It certainly blends in well with the fallen leaves! The spiderplants (houseplants) in the boxes have survived several frosts without any damage. I’ve started new pots of baby spiders for next year; I’ll let these ones die.

Here’s how the bench looked in July for the tour. The cushions aren’t waterproof so are only out when it is dry and we are using the bench. We couldn’t find a cedar coffee table so we painted the best one we could find green to match the cushions. This winter I’m going to use that coffee table as a pattern to make a cedar one that will match the bench better.

The Elephant Ears in the pot on the patio have also not yet been affected by frost. I need to get them out of there soon (…should be a fun job!) but I usually wait until they’ve been touched by frost. DH needs to clean the eavestroughs...

Moving off the patio to the north alley… I just love the Eupatorium ‘Chocolate’ that has been blooming non-stop for more than a month. I’ve read that it can seed around. I hope it doesn’t become a pest because it’s a fabulous late season plant so far!

Coming around to the front bed… Rozanne is still producing a fair bit of color.

The hydrangeas that we planted along the garage after ripping out the European Highbush Cranberries are settling in well. White Moth and White Dome have been the best ones. Little Lamb was nice when it bloomed but the fading flowers are an ugly, muddy color. I will remove the Little Lambs next spring and replace them with more White Moth I think.

I was surprised to notice that this summery combination of Angel roses and delphiniums haven’t given up yet!

A neighbour gave me these old-fashioned single mums – they are doing nicely in the driveway border. I hope I can divide them and spread them out a bit next spring.

In the herb bed on the other side of the driveway, the Hot Cocoa rose has been blooming for months. The color is awkward but is coordinating well at the moment with the Angel rose hips at the other end of the bed. I’ve been adding rusty red/peachy orange things to the bed this year to try to blend with the rose. This bed may end up being my one ‘hot’ color bed in the garden.

Heading back into the backyard through the south alley gate… one last New Dawn rose blooming on the arbour.

I just love the late flowering bugbanes – they bloom here until early November. In anticipation of demolishing the shed (still waiting for quotes…), we moved the bugbanes by the shed to the living room bed in August. I thought they wouldn’t bloom after that but they are doing well. I think they’ve found their new permanent home.

The one under the pines is also doing well. It’s quite dry under there so, although it is several years old, it’s still quite small.

Heading back to the house… The Honorine Joubert anemones in the bed off the patio, down near the pines are still blooming away even though they have flopped over completely!

Looks like more rain due here shortly so I’m glad I toured the yard this morning!

Marian

The bench looks wonderful! I don't think I saw a photo of it in place and it is awesome.

Oh my.....the amount of leaves you have! Do you shred them and then place them on your flower beds? We don't have very many leafed trees (mainly evergreens surround us) and I have no way to shred them if I did go around trying to collect them. I've thought of going to a public park in town to gather some bags of them, but still the problem of how to shred them. My mowers do not have bags...just no good way for me to come up with some shredded leaves to add to the beds here.

Thank you for taking us on a tour of your gardens.

T.

Deanne

Norma – the bugbane is one of those versatile plants that can take a wide variety of light conditions. The one under the pines gets very little light and is in very dry conditions – it would probably be bigger in better conditions as they are supposed to be in ‘moist, rich soil’. The ones I moved from the shed were in sort of medium shade, with little or no direct sun. Now that they are in the living room bed, they get an hour or so of afternoon sun but are otherwise in the shade of the house and/or the ash tree. The soil in the LR bed is likely going to be drier than they’d like too but they’re doing fine now. There are soaker hoses in that bed so they will get adequate water next year if I leave them there. The hosta is Northern Halo (I think… I just plant ones I like and am never entirely sure if I’ve got the names right once they are in the ground. I know I did buy a Northern Halo for the patio bed, so I assume that’s it…)

T – all the leaves are cleaned up as of this afternoon. There is a huge ash in the backyard that produces most of them. The oak is still fairly small and holds a lot of its leaves through the winter, so the ash and the white pines account for most of the leaf litter. I wish I had another couple of trees’ worth of leaves! We just run the lawnmower over them to chop them first and then rake them up and dump them on the beds. We have a leaf bag attachment but I don’t use it (I can never get it to stay attached!) The chopped leawes rake up easily and any chopped-up bits we miss just rot down into the lawn and feed the grass. It only took 90 minutes to clean it all up this afternoon. – there’s less and less lawn each year and anything that falls on the beds just stays there unchopped. Raking the paths clear took more time than cleaning up the leaves on the patio and lawn.

Michelle

Drema

If you're going for orangy red in your herb garden, don't forget the tender commonly named "Pineapple Sage". Mine just got bit by frost, but until then the blooms were attracting hummingbirds, butterflies, and the leaves are wonderful steeped in tea. Also can add leaves to citrus chicken blends for a bit of "sweet." Easy to take cuttings and overwinter, OR, very easy to find locally.

Martie

Thanks for the tour!

Sue