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Swansea Horticultural Society Newsletter. – Autumn - 2013
SWANSEA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
95 Lavinia Ave.,Box 104Toronto M6S 3H9
President: Muriel Casy Tel: 416-769-8487
Newsletter:Lee Veikkamo or 416-766-934
NEWSLETTER– AUTUMN, 2013
Hi Members,
It’s amazing how garden plants just seem to revive as soon as the hot and humid summer air departs and the garden can look even better than during the summer months. Add autumn bloomers such as mums and it can be overwhelming with colour. And containers! If a good fertilizer has been added, containers overflow with growth.I am always amazed at the wonderful large containers at the Grenadier Cafe in HighPark.
This is a great time of year to divide plants and to add new plants into your garden. The soil remains warm enough well into October in our area for roots to get established before deep frost arrives. This is also a great time to weed out the unwanted growth in the garden. Compost, compost, compost – I can’t say it enough how beneficial compost is for your garden. Late autumn is a good time to add compost. And of course, when your garden perennialsare in their decline, if you cut them back, add them along with fallen leaves to the compost. Also add your spent annuals. Do not add plants and leaves with black mold spots. The city can do a better job of composting them.
Mumsare the standouts in autumn. Hardy mums are perennials in our area. However, though this is a great time to plant new perennials, don’t wait too late. Even hardy mums may not pull through a hard winter. If you buy a pot intending to plant them later, plant them when you buy them. Don’t wait until the flowers fade late in autumn. If your mums return in spring, they will not grow into a neat round ball shape. Pinch them back in early summer to keep them stocky.A popular perennial mum is ‘Bronze Elegans’. Others include ‘Clara Curtis’ – pink, ‘Mary Stoker’ – apricot, ‘Debonair’ – coral. The Morden series were developed in Brandon, Manitoba and if they survive there, then they can survive here. Note that chrysanthemums are best in sunny areas.
Late blooming hydrangeas are beautiful at this time of year. To grow them as a hedge is outstanding when they flower. Under the right conditions, hydrangeas can bloom for weeks.They can take shade but will bloom longer in a sunnier position. In addition to attractive blooms, the leaves add to their beauty. The three main species are: paniculata commonly known as Pee Gee with cone- shaped flower pannicles; aborescens which includes Annabelle with round balls of flower pannicles; and the bigleaf macrophylla. There are many varieties to choose from and now is a good time to plant them.
Grasses are at their best in autumn. The tall and medium sized grasses are just stunning and can even look great through the winter if not pushed down by heavy wet snow. They need minimal care and, when grown amongst flowers that fade in late summer, grasses take over the show. Tall grasses look good with rudbeckias and cone flowers as well as sedums like Autumn Joy. There are so many to choose from – just try a couple.
Congratulations !
Muriel Casey and Marcia Smith won 3rd prize for their entry at the
CNE in the window box category.
~~ Mary Patterson’s Page~~
House Plant Decisions
It’s decision making time again. No, we’re not having an election, but we do have to choose what house plants that have been vacationing out in the garden are worth taking indoors.The trouble with house plants are that they grow…often extremely well, and when the chill of October comes, we’re faced with the realization that the plant that seems a nice size on the patio is now too big for most places indoors. In fact some won’t squeeze through the doorway! Especially if you’ve been unwise like me, and transplanted them into a larger pots early in the growing season.
I always have one large plant as a floor plant in the den, one in the dining room, and something in the back sunroom. What to do with the rest?
Even renting greenhouse space, as we do, entails dragging these monstrous pots of greenery that seem to weigh a ton into the car, smashing their leaves down in the process, and then finding, by the time spring rolls around, that they’re impossible to transport back home again.One of our greenhouse gardeners solved the problem as he owns a wholesale food business, and he arrived last year with a small transport truck full of assorted palms etc., all over 5 feet tall!
I just fell for a lush 3 ft. tall Peace Lily, (Spathiphyllum ‘Mauna Loa’) in bloom, only $9.99.
