If you’re an avid reader of all things gardening related, you’ve seen yearly trends from plant people around the globe. Some trends work better elsewhere than here in Atlantic Canada, due to hardiness zones and other growing factors, but others stand the test of time.
Eco-friendly gardens. If we can garden without pesticides, it’s better for the environment and for us, but another way to be eco-friendly is to use native plants and their hybrids, sometimes referred to as nativars. Plants native to our local region may not be foolproof in terms of pests and diseases, but they’re best suited to our growing conditions and offer benefits including shelter and food sources for pollinators and other wildlife. Nurseries are carrying more native plants all the time, including marsh marigolds, sugar maple, northern bayberry, and blue vervain.
The return of cottage gardens. These plantings have a touch of nostalgia to them, with their profuse and carefree borders of blooming perennials and annuals that may remind us of our parents’ or grandparents’ gardens. Such old-fashioned favourites as lupins, irises, perennial poppies, sweet William, and lavender can create drifts of eye-popping colour, attractive to us and to bees and other pollinators. Planted closely together, they can act as a living mulch, shading out shorter weedy species and keeping soil cool.
Water-saving gardening. As we continue to adjust to life with climate change, we are often looking for ways to reduce water usage. One way is to not water the grass in your yard, which may turn brown in hot weather but will come back after a rainfall. “Xeriscaping,” or low-water gardening, may not be as much of a trend in Atlantic Canada as in hotter and drier parts of the country, but if you’re on town or city water and can reduce your usage in the garden, that’s a saving for all. Xeriscape or drought-tolerant plants include cranesbills, catmint, succulents like sempervivums, lavender, and coneflowers. These plants are drought tolerant once established, so make sure they get sufficient water the first few months while they are settling into your garden.
The movable garden. Even if you rent, you can surround yourself with beautiful blooms and foliage by gardening in containers. There are numerous advantages to planting in pots, including the ability to move the planter around your yard space, ease of watering and caring for the plants, and of course, you can take them if you move. You can grow annual and perennial flowers, herbs, some vegetables, and even dwarf fruit trees and shrubs in containers.
Take back the lawn. Some horticulturalists refer to lawn as green pavement, and the trend toward less lawn and more garden is growing in popularity. Sure, grass is nice for kids and pets to play on, but it’s not exactly friendly to the environment, what with all the mowing, trimming, fertilizing, and watering that some homeowners to create that perfectly manicured lawn. Every year, I extend my garden beds out another 15 centimetres or more, digging up the grass and composting it and adding new plants. Don’t tell my landlady.
Above all, love your garden. That’s not so much a trend as a reminder. We garden as a stress release, an exercise, a pleasant pastime, and are rewarded with wonderful blooms, fresh produce, and a thriving ecosystem for wildlife as well as for us. You can do everything right, and sometimes, plants or nature won’t co-operate. Killing frosts, diseases, pests, a yard that doesn’t look like it came out of a magazine — these things happen. You can always replant, find disease-resistant varieties to grow, figure out ways to deter deer and rabbits. But also remember to savour the joy of planting a seed and harvesting a tomato in several months, or just sit with a cool drink and admire the riot of colour around you. There’s not a lot that is more satisfying.
Tips from the garden shed
Too many beans all at once? Try succession planting, where you seed the same crop, such as beans, in smaller amounts every 10 days to two weeks throughout the spring and summer. That way you’ll have plenty of fresh beans (or salad greens, or radishes, or peas, and so on) to eat and won’t be swimming in too many all at once. Succession planting such as this only works with vegetables that are relatively quick to mature; crops like tomatoes, peppers, squash, and corn need planting only one time, after the risk of spring frost is past.
Plant this!
Lloyd Mapplebeck taught for many years at the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus and operates Hillendale Perennials at his home in Hilden, N.S. Asked for an easy and charming favourite perennial, Lloyd opted for Achillea ptarmica ‘Peter Cottontail,’ which is a compact improvement on the older hybrid ‘The Pearl’/’La Perle.’ Peter Cottontail has copious double, pristine white and long-lasting flowers that grows to about 45 centimetres in height, is deer- and rabbit-resistant, and thrives in sunny, well-drained soils. This wonderful cut flower dries beautifully, retaining its white colour.
Ask the Garden Guru
Q: What is a spring ephemeral? We hear references to perennials that are labelled as ephemeral. Does that mean they won’t come back?
A: Spring ephemerals are perennial wildflowers that emerge in spring before the trees in woodlands leaf out. They get the sunlight they need to grow and flower, and as the leafy canopy fills in and temperatures rise, these plants go dormant for another season. Common ephemerals for the garden include bloodroot, Virginia bluebells, hepatica, (see photo) and trout lilies, also known as dogtooth violets. Many make great garden plants but do mark where you’ve planted them so you don’t inadvertently dig them up when they are dormant.
Do you have a gardening question? Let us know, and Jodi may have your answer in a future column.