At this time of year, when we aren’t doing yard work anymore, it’s a good time to sit back and dip into an interesting gardening book! Stop by the Library and see the wonderful selection of gardening books available. I recently read one that is more weather-related, but fascinating; it’s called “Wild Weather On The Prairies” from the Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, Regina Leader Post, Saskatoon Star Phoenix, and Winnipeg Sun. From wind to snow to cold to rain, this book covers it all! It even has a picture from Yorkton after the 2010 flood.
Other books to see: “The Winter Garden” by Emma Hardy, with delightful ideas of making fall and winter planters; or “The Flower Recipe Book” by Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo, giving you lots of inspiring ideas for flower arranging. (I hope you are trying to make one, however simple, from time to time!) And I just read one that fits in perfectly with the great presentation on terrariums by Sonja Pawliw last week at the horticultural meeting. The book is called “The Garden In Miniature Prop Shop” by Janit Calvo, and the cover describes it as “Handmade Accessories For Your Tiny Living World”. It’s got the most interesting little accessories to add to terrariums, planters or fairy gardens!
Now that the garden is done, what are your evaluations of how things turned out in your own garden? On my daily tour I always look at the successful things in the garden, but I also make a mental note of the things that perhaps weren’t the best plant choices.
One thing that I am still appreciating are the small planters of dusty miller (Senecio Cinereria) that we had this year. Do you plant dusty miller? Mom always had dusty miller in her garden: sometimes in between alyssum in a border, sometimes with the velvety red petunias or bright yellow marigolds that were some of her favorites. However it was used, dusty miller was always there.
You know how you always like to plant “new” things; well, we hadn’t planted dusty miller for a long time, and did so this year only because we wanted something white/silver in our Canada 150 plantings. And there it was, that beautiful, reliable plant that Sweet Pea always, always used. How could I have neglected to use it for so long? This year the dusty miller was so lovely, and I now will make sure it is in our plantings next spring. Welcome back, old friend!
Dusty miller is great, so easy care. It likes light soil, good drainage, and full sun (although it will be tolerant of light shade). Because its home was once the Mediterranean, it has the silvery leaves of many plants that originated in that region. The dusty miller leaves will be a great backdrop for the bright colors of other flowers in your planters, or will make an elegant and look-at-me border at the edge of your lawn.
And they keep going and going! The dusty miller we have in pots was outside, uncovered, on those very chilly nights, and it still looks great! While we pulled our flowers out weeks ago, we left the grasses and the dusty miller for our fall display. They are really looking their best right now! So if dusty miller is one of those plants that you kind of forgot about planting, mark it down in your garden journal as a “must have” for next year!
The next meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be on Wednesday, November 22. This is our AGM for members and their guests only. Visit us at www.yorktonhort.ca for news and articles, including John Tropin’s presentation on backyard ponds! Have a great week!
