"April is the Cruelest Month..."

It shouldn't be at all surprising that TS Eliot is one of this English major's favourite authors, and The Waste Land one of my favourite poems. Yes, it's complex, and most people don't know more than the first few lines, which sum up the current situation in my garden:

April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.

Textures in Autumn

Walking around the garden today, I was struck yet again by the variety of flower and foliage textures and sizes. There are plants with huge flowers, like this 'Josephine' clematis...

And those with petite, delicate flowers such as the 'Dallas Blues' switchgrass and the Brazilian vervain, better known as Verbena bonariensis.

This annual verbena is truly popular, showing up more regularly in 4 or 6-packs of transplants (for those who want a little speedier performance) as well as in seed packages. V. bonariensis is a great bee and butterfly plant, and gives a wonderful airy effect in the garden.

The sturdy Japanese anemone contrasts wonderfully with another switchgrass, 'Cheyenne Sky'.

A little festive decor: ornamental gourds and a pumpkin contrast with the last of the annuals and a container of decorative kale.

Sturdy and steady Virginia creeper is beginning to display its fall finery. I need to do some serious pruning of this plant, as it may knock down the arbour one of these days! Or perhaps, it's holding it up.

From the delicate foliage and flowers of the heather (right panel), to the sturdier and larger flowers of the foxglove (top left), the amusing beadlike flowers of variegated Obedient plant (Physostegia, bottom left), to the striking and wonderful blossoms of 'Cloudy' aconite (centre), there is a huge variety still going strong here.

A sedum's flowerhead is composed of many delicate, petite star-shaped flowers. This one is 'Mediovariegatum'.

Buddleia are similar: a collection of tiny florets make up the larger, showy flowerhead. This is my alltime favourite buddleia, 'Sungold.' I have two of them this year, and am hoping at least one will overwinter decently.

We all know I love asters, echinaceas, rudbeckias, chrysanthemums of all sizes and colours. I love the breathy, delightful petite beauty of 'Lady in Black' calico aster...

The jawdropping spectacle that is 'Hot Papaya' echinacea, definitely a star in my books...

And everything in between! Someday, I'd like to do a bed of only members of the compositae family...with a huge variety of textures as well as colours...but for the time being, we have the joy of Picasa to make a virtual garden.

The October Country...

"I saw old Autumn in the misty morn/ Stand, shadowless like Silence, listening to Silence." ~ Thomas Hood.

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October." ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

"My lonely spirit thrills to see the frosty asters like smoke upon the hills." ~ Bliss Carman


"Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits." ~Samuel Butler

"Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter."~ Carol Bishop Hipps

"Summer ends, and autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always, and a full moon every night." ~Hal Borland

"Every green thing loves to die in bright colours." ~Henry Ward Beecher

"There ought to be gardens for all months in the year, in which, severally, things of beauty may be then in season." ~Sir Francis Bacon

"Heat lingers As days are still long; Early mornings are cool while autumn is still young."~ Po Chu-i.

"The stillness of October gold /went out like beauty from a face." ~ Edward A. Robinson

"May we make wise choices in how and what we harvest, may earth's weather turn kinder, may there be enough food for all creatures..."

"...may the diminishing light in our daytime skies be met by an increasing compassion and tolerance in our hearts." ~ Kathleen Jenks.

Why I love grasses for fall colour

It's been a few years since my fascination with ornamental grasses began. I started out slowly, with a couple of Miscanthus varieties, then a Hakonechloa, then a Calamagrostis. It takes grasses at least three years to develop some size, and the warm-season grasses seem slow to establish and late to bloom here in my garden. But they are so worth it. The foliage, the flowerheads, the way the light glistens on leaf blades and flowers, the song of the grasses as the wind wafts through them...they're just all around delightful.

There are a few caveats when purchasing grasses.

You need to make sure to select the right grass for your conditions, as some are very drought tolerant but hate soggy soil, while others need regular moisture.

Most are happiest with full sun, but some are shade tolerant.

Some bloom early in summer, like the feather reed grasses (Calamagrostis), while others, such as the panic grasses (Panicum) and silver maiden grasses (Miscanthus) are later blooming.

