My Favourite 5 Medium Sized Conifers

	Serbian Spruce Picea omorika Picea omorika or Serbian spruce; this stiffly upright form of spruce with it’s proudly upswept branches reminds me of a soldier standing stiffly at attention. Many conifers take up a rather large footprint at the base and often for this reason people either choose the dwarf conifers or find something else to give them some height in the garden. This one gives you substantial height with very little width generally getting 20-25 feet in height and only about 6 feet wide at the bottom. The lovely dark green short needles contrast nicely with the silvery undersides which you see quite nicely with the upturned branches. This conifer can get on quite nicely with good drainage, humic, slightly acidic soil in full sun to partial shade. There is also a very popular blue form called Picea omorika 'Bruns'.
	Weeping Alaskan Cypress Chamaecyparis nootkatensis 'Pendula' I like this artistic West Coast looking conifer in groupings. We’ll call the form upright drooping. It has pea green branchlets with a slightly silvery blue underside. It holds out its branches in broad swoops while the branchlets dangle down like the tasseled ends of a shawl. - I like this artistic West Coast looking conifer in groupings. We’ll call the form upright drooping. It has pea green branchlets with a slightly silvery blue underside. It holds out its branches in broad swoops while the branchlets dangle down like the tasseled ends of a shawl. Like picea abies it can give you height in a garden without a lot of spread. It can grow to about 20-25 feet with about 8 feet of artistic like spread. This conifer prefers full sun to partial shade in well draining humic and slightly acidic soil. There are also more blue hued versions available.
	Fernspray Gold Hinoki Cypress Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Fernspray Gold' This is a lovely slow growing artistic conifer which grows to about 8feet in height by about 6 feet. It has bright gold outer branches and branch tips while the interior of the plant is a lovely fresh green. Its branches have a lovely fine fernlike texture. This plant prefers a bit of dappled shade in the heat of the afternoon to avoid burning the gold branches. Provide ample moisture in a well drained site with a nice humic, slightly acidic soil and you will have a specimen that will have your plant loving neighbors talking! This plant also makes a lovely bonsai specimen.
	Iseli’s Columnar Blue Spruce Picea pungens Islies Fastigiata I couldn’t go without a blue could I! This variety of true blue spruce has a very slender growth habit. It grows very slowly to about 15-20 feet in height (still not there after 20 years) and about 7 feet wide. A stunning specimen at the back of the border, place this tree where you want to draw the eye. The lovely icy blue colour contrasts so nicely with my dark greens and golds. This tree prefers full sun to get the best blue colour in well drained average slightly acidic soil.
Photo Credit: Monrovia, Horticultural Printers	Silver Whispers Swiss Stone Pine Pinus cembra 'Klein' This compact soft looking mini-Christmas tree shaped conifer is another lovely variety for the smaller garden. It is slow growing to about 12 feet high by about 6 feet wide. The rich green needles in bundles of 5 are striped with white giving the tree an overall silvery green effect. It is very densely branched and full looking. This specimen is best in full sun in well drained average to humic, slightly acidic soil. This little guy is on my must get for my garden list!

These and many other great conifers are always available at Arts Nursery. If you would like more information about which ones are right for you, call 604.882.1201 or come visit and we would be happy to assist!

Kids and Pets Photos With Santa Dec 4th & 11th

Kids & Pets Photos with Santa

Santa is making a special appearance at Art's Nursery between 1pm and 4pm on December 4th and December 11th for photos with your kids or pets.

As this is a special, last-minute trip, Santa is not bringing the elves or reindeer so you'll have to bring your own camera to get great shots. As Santa is so generous, there is no fee for this special occasion. Hope to see you there!

Sunday December 4th, 1-4 pm
Sunday December 11th, 1-4pm

FREE Event - Please bring your own camera.
Donations accepted for the SPCA or  Foodbank

Cool Plant: Wolong Ghost Silver Veined Wintercreeper

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Euonymus fortunei 'Wolong Ghost'
Silver Veined Wintercreeper

Prominent white veins stand out on the narrow, deep green leaves for an unusual appearance on this strong-growing groundcover. Fills in large or small spaces in sunny borders or shady woodland gardens. Evergren. Full to part sun. Grows 8-10 inches in height, 18-24 inches wide. Hardy to zone 5.

This plant and many others are available at Art's Nursery Ltd. Please call 604.882.1201 to confirm availability.

