Slash and Save the Banana

Ensete ventricousm maurelii

A few light frosts have hit the Abyssinian Banana.  Before more damage was done, it had to be hacked, dug, potted, and  brought in.  Below you see it just a couple months ago, before it overtook the Shoo-fly plants around it.

Thought I might as well attack all the damaged leaves.  I decided to leave parts of the best ones on.  I guess I will not attempt to keep it dormant; I'll find a spot for it where it can keep growing a bit through the winter.  I expect it's greatest threat will be the usual spider mites.   And my underwatering.

It spent a few days in the greenhouse, but the temp tonight is likely to be just above freezing.  In other words, a heavy frost.

So I just brought it into the basement for the night.  I think I'll take it to work next, and find a quiet spot for it in front of a big window.  And, I commit myself to watering it every week.  Yes.  I promise.  

Fall is the new Spring

Colchicum

Plants like 'Fall Crocus' keep the Cottage blooming.  In fact, it has been more colourful out there for the past few wet weeks than it was much of the dry summer.  No surprise there.  Some of the plants are those that finally show off, in this season...

Burning Bush, Euonymus alatus

White Snakeroot, Eupatorium rugosum 'chocolate'

Aster, Symphyotrichum ____

Some of the species are still blooming.  The Rudbeckia, for instance, got the old flowers cut off a few weeks ago, and perhaps this encouraged a whole new crop of flower buds.

Rudbeckia nitida

Actaea racemosa, Black Snakeroot

Some of the foliage is having spring now.  Not just the luxurious grass in the lawn I can't keep ahead of... the Italian Arum, invisible in August, is sending up its leaves now, which will withstand the cold Nova Scotia winter.  And a new Pieris is covered in flower buds, as if it is going to bloom soon.  I assume it waits for spring.

Arum italicum, Italian Arum

Pieris _______

Then there is the scattering of out-of-season blossoms that randomly appear.  Look for them and you will find them.

Dianthus, Pinks

Aurinia saxatilis, Basket of Gold

Kniphofia, Red Hot Poker

My hope is these will all thrive for a few more weeks.  Out at the Cottage we seem to get frost later than we do inland.  This morning (October 13) we have patchy frost at home.  I assume there is none at the cottage this morning. 

     May your frost come late to your garden this year!

Helianthus Hunting

I'm green with envy.  I'm coveting a curiosity.  I'm tempted to steal a sunflower.  I want this plant, and it grows in a public garden in a town just down the road.  It is Helianthus salicifolius, Willow-Leaf Sunflower.

Nowhere else have I ever seen this plant, save the internet.  It's growing in Willow Park, in some beds of wonderful grasses, roses, and the like. 

I first noticed this amazing foliage last summer, and wondered what on earth this could be.  It was so nice early in the season; it did not even need to bloom to call my name and say, "You need me."

Only when it started to bloom in late September could I discover it was a helianthus, meaning, simply, "sun"-"flower."    Salicifolius, of course, means it has leaves like Willow, Salix.  H.s. is blooming now, at the same time and with flowers very similar to Jerusalem Artichoke, Helianthus tuberosus.  But Willow-Leaf has leaves as narrow as Jerusalem Artichoke's are wide, if you know that plant.  

It seems to be a very happy perennial in the Annapolis Valley.  Where can I find some for my own garden?   I don't know.  Last year I sought seeds from these plants, but I don't think any ripened or were produced.  To me this is a rare and unusual plant, and it is so close at hand!  Perhaps next year I'll find a source.  

     If you grow it, I hope you enjoy it thoroughly!

October Bloomers

October brings some new blooms to the garden, while other plants keep their own show going on and on and on.  This Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate'  is just in it's glory now.  Nearby, the Aralia cordata 'Sun King' is blooming greenily, and the Chives still send up an occasional blooming stem.

The annual Nicandra physalodes keeps on blooming and going to seed.  Some of the local birds have even been feeding on the seeds, I think.

Campsis radicans, sporting some large green pods, looks like it will stay in flower until frost.  There.  I typed that word.  Here's hoping the first hard frost will be weeks away!

The male Holly, above, is blooming a bit.  But another spectacular bloomer for a great long time has been this Gaura that came from a church plant sale, with a common name I don't remember now.  I really had no idea what it would be when I bought it last year.  Now I wish I had more.

The gardening season continues!