Make sure to select varieties that are clump or sod-formers, rather than rowdies that spread by runners. There are a few grasses that can be thuggish, such as gardener's garters or variegated ribbon grass (Phalaris). In some areas, Japanese blood grass is invasive, but here in NS it tends to be quite well behaved, being marginally hardy.

And most importantly, watch out for zone hardiness. There are a few fountain grasses (Pennisetum) which are hardy here in Nova Scotia: 'Hameln', 'Karley Rose', possibly 'Red Head', but purple fountain grass cultivars (Pennisetum 'Fireworks', above, among others) are hardy only to zone 7 or 8 or warmer. There are a few places that sell those grasses here without telling you that they're not hardy, but a reputable garden centre such as Baldwin's or Ouestville Perennials or Briar Patch or Bunchberry Nurseries won't do that.

The feather reed grasses (Calamagrostis cultivars such as 'Karl Foerster', 'Overdam' and 'Avalanche') bloomed in July, but their tawny golden seedheads are still holding on nicely in my garden. I do find their stems are a little more apt to break down in the wind than are those of other grasses, but I love them anyway.

On Friday, I was in Truro at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, and my friend Carol took me down to the Haley Institute at the farm part of the campus, to show me the grass garden that she and her students planted a few years ago. It's at its best now, with sedums, pussytoes, asters and coneflowers mixed among the cascades and fountains of perennial grasses.

Some people like to do their grasses in display beds of grass only. While I like those, I get impatient earlier in the season when the grasses are just growing and not blooming, so I prefer to incorporate perennials and shrubs with my grasses, as the garden at NSAC is done.

Doesn't this look a lot better than just boring old lawn? Low care, drought tolerant, effective at holding the sloped area in place, and awash with life--birds, bees, other pollinators flitting around the flowers and seedheads.

I love panic grasses, also known as switchgrasses. Their flowerheads are delicate, with tiny individual flowers, and they're subtle--you need to slow down, stop and look at them to appreciate them. Many have gorgeous coloured foliage, some with red or burgundy tips such as 'Shenandoah' or 'Cheyenne Sky'; others are bluer in foliage, such as 'Dallas Blues' and 'Thunderhead'.


Definitely showier in nature, and eyecatchingly fabulous throughout fall and winter, are the miscanthus species and cultivars also known as silvergrasses and maidengrasses. These later blooming varieties stand tall in a garden, and sound like waves of water when the wind rustles them. Some of them have remarkable fall colour, including purple flame grass, M. 'Purpurascens'. Some have wonderful gold striations in their foliage, such as 'Strictus', 'Gold Bar', and 'Little Kitten.'. They're just great plants.

The best way to get to know and appreciate grasses is to look for display gardens featuring them, such as those at many nurseries. This garden is at Bunchberry in Upper Clements, and features a rich selection of grasses, from the low clumps of Carex 'Ice Dance' to the tall, elegant sprays of moor grass, Molinia 'Skyracer'. Many municipalities are using grasses in their public plantings, businesses are embracing them for their landscapes...what are YOU waiting for?

Don't ask me how many grasses I have. I keep bringing them home, even now in late September. And best of all, I've given my sister her first grass. She's on her way to being smitten with them. I hope you are too.

Skywatch Friday: Autumn Light, autumn harvests

For Skywatch Friday this week, another juxtaposition of sea and sky, sun and land. The boldness of autumn light is officially upon us, and we're going to focus on the crisp, clear days, humidity vanquished, brilliance of sea and sky. This is the lighthouse at Margaretsville, Nova Scotia, further down the shore from us.


See how the dazzling flowers of various Miscanthus cultivars erupt into gleeful colour and light as the sun smiles upon them. It's hard to resist Miscanthus's charms. That would be why I have nearly a dozen cultivars of them.


And of course, autumn means the harvest is in high range for the next few weeks, as tree fruits, cole crops, grains, potatoes, root vegetables and more are harvested. Preserves are being made, veggies are being frozen or dehydrated or canned, and pumpkins are being displayed for the glee of their colour, a celebration of the season. This weekend will see hundreds of people out at upicks around the region, getting apples and squash and pears and tomatoes and many other fruits and veggies; if not picking them themselves, they're purchasing from farmers markets.

The sky promises to be pleasant all weekend. Good harvests, everyone.

Wordless Wednesday: End of Summer, Start of Autumn...