Cool Plant: Morgan Chinese Arborvitae

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Thuja orientalis 'Morgan'
Morgan Chinese Arborvitae

This woody chameleon, native to Australia, is known for its gorgeous changing year-round foliage colour. Its summer lime-green foliage turns deep purple in fall, followed by fantastic rich orange colour during the winter months. A favourite plant among dwarf conifer enthusiasts. Grows 2-4 inches a year to a maximum height of 3ft in 10 years. Needs full sun.

This plant is generally available at Art's Nursery.
Please call 604.882.1201 to confirm availability.

Your Garden in December

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Looks like we’re starting December off rather nicely on the Wet Coast, sunny and cool. After dipping my shopping toes into the danger filled waters of mall Christmas shopping I think I do the rest online, in my pjs and gorilla slippers…while listening to Dave Cooks the Turkey by Stuart McLean. There is not a ton to do in the garden at this time, but a whole lot of daydreaming.
Ok, ok, there are a few things you can still do for those keeners out there.

Here’s the list:

Garden Beds:
You can still plant shrubs and trees so long as the ground is not frozen or mucky and waterlogged. Don’t panic if you haven’t plunked those bulbs in yet, wait until the soil has dried out a bit and then toss them in. Weed if needed, mulch around plants with chopped up leaves or bark mulch (avoid using fruit tree or rose leaves). If you have acid lovers such as blueberries or lingonberries or rhodo’s you can drag fallen pine and fir branches to the garden beds and leave them until the needles fall off and then drag away the branches sans needles.

Plant for Winter Interest
Thisis a great time to look for plants that most spring-only gardeners would miss. The list is actually quite large, for example: camellias, mahonia, hellebores, wintergreen, holly and more

Pots:
Mother Nature has so handily provided many fallen boughs for me to fill my front planters with. Go for a walk and collect some boughs for swags or garlands. We also have some artfully arranged at the store too. Don’t forget to water those plants under cover outside. While not requiring water every day or even once a week, you’ll still need to water say once every two weeks. Feel the top of the soil and make sure it feels moist. When it dries out, add water.

House Plants:
With the cooler weather, most of us have our furnaces on blowing warm and dry air. Keep an eye on your houseplants, misting and providing pebble trays as needed.

Bulbs for Forcing
you can still start paper whites, Hyacinth and Amaryllis now for late winter blooms.

Lawns:
Those past few winter storms should have taken care of most of the rest of the leaves. Make sure to rake or blow large leaves off of the lawn or you’ll be making extra work for yourself next spring with overseeding all those bare patches.

Seeds:
The seed catalogues should be starting to come in around now and you can settle down with a nice peppermint hot chocolate and a pen and put your feet up and start your wish list. Now is a great time to plan for next year and just think… you don’t have to put up with a pesky garden to-do list until 2012!
Cheers,
Laurelle

November 2011 In Your Garden

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We get more rain this month than any other, so with that in mind here is the list!

Take your vitamin C and vitamin D.

Wash your hands often.

Get a good amount of sleep – studies have found that lack of sleep not only causes a decrease in cognitive function: In a study of six graders, those who got 1 hour less in sleep scored two grades lower at the cognitive level of a 4th grader (Bronson and Merryman, Nurture Shock); but even more intriguing, negative stimuli are stored in the brain by the amygdala while positive stimuli are taken care of by the hippocampus an area of the brain more profoundly affected by sleep deprivation .

So, now that you are healthy, smart and in possession of all of your fond memories you are ready for the West Coast Winter…and the rest of the list:

