November Updates

November or not, we don't like to stay inside if we don't have to. It's been mild - we haven't had a frost yet and besides a few good soakings of rain, it is rather refreshing to be out there as long as I'm wearing the right layers. I'm not ready to be holed up indoors for the long dark that is inevitably on its way. Plus, we recently acquired a few plants from my friend Bridget so those naturally had to go in the ground and as is the way with things, one seemingly simple task leads to four others. Now is the time to do it - make changes, that is - so new plants have the whole of winter to settle in and recover in nice, cool weather. Here then is a rather gray and sort of dreary but very real look at what's happening around these parts this past week.

Very hard to spot here but there is a new Luma apiculata in the mix to the left of the Hebe 'Karo Golden Esk' on the right side.

So what was moved to make way for the lovely Luma apiculata? The hebe, circled, was moved to another location near the chicken coop, an area that needed a little sprucing up anyhow.

There it is, front and center. Bridget had a rather large specimen in a container and it needed a new home. Lucky me. I have many smaller rounded shrubs in this area so a little vertical accent was the perfect change.

I think it will add a lot to this area if it survives winter. My fingers are crossed. Plus, this area is opened up a little more giving a few surrounding perennials light and air.

Cistern update: We used all of the water out of it this summer on the western woodland garden in about a month during the hottest part of the year. It has been empty since September. Now, however, this 2500-gallon cistern is completely full after about a month of rain collected from just one quarter of our roof. FM shut off the valve for now. We're set for some spring and summer irrigation! I'd love to get more cisterns but they are spendy and take up a lot of room.

Here are a few updates of damaged plants highlighted earlier in the year. Here, Phormium tenax 'Atropurupureum' had a rough winter and I chose to cut it back hard and start fresh.

Same plant this week. It totally recovered as it always does. I think that cutting it back completely rather than carefully grooming it is the way to go should we have yet another nasty winter. It's easier than meticulously pruning and it looks better overall.

Here's a mistake I regret: When pruning some reversions on a Lonicera nitida 'Silver Beauty' (syn. Lonicera ligustrina var. yunnanensis 'Silver Beauty', Lonicera pileata 'Silver Beauty') several years ago, I stuck the reversions in the ground. In other words, the silvery foliage reverted in parts to solid green which I thought I was putting to good use by "planting" them. Thinking nothing of it and not expecting anything, I left them for many years and was pretty happy when they took and grew and spread in the western woodland. It needed some solid green in there while some natives had time to fill in. I wasn't keeping track and one main shrub grew to a huge size. FM and I took two long sessions to dig it out, here is the aftermath.

Boy did it take over. I failed to get a "before" photo, but here is the after. All the area with leaves was covered in one huge suckering lonicera. The red circles are Itea virginica shrubs that Bridget also gave me that we planted in place of the lonicera. They are helping to fill this area in while the Gaultheria shallon and Mahonia nervosa are able to spread with more light and no competition. Mind you, this is the only lonicera or shrubby honeysuckle that has been aggressive for me, but still, lesson learned. And as I mentioned earlier, one project leads to many others - this removal was prompted by the need to find the iteas a home in the garden and I'm glad it did. It forced me to take a long hard look at the lonicera in question.

Earlier this year I mentioned Arctostaphylos 'Saint Helena' had some unusual burning on its leaves. This is the same plant this week, not having "grown out of it" but still doing fine and setting buds for this winter's flowers.

It's not the entire plant, though. This is just a couple of feet away, clean and healthy new foliage. I am unclear why this happened, though speculation is that it's weather-related.

Winter damage from Dianella revoluta 'Allyn Citation'. It looked completely dead until I removed brown foliage only to discover life at the base in spring.

This is the same plant this week. Plants are cool. It is normally an evergreen perennial, nice to know that if it does get knocked back it has a chance of rebounding.

Now for a few photos of scenes that I found interesting around the garden. This is the meadow garden holding on to the last of the orange tones. The cardoon in the background against the white sky looks like a flock of birds.

Two new-to-me salvias purchased from Windcliff this summer (post coming soon!) are still blooming as if it were summer. I love them for that. This is Salvia 'Brilliance' and is a lovely purpleish shade. Behind it, Monardella 'Russian River' is also blooming. My photo of it looks terrible so you'll have to take my word for it. I like how they look together.

The other Windcliff salvia is Salvia greggii 'Arctic Blaze Red', equally as floriferous.

Salix elaeagnos ssp. angustifolia, rosemary willow, is starting to turn shades of yellow, one of the last deciduous trees or shrubs to turn color for the year.

Oscar the Agave parryi var. truncata sandwiched between two Arctostaphylos pumila and a Muhlenbergia rigens on the outer edge of the labyrinth.

Proof that our native Physocarpus capitatus, Pacific ninebark, does indeed have some good golden yellow foliage color in autumn. Since I have many of these throughout the garden, I appreciate the extra color and depth these add overall.

The grass has turned green again and the leaves have nearly finished falling from trees.

One of the first plants I bought while working for Cistus Nursery, Acer griseum. Its color was even more vivid last week but I failed to get a photograph. Busy me, I suppose. I love how it vibrates against Rhamnus alaternus ‘Variegata’, an excellent evergreen shrub for all kinds of soil types and conditions. I have it as a specimen, but it also works as a hedge or screening plant. It also makes wonderful material for bouquets and holiday centerpieces. A good alternative to holly, too.

There are a few other updates not illustrated here as the rain started and I had to come inside with my camera. A Hebe diosmifolia that took a really hard hit this winter that I left as an experiment is coming back, though slowly. If we don't have a terrible winter it might pull through. Yesterday I removed a bunch of plants from a difficult area, the plants weren't happy so out they went. The blank spots are actually rather nice. Also final count of my loofah gourd crop is 22 whopping gourds that I still need to clean. My squash harvest was measly this year, it had a lot to do with poor germination and probably old seed. I'll remedy that next spring but I do have enough Winter Luxury pie pumpkins to make as many pumpkin pies as we can eat, so that's good news. I also planted up bunches of bulbs such as two different species tulips and several Camassia leichtlinii 'Semiplena', a gigantic and gorgeous camas. I'm busy in the greenhouse still tending to cuttings and doing my annual organizing spree, tasks I love when I want to be outside but it's just a little too wet and/or cold to be out there. FM has been raking up leaves from the grass and paths and placing them in garden beds where they become shelter for overwintering insects and eventually decompose adding nutrients to the soil. He has also been cleaning out the garage and we've both been shelling dry beans harvested earlier this autumn.

Keeping busy is keeping a smile on my face as I hang out with the chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, hummingbirds among other critters. Hobbes and Annie are staying close to the warmth of the heater and FM is busy tending chickens and helping me with all my crazy tasks, for which I am forever grateful. He even dug out a rather mature Stipa gigantea for me yesterday. The pace here is slow and thoughtful this time of the year, which I welcome.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. Thank you so much for reading and commenting, we do love hearing from you all! And thank you for checking out the videos of the garden on Over the Fence Landscape Tours YouTube channel, it was a lot of fun to do with Donna. Happy gardening, everyone.