(How do those Florida growers manage to produce such huge plants and send them north at such low prices?) Now who could resist? They’re a great plant for places with low light, (their leaves turn yellow with much natural light), are one of the 10 best ‘air-cleaning’ plants according to NASA research, re-bloom now and then, need regular watering, weak fertilizing in spring and fall, but that’s about all the care they need. But since this has taken up the corner of the dining room, where to put the ZedZed plant that usually stands there?
Sometimes it seems wisest to splurge on a few new ones each year, and then shut ones eyes and put them out when leaf collection days start. (Sometimes people carry them off to a new, adopted home. Hurrah!) I’m putting out a palm that suffered from the heat this summer, and a very nice foxtail fern may disappear as well, as it’s 3 ft. spread is too wide. Our good old sansevieria, (Mother-in-law’s Tongue) would have been abandoned this winter, but it set to work and sent up a number of racemes of white blooms last month so I owe it at least one more year.
A spot has to be saved for our younger hoya carnosa, (Wax plant) that had several clusters of white, fragrant waxy blooms last month. My last large one had to go to a city greenhouse as it bloomed so profusely that the scent overwhelmed us all. It’s another great plant that can grow in the poorest locations with minimal light, but will reward you by becoming quite lush if put near, but not in, a bright window. This vine needs a sturdy trellis.
And we have to leave some room for our fruit tree collection which has grown to include a Key lime, a Meyer lemon, a kumquat and a new Calemondra orange tree. Our first crop of lemons are almost ready to pick, after growing for 10 months… all 4 of them! Glad I’m not trying to make a living growing them.
I trust everyone had a good summer, and will be back ready to show off their prize specimens at our fall shows in Sept. and Oct. We’ll be waiting for you.
:
Not so common plants to consider:
-Summersweet (Clethra ainifolia) – A shrub with fragrant spikey white flowers. Grows well in part shade and sun and is adaptable to moist and dry soils. Good fall colour – the leaves turn yellow.
-Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) has beautiful white blooms in spring and attractive foliage which turn to shades of orange, crimson and purple in autumn. It can be grown as a shrub or small tree.
- Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) A 2-3 ft. tall flower which blooms now in partial shade. The pink flowers resemble a turtle head – very attractive.
- Zigzag Goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis) Does well in sun to partial shade. The long thin stems zigzag from leaf to leaf with yellow blooms. It looks great with tall fall asters.
September Flower Show Winner - $5.00 prize
Mary Chrobok for her Loves Lie Bleeding – Cultural Class
Mary Patterson won in the Decorative Class.
CITY OF TORONTO ETOBICOKE YORK DISTRICT
‘GREAT GARDEN CONTEST’ 2013 (11 Wards)
BestGarden of the District (overall) 291 Beresford Avenue
1st Runner-Up to BestGarden of the District 27 Sagres Crescent
Ward 13 Winners:
TRADITIONALALTERNATIVE/ENVIRONMENTAL
1st 17 Harcroft Road1st 291 Beresford Ave.
2nd 20 Dacre Crescent2nd 287 Humberside Ave.
3rd. 8 Wendigo Way3rd 16 Dacre Crescent
Special Mention: Next door to the Swansea Townhall, Fire Station #425 placed 3rd in Other Properties category.Their garden has improved greatly over the last couple of years. SwanseaTown Hall has competition!!
Speaker Topics:
If you have ideas about what speakers can talk about at our general meetings, please contact Beverly. She would welcome new input. Beverly would also like someone to help setting up our roster of speakers. Get involved!
Autumn Tasks and Tips:
1. Plant your daffodils before your other bulbs. They need more time before frost arrives.
2. Bring your houseplants inside and give them a good rinse outside to wash out the bugs.
3. This is a good weed-cleaning time.
4. After you have done your garden clean-up, add the compost you started in the spring. You don’t need to wait till spring which is one of the busiest times in the garden.
5. Clean out your containers and garden tools. Save the soil of some containers for your winter decoration. Place branches and other docorative evergreen branches in the soil before frost makes the soil too hard.
6. Rake your leaves and compost them!
Happy Gardening!
Lee Veikkamo