	Inspect your containers for cracks and ensure there is adequate drainage…you’ll need it.  Bring them up close to the house or under the deck.  Wrap all those that need wrapping with underlay, bubble wrap etc.  Or insulate with bags of leaves, or bales of hay etc.  for the more tender plants.  Be on the lookout for fallen evergreen boughs to spruce up your empty pots.
	If you are lucky enough to have red twig dogwood or a contorted filbert now is the moment you’ve been waiting for to decorate your pots!!  If you don’t have greens and twigs handy you can come in to visit us, we have bunches. If you don’t have a red twig dogwood or contorted filbert, now is a good time to get one.  You can still plant trees and hardy shrubs as long as the ground is not frozen.
	Rake up and bag apple leaves and rose leaves and those leaves that were affected badly by pest and disease.  The others you can compost and use as mulch in your garden.
	You can still divide up hardy perennials. Lift and store Dahlia’s, Cannas as well as other non hardy tubers.  Make sure to check and turn them often and mist as necessary.  Remember Cinnamon is a great fungicide; you can sprinkle your tubers with Cinnamon.
	You can plant your bulbs, garlic too, if you haven’t already and you can find a dry day. Remember it takes approximately 9 months to grow garlic and the fall is the best time to plant it.
Blow out irrigation systems before the hard freezes come. My hubby  did the trailer yesterday. Clean and put away your tools.  Drain the gas from your mower.  I think I’ll take the trampoline down too.  Lawn furniture is nicely tucked away.
	Weed if it’s dry.  Weeding when the ground is mucky will cause soil compaction.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Don’t be too tidy with your clean up.  Beneficial insects and pollinators overwinter in hollow stems and under leaves and branches.  Lucky for me.
Don’t forget those pebble trays with water to humidify those house plants.  A mister works well too. If you're not sure, come on in and well show you what you need to do.

Take care of yourselves this winter, tuck into a good book and stay warm! 

Cheers,  Laurelle

My Favourite Conifers - Part One

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I’ll admit it, even though I graft heritage Apple trees and adore herbs and veggies and grasses, conifers are my favorite groups of plants.  When all others have gone to sleep for the winter, the conifer stands steadfast and brightens the rainy winter months.  Each year I find some new excellent varieties to fall in love with and this year is no different.  They are the garden bones, they provide the structure for a good design and given the right spot and conditions they are the tough fullbacks of the garden.
The adage ‘The Right Plant in the Right Place’ is never truer than with conifers.
Conifers need drainage.  Putting a conifer into a soggy or heavy clay site is often one of the fastest ways to kill it.  Planting it too deeply, another efficient way to get rid of it.  If you moosh it in with a lot of other plants…you will get to enjoy its bare branches, as those that aren’t getting enough light and elbow room will lose their needles. They do not require much if any grooming or feeding.  Average slightly acidic soil with some evergreen food in early spring is a good idea.
Their needs are not many but are very specific, however if you put a conifer into a lovely well drained spot, plant at the correct height and give it sufficient sun for most (though not all) and elbow room, you will be rewarded with an extraordinary specimen of a plant that draws the eye at any season.
Texture, colour and structure in just about every size are the specialties of this plant, something winter gardens are often sadly lacking.
There are specimens for almost every type of garden from pint sized bonsais, to dwarf rockery style plants, to slender upright conifers for small space gardens, to artistic weepers for a sloped or streamside planting, to impressive sentinels for larger gardens or windbreaks.
Conifers are one of the most multipurpose groups of plants.
It is worth a wintertime wander through the UBC Botanical Gardens or VanDusen Gardens to inspire you.
After observing my garden slowly melt away from the voracious driveway eating perennial zoo to bare earth, twigs and wet leaves, I have a hankering for some form, texture and colour now, what to choose…

Here are my 5 fave dwarf or smaller conifers:

	Dwarf Balsam Fir Abies balsamea ‘Nana’ It is a luscious deep dark green low flat round evergreen with the most amazing electric lime new growth in the spring.  This lovely little fir grows to about 3 ½ feet by 3 ½ feet verrrrry slowly.  It prefers part sun to dappled shade.  The deep dark green contrasts rather nicely with a variegated Hellebore or a golden leaved hosta in the summer.
	Verdon Dwarf Hinoki False Cypress Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Verdoni’ In spite of the huge moniker, this is a lovely variety for the small garden.  With fan like sprays of limes, darker greens and golds, this artistically growing Hinoki Falsecypress will brighten up a drab corner of the garden.  It is another extremely slow grower with eventual heights from 4-6feet high and a very slender 3’ wide.  It prefers sun to part shade and unlike a few Hinokis this gold foliage won’t burn in full sun.
	Dwarf Serbian Spruce Picea omorika ‘Nana’ A shrimpy version of one of my fave conifers for the small garden.  It has the stiffly upright branch growth of the original Picea omorika, and the lovely bi coloured effect of green with blue because you get to see the undersides of its needles which are striped.  This little guy can take full sun to part shade and slowly grows to about 4-6feet in height and 3-6 f feet in width.
	Silver Show Korean Fir Abies koreana ‘Silver Show’ I love the bi-coloured effect of the rich green topsides of the needles and the silvery undersides.  The needles are held upright along the branches so you get to see the silver undersides.  It always looks snowy.  This is a true collector type, often hard to find but worth the hunt.  It is a slow grower to 5 feet tall by 3 feet wide.  It prefers full to part sun.
	Carstens Winter Gold Pine Pinus mugo ‘Carstens Winter Gold’  I fell in love with this one on a miserable cold, misty rainy evening.  I could see it clear across the courtyard.  I had to see what was still looking so cheery buttercup yellow on such an evening.  This exceptional plant only grows about 2 inches a year into an eventual 4feet high by 2 feet wide. This little guy prefers full sun for best colour.

