sage is quite cold sensitive in my experience (though Kate reports hers rebounded after an early Regina frost) so perhaps there was enough wind overnight to keep the frost at bay. This Dr. Suess-like plant is Lion's Tail, and I've shown it before--but this is the first time I've had more than a couple of florets showing in any of the flower heads. Being a mint relative, I'm hoping it will reseed, and also that it will come on more quickly next year. The whimsical gardener in me wants to create a Dr. Suess garden to compliment the chocolate and wine bed. I can think of a number of good plants for such a garden, can't you?

A housekeeping note; I'm doing some reorganizing to my blog, and have added an Amazon link for some of my favourite gardening books, because I regularly am asked for recommendations on books. This seemed like a not-too-obtrusive way to share my enthusiasms. So I hope you'll check them out occasionally, and enjoy!