Garden, stil going on.

I cannot believe things are still blooming in the gardens around town. Today I was amazed to see a Stella d'oro day lily arrive with a few fat buds ready for the next few days. Stella is not my favourite day lily. It is not very florifierous and it is small. But if I ever fulfil my dream to make a garden room entirely of day lilies and Asiatic lilies, Stella would be there if only because it is tough.

The marigolds are amazing around town. My tiny yellow ones, (a variety called lemon gem grown from seeds fromT&T) may bloom all winter. They pay no intention to the frost at night. I gave away a lot of lemon gem plants which are blooming merrily where ever they were planted. They make balls of small yellow flowers and, in fact, do not look like marigolds at all.

Also hanging around are the bachelor buttons and a few Marie Bugnet roses. Don't these plants know it is almost Hallowe'en?

Is it my imagination or are the leaves also slow to fall this year. I am ready for them. I rake them into a tarp, gather up the corners and toss them on the compost. I also like to get a few clear plastic bags full of leaves to put on the compost as a sort of insulation. They rot a bit inside the plastic. In spring I use them to layer up with greener compost material.

I will spread compost over the garden now. I know that the garden magazines say to spread it in the spring, but these magazines are written in wussy Southern Ontario, a place where you can put a garden fork into a compost pile in April. We are lucky if we can clean out a compost pile in June without hitting ice. So I spread the good stuff at the bottom of the pile now and replace all the half rotten stuff for another year.