These and other gorgeous conifers are usually available at Art's Nursery. Please call 604.882.1201 to confirm availability if you are looking for a specific size or variety. Stay tuned for parts two and three of my favourite conifers series - coming soon!

Art's 6th Annual Christmas Open House & Evening of Lights

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You're invited to Art's 6th Annual Christmas Open House & Evening of Lights, Thursday, Nov 17th, 2011 between 5 and 9pm. This relaxing, low-key event is a great way to kick-start the festive season. See beautiful themed christmas displays, enjoy light snacks and warm beverages, take in the sights and sounds of the season, and of course indulge yourself with thousands of christmas ornaments and unique gifts. We' hope to see you there! Call 604.882.1201 if you have any questions or need more information.

Fall and Winter Planters

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First - Select your container, this will be a fairly personal choice and can reflect your style or compliment you choice of outdoor décor. 

Larger is better, always select the largest possible container you can afford both budget and space wise.  Make sure the size fits in with the scale of your landscape, a tiny courtyard garden can be easily overwhelmed by a planter that is too large. 

Be aware of the material your planter is made of, you want to ensure that it is frost proof; most stone, wood, concrete, plastic and metal planters will be ok but double check with your local retailer and especially when selecting terra cotta and glazed pots, you want to make sure they are designed for outdoor use and will not crack or break apart.

Second – Gather your plant selection, be creative and use plants that complement each other or add contrasting elements for visual interest. 

Fall and winter planters should include plants that are hardy and can withstand the winter months without becoming too ratty looking.  Avoid using perennials (unless they are evergreen) as they will die down and leave an empty space in your creation.  If you wish to use perennial or seasonal plants leave them in their pots so you can easily switch them out without disturbing the rest of the planting. 

Put as many plants as you can into your container, this will give it a lush fullness.  Try and keep the overall shape pyramidal as this is a pleasing and balanced design, give the planter as much height as you can and layer down from there with various combinations of plants including trailing or cascading plants that can spill over and soften the edges of the planter. 

This mini landscape is a living outdoor arrangement that is only limited by your creativity.

Third – Always use a good well-drained soil mix.  It should be porous enough to drain well (especially during our wet winter months) yet still be able to retain some moisture so that the plants do not dry out too quickly. 

To help keep plants healthy and lush incorporate a good quality slow release fertilizer into the soil mix before planting.  Check with your local garden center for available soil mixes and fertilizers.

 

Fourth – Accessorize, like a floral arrangement you can incorporate some final touches to your container that will add that extra punch. Use seasonal cuts or ornaments, branches and stems with dried seed heads, berries and fruit. These “temporary” additions can be changed out as needed. Finally, including some lighting (LEDs) is a great way of adding life and extending your viewing pleasure into the evenings and through the dark days of winter.  

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Some Great Container Plants:

• Heuchera, Heucherella and Tiarella
• Phormium (tender)
• Cyclamen (hardy selections)
• Dwarf conifers
• Carex (evergreen forms)
• Euphorbia
• Mukdenia (great fall colour, deciduous)
• Skimmia
• Dwarf Rhododendrons and Azaleas
• Beesia
• Ophiopogon (Black Mondo Grass)
• Bergenia
• Ferns (evergreen forms)
• Broadleaf evergreens (so many to select from)
• Ilex (deciduous forms have attractive berries)
• Callicarpa (deciduous, purple berries)
• Yucca
• Cornus (deciduous, coloured stems)
• Gaultheria

These plants and many others are available at Art's Nursery. Please call 604.882.1201 ahead of time to confirm availability if you are looking for a specific item or variety.

 Lyle Courtice, A.H.
 Lyle is a certified Horticultural Technician (Niagara College), Landscape Designer, Nurseryman and the proprietor of HarkAway Botanicals. He is a guest blogger for Art's Nursery and his plants are available through us.
 
