My name is Alice and I live in Sweaburg, which is in southwestern Ontario.
This year I had trouble again finding all the bedding plants, such as salvias, that I would have liked. But now the yellow marigolds (Tagetes sp., annual) are putting on a show, and they look cheery with the hot pink geraniums (Pelargonium hybrids, annual).
These flowering kale (Brassicaoleracea, cool-season annual) don’t have much color yet. The mums (Chrysanthemum, hardiness differs by variety) are still in pots, but as soon as the flowers start to fade the plan is to plant them in the garden and see if they will come back next year. Some do and some don’t.
Hydrangeas (pictured, Hydrangea paniculata, Zones 3–9) are among my favorite flowers. Year after year they bloom so nice.
This is a picture of our backyard. The blue spruce (Piceapungens, Zones 2–7) was totally in the wrong spot, but we did not have the heart to cut it down because the birds love it. We trimmed the bottom, though, and it is now sturdy enough for us to put some hanging baskets on the bottom branches. This is what we see from our family room’s big and low picture window. We have not had a frost yet, so everything looks super nice still. I can’t start clearing till we have frost.
This is a view from the other side looking toward the deck.
The sedums (Hylotelephium spectabile, Zones 3–9) are so nice right now, and the honeybees love them. The purple kale is the edible type (Brassica oleracea, probably the variety ‘Redbor’), but I planted it for color. It grew back from last year after I cut it back in the spring. It flowered with yellow flowers, which was something new to me.
These pictures of the front entry were taken at the beginning of October.
The yellow sedum (Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’, Zones 5–9) at the bottom used to be a lovely orange-brown color, then it reverted back to this yellowish-green. (Editor’s note: This sedum tends to have more of an orange color in cooler weather, dry conditions, and very full sun. In wetter, shadier, warmer conditions it has more of a yellow-green color.) The lavender (Lavandula × intermedia, Zones 5–9) was cut back after flowering, and this is a second bloom. The older plants don’t seem to flower twice. Does anyone know why all the lavender does not flower twice? (Editor’s note: I think the difference in rebloom depends on the specific cultivar, but I’m not sure. Anyone who knows, please share in the comments!)
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