This time of year, many homeowners can’t wait to change the garden to make it more beautiful.  You may have visions of a remodelled paradise, but as you walk into a fragrant springtime nursery, the image slips from your mind and you fall in love with every single plant. Please resist the impulse to take them all home and tuck them into empty nooks and crannies.  Make a plan so that you can create the garden of your dreams!

The first step is to keep imagining.  Browse through garden magazines and books for inspiration.  Then decide on the look you want.   You can achieve an impression of harmony when you match the style of the garden to the style of the house.  Some typical Ontario styles are formal, Victorian, cottage and modern.

Choose the area to rework, being realistic about budget and energy.  If you want a complete makeover, a garden designer or landscape architect can provide a cohesive design and list of suitable plants.  If you are simply redoing a corner of the yard, start by making a simple diagram from a bird’s-eye perspective.  Outline the area, using straight lines for property boundaries, building edges, permanent garden structures, pathways and decks.  Add in the outlines of the garden beds.  Tip: use a garden hose to figure out where you want them to be. Label everything.

How do you decide what plants to keep and what to add?   Consider what is already performing well, beginning with trees and shrubs.  They offer privacy, shade and greenery, as well as food and shelter for birds and animals.    When poring over garden publications, make a wish list of beautiful hardy plants. If you are uncertain about zones, look yours up on the Government of Canada website: www.planthardiness.gc.ca .    Do you have shade or sun, wind or protection, dry or wet conditions? Research each plant’s attributes, keeping on the list only those suitable for your garden.  How tall and how wide will it be at maturity?  Will it screen an unwanted view? Is it easy to care for?  In which season will it be showiest?  Choosing a hot or cool colour palette will make it simpler to narrow your selection. Plan to have plants that will give a progression of colour through the seasons: spring bulbs, summer flowers, autumn leaves, winter bark and evergreens. Remember: foliage lasts longer than blooms, so include plants with unusual leaves and textures such as hosta, iris, lady’s mantle and coral bells. 

How do you fill in the outlines of the plan you have drawn?  Simply!  Make a few photocopies first so you can try out various ideas.  Use a pencil and keep the eraser handy.  Draw circles for existing and new plants that “made the cut,” thinking of their mature sizes.   Taller plants go to the back or to the centre if there is no back. Group small plants in drifts of three or more for impact.    Consider how the garden will look from your usual vantage point.  A little design trick is to make one of the trees or shrubs a focal point complemented by the surrounding plants.  Rearrange until you’re pleased.  To visualize the final result, place tracing paper over a photo and sketch over it so you are seeing it from your own eyes and not the bird's.

You’re now ready to implement your plan.  Follow planting instructions on labels, without overplanting.  Use top-grade soil amended annually with organic material.  Mulch everything.  Water well and wait for new growth.

Be patient!  It's hard, I know.   Instant paradise is only possible if you plant full grown shrubs and trees. But what's the fun in that?  It would be as if a mature artist were doing a paint-by-numbers scene. You wouldn't have the delight of watching watching sprouts and limbs and buds peeking out and unfolding.  Three years is the usual waiting time for a garden to fill in as if it has always been there.  Take your camera outdoors and enjoy every minute.

Four Years after a complete renovation.  The only existing plants were the Maple and Crabapple Trees.

     Mid-November, when the weather was still warm, I visited a nursery for decorating ideas.  The aroma of evergreen boughs evoked memories of holidays shared with family and friends.   I wandered through the displays: wooden shelves stacked with greenery, baskets full of dried, painted seed heads, and bins of sparkling twigs.  The staff eagerly showed me arrangements for classic entranceways or window boxes.  Unless you are in a rush, you can get the same effect yourself.  Even with a tight budget, your garden can look great for Christmas or Hanukkah and all through the wintry months. 

Start by planning your landscape with winter foremost in mind, using plants with colour, movement and shape.   Spectacular evergreens, shrubs and small trees with colourful twigs, berries or bark add seasonal interest.  So do waving grasses and mop-headed hydrangeas.  Snowdrifts look romantic on trellises, arbours and carefully selected garden ornament.   Select containers in neutral colours appropriate for both summer and winter.  Here’s how to fill them with your homegrown plants for an elegant look.

Home-Made Containers:

Keep it simple.  Two containers create a sense of arrival.  Lightly prune evergreens now, before the weight of falling snow breaks branches.  Save juniper, pine, fir, false cypress and spruce, as well as red- and yellow-twig dogwood.  There are many “greens” from silver to olive to bright blue, so select according to your desired effect.  Stick the stems into the composter until you’re ready to decorate. 

Carefully inspect professional arrangements at nurseries and florists’ to learn how they’ve been assembled.  If you want professional guidance, take a workshop with a friend. 

On a warm day, once organized with gloves, clippers, and yard waste bag, release your secret designer.   Search for flower heads, grass panicles, rose hips and dried seed heads.  Remove the inner basket of your summer container and take it to a sheltered table.  Remove dead annuals and heel perennials into the garden.   Top up the container with soilless mix

Arrange your ingredients creatively using your knowledge of balance and proportion.   Some floral experts start with hanging spillers and build up; others begin with the more noticeable thrillers and fill out.  Either way, the essentials are the same:

Thrillers:  Height is determined by upright branches and twigs.  Twisty corkscrew hazel, yellow-twig dogwood and stiff grasses contribute to a feeling of vertical movement.  You can find any colour: cream, bronze or burgundy, painted or natural stems with seed heads and dried pods.  Stand Thrillers straight in toward the back or the centre.