Since 1980 Lyle has worked in both the retail and wholesale sectors of the horticultural trade; he operates his own wholesale nursery, which focuses on an eclectic mix of rare and choice plant material from Asia, Europe and North America.
 
Lyle has appeared on The Canadian Gardener and is a contributing author to A Grower’s Choice (Raincoast books 2001).  His horticultural expertise makes him sought after as a consultant, lecturer, photographer, instructor and writer.  An industry veteran, Lyle is esteemed within the horticultural community for his passionate and often humorous enthusiasm for plants.

6 Beautiful Japanese Maples - Video

Fantastic Fall Plants - Video

5 Cool Plants For September 2011

With so many plants available these days, its hard to bring attention to just a few. With that said, we think these are remarkable because their beauty comes not from their flowers, but from other attributes of interest.

	Hosta 'Empress Wu' This is the worlds largest Hosta. It reaches an astounding 4 1/2 feet tall, up to six feet wide with gigantic two-foot leaves. Foliage is deeply veined and of good substance. Blooms appear in early to mid summer, just above the foliage. An outstanding focal point. This plant is best in full to part shade in moist, but well drained soils. We have limited quantities available for Fall 2011, so if you want one of these specimens, call ahead or hurry in!
	Giant Zebra Grass Miscanthus giganteus 'Lottum' This grass features large clumps of downward arching foliage with yellow banding. What make it special is its size. This monster will grow up to 9 feet high and 6 feet wide. It also extremely fast growing - reaching 2 metres in a season! Its an excellent plant for a screen, seasonal hedging or as a feature specimen in large containers. Giant Zebra grass is a warm season grass meaning it performs best in the warmer months, late spring, summer and early fall. Cut it back in early spring to give it a clean appearance. Hardy to zone 4.
	Upright Japanese Plum Yew Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Fastigiata' There is more to gardens than flowers. This attractive conifer features dark green, shiny, blunt-ended needlelike foliage. It is both heat and shade tolerant and will thrive in areas of morning sun and afternoon shade. It is ideally suited for temperate gardens and is known to its carefree upright growth habit. Fairly slow growing. forms a broad upright shrub up to 10 feet tall and 6-8 feet wide. Hardy to zone 7.
	Tri-Colour Bud Bloomers Calluna vulgaris These summer flowering heathers are truly a treat for the garden. Three different colour bud bloomer heathers in one pot. (A bud blooming variety has colourful flower buds, but no real flowers to speak of). They bloom prolifically from Late August through the fall, and do best in full sun to part shade. They prefer a moist, but well drained, peaty-acidic soil. For best appearance, trim them to the base of the flower spike after flowering. Grows up to 12 inches high and 1-2 feet wide.
	Chinese Lanterns Physalis alkekengi Ok, we cheated, this very cool plant is renowned for its unique flowers. The Chinese Lantern or Physalis alkekengi features fall blooming brightly orange coloured papery pods that create a festive display on the front steps of patio. A very cool plant for Halloween too! Flowers can be cut and dried and used all through the winter as decorations. Grows 2-3 feet in height and does best in full to part sun. Hardy in zones 2-9.

If any of these interesting plants catch your attention, call or drop by Art's Nursery and we'll be happy to put one or more aside for you. If you have any questions or need help choosing the right plant for your garden, we're always here to help!

New Bulb Planting Website - Dig Drop Done

As Fall is the ideal bulb planting time, why not launch a new bulb related website at the same time.

Dig Drop Done is great resource for all those who love bulbs in their garden.
It features a bulb catalog, planting tips, inspirational photo and video galleries, planting charts and more.

Art's Nursery carries a large selection of both spring and summer blooming bulbs, many of which are available now in Fall. Hurry in for best selection!

The Garden in Autumn

Fall, autumn… the final season before winter sets in once again.  It can be rather depressing as the garden is finishing up its summer splendor and plants are returning to the earth to sleep away the winter months.  But is it a time to be down or can it be one last kick at the can before the snow flies.


Autumn is a wonderful time with all its blazing glory of colour, many plants put out one last big splash before taking a much needed rest and some plants like Arum even begin their growing cycle now, sprouting from the ground with their tropical-like foliage and holding through the cold wet months adding that much needed foliar element to the winter white.
A host of plants do their flowering at this time of the year and some like Skimmia japonica even produce flower bud clusters reminiscent of tiny red berries that will hold through winter ready to bust open with their wonderfully fragrant flowers at the first sign of spring’s warmth.
Cones come into their own now too showing us another way plants express themselves in interesting and attractive ways.  What would those Thanksgiving and Christmas displays be without pine cones.

