The Grasshopper And The Ant?

We feel a little like the grasshopper!  Our mutual roof has leaked during winter melts for the last couple of years.  When it's summer and there's no leak, we forgot about it.

As winter approached, we remembered the leak and decided that we should do something about it.  Would you believe they will shingle a roof in this cold weather?

The roofers arrived this morning and shoveled off the roof before they could begin to remove the old shingles.  By 10:30 the old shingles were gone and the roofing could begin in earnest.

This time we are having them put a membrane under the edges to prevent ice dams from leaking into the roof proper.  They are going to put a couple more vents in and reseal around the chimney.  The chimney, I feel, was the major culprit.

Poor workers having to be up on the roof.  Lucky us that they will do the job.  An ant would have had the job done in September -- the grasshopper, in December.  Happy Christmas.

What Time Is It?

It's wintertime

I woke up this morning to a blanket of snow.  The first snow of the year is the best snow.  A topping of snow alters your viewpoint. Common things are changed overnight and the garden is brand new.

Garden elements that you didn't notice yesterday are precious the morning after the first snow.  The flagstones are outlined with puffs of white where grass or moss existed yesterday.  Old seed heads become delicate ornaments in the garden. Rocks and benches and bits of leftover gardening look like dainty additions. Snow dresses up the garden.  

Flagstones with grass look great

Tree branches stand out much more with an icing of white, and my neighbour's roof seems to be waiting for someone to make snow angels on it. Photographs become black and whites.

Culver's Root with snow

Of course, this glorification of snow will only last for a week or so.  Then it's into a long Canadian winter of boots and shovels.

Solomon's Seal -- A Plant For All Seasons

Solomon's Seal in the spring is a wonder to behold but in the fall it's magnificent, too.  As the leaves prepare to fall, they turn a wonderful golden colour.  Sun on Solomon's Seal in the fall shouldn't be missed.

Solomon's Seal does really well in dry shade -- one of the few plants you can use to liven up a dull and shady corner.  Because it is a native plant, it's not choosy about the soil quality nor the planter's expertise.  Plunk it into the ground, and it will grow.

In Spring, before the leaves are out, the growing points of Solomon's Seal peek out of the ground.  That's the time to divide the clump and give some Solomon's Seal to your neighbours or spread it around to other parts of your yard.

Bees love the flowers that Solomon's Seal produces in the spring.  Bumble bees especially like the fragrant bells that hang from each branch.

So there you have it -- a plant for dry shade that is pretty in spring and fall and stands up nicely for most of the summer.  A winner, I'd say.

Coming or Going?

This picture from Carole Sevilla Brown shows a scene often repeated at curbsides across North America.  But the question is, are the bags put out to be collected by the municipality or are they the results of gleanings the evening before?  In other words, are the bags of yard waste coming or going?

I hope they're not on their way out to the municipal dump.  Imagine growing a crop and tossing it away.  Good stuff taken in by the plants and resident in the leaves is so often gathered up a thrown into bags to be taken a way to the civic compost pile.  And then...we pay to get the compost back!!  How silly is that?

My wish is that these bags have been gathered from neighbours and will be chopped to be used on the gardens.  All the good stuff stored in those leaves will be taken into the garden over the winter and next spring.  Sustainable gardening in action.

Late Fall Nuances

Ballerina -- polyanthus rose

The end of October in the rain is beautiful.  For some reason, the last of the blooms in the garden seem the prettiest.  The Ballerina rose has bloomed all summer and is just showing its last blooms.  The Japanese anemone, on the other hand, is at its peak.  How pretty both plants are against a backdrop of drab  and drippy endings.

Japanese anemone -- a fall plant

The dwarf cattail at the side of the pond really stands out with its fall colour.  All summer it hangs about as a green pointy accent but come fall, it shouts, "I'm here!"  The rusty colour of the cattail shows so well against the dreary backdrop of late October. If the cattail was that colour all year, I wouldn't notice it.  Its only in the fall when it looks its best.

Fall is nostalgia time.  We look at our garden with the eyes of a lover saying goodbye.  Every little nuance is prettier than the last.  Fall is for photographers.

dwarf cattails in fall

Great Balls of Seed

Seed balls drying

The seed ball is a little garden all its own with the seed, the compost to nurture the seed, a little chili powder to deter pests, and the clay as its soil all mixed together.  A post in the blog, Heavy Petal, was the inspiration for my seed-ball-making interest. http://heavypetal.ca/archives/2011/01/step-by-step-how-to-make-seed-balls/  Surely this was a super way of putting native seeds into unused spaces.

A bit of research resulted in learning that seed balls are used in third-world countries as a way of planting crops. Masanobu Fukuoka has developed the seed balls as almost fool-proof way of planting vegetables and wheat.  See a video here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_5eoUojVpI

Seed balls in boxes ready to give away

I made my seed balls using seeds of native plants harvested here in Ontario and purchased from Tallgrass Ontario:  blue vervain, tall coreopsis, culver's root, grey-headed coneflower and showy tick trefoil.  All these seeds need some stratification so fall is the best time to "toss" them.  

When the seed balls were dry, I packaged them in little boxes and give them away as gifts to native plant buffs.  I've also placed some seed balls in my own garden and will watch for their development in the spring.  The squirrels move them around a bit but, perhaps because of the chili, don't damage them.

Seed ball planted and waiting for spring

You Can Stay

The plants in my garden must now be useful to native insects or very beloved by me.  All others will be taken out.
Because of my new-found interest in bees, I watch to see which plants the bees like.  The aster pictured here is/was Alma Potschke -- a vivid magenta hybrid of New England aster.  Last year it began to revert to its native stock -- a purple aster.  Today I noticed that the bees were constant around the purple flowers but none were attracted to the magenta ones.  Another bit of proof that bees prefer native rather than hybridized plants.
The aster can stay because of its reverted parts.  Next year, I will cut out any magenta stems and let the plant go completely back to its purple origin.