Fillers:  Feathery, frilly or bushy plants make the outdoor bouquet appear full.  Juniper, with its silver-blue berries or anything shrubby, such as boxwood or balsam, will do nicely.  Fillers should go in at a 45 degree angle.

Spillers:  At the base of the arrangement, layers of greenery hang over the rim.  Soft, brilliant Incense Cedar boughs with tiny yellow berries look lovely in a gold themed container.  Long-needled pine boughs are wonderfully flexible and tempt passersby to touch.  Push Spillers in at an angle as close to the horizontal as possible.

Add feature items, the hand-crafted bird, Santa or grapevine spheres you bought when you were out doing your investigations.  Use ribbons, glittery fruit or shiny ornaments in moderation.   Limit yourself to one or two bright accents, picking up a colour in your brick or front door.  Voila!  Return it to the container and water regularly until deep frost.   Use leftover boughs to wrap columns or make wreaths.

Great winter gardens have simple lighting and well-shovelled walkways that extend a warm welcome far into the New Year!

It’s a beautiful day to be a plant lover!  Let me introduce a gorgeous plant suitable to a tropical paradise.

Despite having known Jamaica intimately for thirty-plus years, I had never noticed the Crape Ginger (Costus speciosus) until it started to bloom in our newly renovated garden.  The landscaper had planted several of these exotic tropical plants in front of the seaside verandas.   At first, I thought they were just leggy vine-like plants until one day I saw the beautifully ruffled funnel-shaped flower protruding from a handful of purple bracts.  I reached over and felt the soft smooth undersides of the leaves.  Love.  Right then and there, I had to know everything about it.

C. speciosus is native to Asia but has been naturalized here in the West Indies.  In Jamaica it is known as the Spiral or Corkscrew Ginger.  The stems can grow as tall as 10 feet, but you can see its growth habit is unusual.  The tips twirl around like wisteria vines but end up being more or less straight.  All Costus genera are known for the regular spiral arrangement of leaves on the stem.   C. speciosus flourishes in shady environments where the leaves will not be burned by the midday sun.  The ants you see all over the entire flower won't hurt; they help to open it up.

Propagation is by rhizome, cutting or division of an existing clump.  Its growth is so rapid that in some tropical areas it can be considered invasive.    The rhizome is just like aromatic ginger sold in markets around the world.  Despite the similarity, Costus speciosus is not widely used for medicinal purposes in Jamaica.  If you are interested in attracting someone of the opposite sex, refer to your copy of the Kama Sutra. Gives new meaning to plant lover, doesn't it?

October is the crisp month: ripe apples, fallen leaves and fresh air.   It’s the time to make the most of precious shortening days before the snow flies, to fall in love with your garden again and to promise that it will be even more beautiful in the spring.   Make this an autumn to remember by glorying in the tasks of preparing it for a winter rest.

This year, go wild with bulbs.   Why not be adventurous and choose a gorgeous new colour of tulip or a tall allium?  Or you could buy a mystery mix and be surprised in May.  To foil squirrels, dig twice as deep as necessary, use lots of daffodils and leave no bulb skins lying around.   Consider planting garlic.  Wonderful advice is dished out online from the gardeners at Boundary Garlic Farm.

Get your hands good and dirty by dividing your perennials, especially those bringing you positive comments from visitors.   Don’t wait until they look tired and overgrown.  Hosta, iris, alumroot and sedum will thrive with extra root space.  Pot up extras for neighbours and friends.

Experienced gardeners know sweet-smelling nutrient-rich soil is the secret of strong, healthy, pest-free trees, perennials and grass.  Autumn is the time for a natural boost.   Generously spread compost over your garden beds and lawn.   Let the worms do the work of mixing it in.  Be sure to avoid covering the crowns of your precious perennials.

Cleaning up fallen leaves and spent perennials can be made less onerous by planning the winter landscape.  Think about letting some flower heads remain on shrubs and sturdy stems.   Birds and pollinators such as bees and butterflies appreciate the last little bits of food left for them.  Hydrangea, sunflowers, stonecrop and coneflowers will look lovely covered with frost or a light snow.   Ornamental grasses will provide movement and colour on cold winter days when everything else is blanketed in white.

Do something for the environment: design a shady nook that includes a native tree or shrub such as Cucumber Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata) or chokecherry (Prunus virginiana).   If you would like information on Ontario’s new 50 million tree project, go to www.treesontario.on.ca.  Take the Plant a Tree Challenge!   Be sure to water freshly planted trees well.  In order to give new trees such as Japanese maples, butterfly shrubs and hibiscus a greater chance of surviving winter sunscald, wrap their trunks with reusable insulating cloth and burlap.

Strangely enough, you can hold off on watering older, established trees in early October.  Once the leaves have fallen, you can turn on the hose.  Giving a tree 1-2 feet of water several times in late autumn before the earth freezes will assure root growth.

Rainy days are good for sweeping out and reorganizing the shed or garage.  Shine your hard-working tools until they gleam and arrange them on pegs.  If you have energy to spare, take a marker and outline them on the wall so you can keep better order next year.

How about a new yearly ritual?  Make yourself and a neighbour a steaming cup of tea or cider to enjoy outdoors before you put away the garden benches and ceramic pots.  Then head indoors to revel in your garden books and magazines, seed catalogues, travel brochures and your indoor garden.