This is prime time for many plants to produce fruit, such abundant and colourful displays add both a fantastic addition to our fallscapes and offer much needed food for birds and other wildlife, keeping them fed through the lean months.

Autumn is a time when we can reap the bounty of our veggie gardens, pumpkins are ripe for harvest and transformation into pies, potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, squash all fresh, delicious and grown in your own back yard (or pot!) can be enjoyed now.  Autumn is a time for celebration, a toast to the great spring and summer that it follows.

Grasses with their seed heads swaying in the breeze gently usher us into winter letting us know it is time for planting our spring flowering bulbs and winter veggies.

Heuchera and its relatives Heucherella and Tiarella, all evergreen perennials, have a wardrobe change before the winter season giving us more intense and vibrant leaf colour and markings.
But least we forget the fall colours that many plants display for our amazement.  Even some conifers give us a splash of gold and amber before retiring.

The kings of fall colour are of course the maples with their staggering array of yellows, ambers, orange, red and burgundy they are simply stunning in their glory making the fall season a wonderland of colour.

Interesting Plants With Attractive Fall and Winter Interest

Flowers From Late Summer Into Fall Buddleia Calluna Caryopteris (fragrant) Cimicifuga (fragrant) Clethra (fragrant) Hibiscus Roscoe Zingiber

Flowers - Fall to Winter Hamamelis - Witchhazel Camellia sasanqua Daphne x transatlantica 'Eternal Fragrance'

Plants With Attractive Fruit Aronia Callicarpa Cotoneaster Daphne tangutica Nandina Panax Pyracantha Skimmia Vaccinium Viburnum

Conifers With Fall Colour Larix - Larch Metasequoia Pseudolarix Taxodium

Shrubs with Fall Colour Acer palmatum Aronia Berberis Clethra Cornus Cotinus Enkianthus Euonymus Hydrangea quercifolia Rhus Vaccinium Viburnum

Trees with Attractive Fall Colour Acer - Maples Cercidiphyllum - Katsura Cornus - Dogwood Fagus - Beech Ginkgo Gleditsia Nyssa Oxydendron - Sourwood Pyrus - Flowering Pear Quercus - Oak

If you would like more information about which of these plants would work well in your garden, please don't hesitate to call 604.882.1201 or visit Art's Nursery in person. We'd be happy to assist in any way possible

 Lyle Courtice, A.H.

 Lyle is a certified Horticultural Technician (Niagara College), Landscape Designer, Nurseryman and the proprietor of HarkAway Botanicals.

Since 1980 Lyle has worked in both the retail and wholesale sectors of the horticultural trade; he operates his own wholesale nursery, which focuses on an eclectic mix of rare and choice plant material from Asia, Europe and North America.

Lyle has appeared on The Canadian Gardener and is a contributing author to A Grower’s Choice (Raincoast books 2001).  His horticultural expertise makes him sought after as a consultant, lecturer, photographer, instructor and writer.  An industry veteran, Lyle is esteemed within the horticultural community for his passionate and often humorous enthusiasm for plants.

September 2011 In Your Garden

So far this September is shaping up rather nicely!

Perhaps this is the make-up part of the summer for the less than glorious beginning.  At any rate I’ll gratefully take it!  September is one of those catch 22 situations.  If the weather remains good, the summer baskets and pots continue to thrive and I am reluctant to make them over into fall/winter baskets.

The catch for me is that all of the new and lovely fall and winter plants and bulbs start coming in to the nursery now but by November when the pots on my front steps were looking so bad that my paper lady started leaving the newspaper by the garage doors because she was afraid to walk by the pots of haggard looking annuals and one brave lingonberry which were by then covered with left-over Halloween cobwebs, plastic spiders and one very realistic fake rat.

The new little plants that I quickly stuffed in the pots didn’t have much time to root in before the freeze.
This year its going to be different, I will not scare the paper lady…though I can’t vouch for the dogs.  I’ll put the new stuff in BEFORE Halloween…really.

Here’s the list:

• Keep watering the pots, make sure they have time to dry out before evening to prevent powdery mildew.
• Deadhead fall perennials such as Rudbeckia and Gaillardia.  Tidy the flower border, but do allow some stems and fallen leaves to remain as many native bees and other pollinators overwinter in hollow stems and leaves.
• Tidy up spent annuals as needed.  Allow some to go to seed if you’d like a go at planting from seed next year. 
• Continue to tidy your roses, clipping and deadheading as needed.  You can take cuttings at this time of many shrubs such as roses and hydrangeas.
• Check out the new bulb selections and plan to plant them once it cools off and the soil gets a bit of rain. (the best selection of bulbs is available in early September through October!)
• Continue to harvest, don’t forget the late blackberry crop…its free!  You can also sow leafy greens and some herbs as well for winter and early spring crops.  My apple and pear crops are about 3 weeks late this year. 
• Continue to harvest fall Raspberries and cut any spent canes.  You can do the same for many other berries such as thornless Blackberries and Tayberries, removing many of the old canes and encouraging the new.  Continue to harvest late Blueberries if you are lucky enough to have some.  Elliott is one of the latest producing – going into October if the weather is with you.
• Begin to think about bringing in your patio tropicals by the end of the month.  Don’t forget a quarrantine area to prevent spread of any insects.  I keep them apart from the rest of the house plants for 2-3 weeks and inspect them before bringing them into general population.  Still haven’t managed to kill the darn poinsettia for the second summer…though I may have come close this year – but its come back better than ever. 
• Now is your second window of opportunity to renovate your lawn.  You can aerate, topdress and overseed followed by a fall fertilizer if your lawn needs help.  You can also add lime to that if your soil is very acidic. 
• Take stock of your garden beds and make a list of any bare areas while the garden is looking full.  Consider filling with some grasses for texture and movement.  Middle of next month is your second window of opportunity for planting trees, shrubs and hardy perennials.
• Begin to tidy up ponds towards the end of the month.  Remove old leaves, spent lillies and spent floating plants if frost melts them. 

Don’t forget to sit back, just for even a minute and enjoy the fruits of all your hard work this season (yes Gail and John, that means you too)!  September will whip by in no time so enjoy these last few days of official and unofficial summer.

This Post Was Written By:

Laurelle O
Art's Nursery Ltd.

Art's Nursery 10th Annual Fall Garden Event 2011

Please join us Saturday and Sunday, September 24-25 for out 10th Annual Fall Gardening Event. This fun filled weekend is all about gardening, landscaping and the joy of being outside. As always, we have an awesome lineup of guest speakers, how-to's, garden displays, and of course, great instore sales and specials.

Seminar Schedule

	Gardening With Bulbs - 12:00 Noon Van Noort Bulb Company
	Secrets of Bamboo - 1:00pm Learn to grow and care for bamboo in your garden. In this informative seminar, we'll introduce you to bamboo, its growth habits and chat about some of the more popular varieties of bamboo available.
	Fall / Winter Annuals - 2:00pm Proven Winners
	Pruning, Pests, Disease and Plant Care - 3:00pm B.C. Plant HealthCare

Sunday Seminars

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	Special Guest: Brian Minter - 12:00 Noon Come join local gardening expert Brian Minter as he whips up fall containers and planters. If you don't know what Brian and Lady Gaga have in common, you'll find out during this fun session.
	Gardening With Grasses - 1:00pm If you like low maintenance, easy care gardens, then growing ornamental grasses is for you. Learn about these great plants from our premiere grass grower Ewan Mckenzie.
	Lawn Care Techniques - 2:00pm Join David Wall from Premiere Pacific Seeds for this fact filled seminar on lawns, lawn care and grass seed. Listen in and you'll probably end up with the nicest looking lawn on the block!
	Pruning, Pests, Disease and Plant Care - 3:00pm Bartlett Tree Experts

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Exhibits and Displays
In addition to our great guest speakers, we'll also have instore exhibits and displays including:

•Scotts Canada
•BC Bonsai Society
•Miniature Railway Society
•Gemstone Landscape Supply
•Garden Herb Exhibit
•Heritage Perennials
•Unique Plant Exhibits
•Local Gardening Clubs and More

Where:
All events are located at:
Art's Nursery
8940 192nd Street, Surrey, B.C.
Tel 604.882.1201
Maps and Directions


When:
Saturday & Sunday
September 24-25th, 2011
12:00pm - 4:00pm
Open Hours: 9:00am - 5:00pm

Additional information can be found on our website