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• Visit the Tofino Botanical Gardens Visit the Tofino Botanical Gardens

  

  Visit the Tofino Botanical Gardens of

  Saved from development Tucked away at the edge of the rainforest that rims the Pacific coast shore on Vancouver Island near Tofino is a wonderfully diverse gardenscape. Established in 1997, the 12-acre Tofino Botanical Gardens is the brainchild of its director, George Patterson, a transplanted landscape designer and nurseryman from the Boston area. Although originally a private garden, TBG is now open to the public and operates as a non-profit foundation. TBG is bordered on the south by a forest reserve. The shoreline, which can be viewed from various vantage points around the garden’s property, looks onto thousands of acres of protected migratory shorebird habitat. Beyond that are the Browning Passage and Meares Island, which has been declared a Tribal Park by the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation. Also surrounding TBG are 850,000 acres of the Clayoquot Biosphere Reserve. “I was familiar with the Tofino area before I moved here,” explains Patterson. “This is where my former wife was born, so we would come back on occasion. I just fell in love with it.” The property had been slated for development, which is why Patterson bought it. He owned the land for eight years before he started his botanical garden. Time spent volunteering at Wilson Botanical Gardens in Costa Rica prepared him in part for what lay ahead. Says Patterson: “The Wilson Gardens are also next to a rainforest, so there are some similarities.” The main botanical collection at TBG focuses on the native plants of Clayoquot Sound. “About 60 species are found on the site,” says Patterson. “We’re also developing small pocket gardens along the paths that will offer some insights into comparative botany,” he adds. “Temperate rainforest plants from Chile, New Zealand, Japan and elsewhere have been sited next to natives that have something in common with the imported specimens. They may be from different families but have the same leaf shape.” This is known as convergent evolution, where plants that live in similar habitats resemble each other even though they are not related. For example, native evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) looks an awful lot like the Chilean guava (Ugni molinae). A kilometre of pathways connects 24 different areas, each constructed on a theme. There is a Kitchen Garden, for instance, where the chef from the garden’s restaurant finds plenty of culinary inspiration. In addition to vegetables, herbs such as thyme, tarragon and borage grow in abundance, while espaliered grape vines climb on the adjacent fence. “That garden was designed by one of our volunteers, the pastry chef at C Restaurant in Vancouver,” says Patterson. A local herbalist put together the Medicinal Herb Garden, which brims over with lush plantings of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) and marshmallow (Althaea officinalis). Beyond basic botany “In fact, over the past six years, the majority of the work in the garden has been done by volunteers,” boasts Patterson. “They’ve been really amazing. One of our volunteers from Mexico even created the map of the garden that visitors use on the self-guided tour.” A small collection of donated species rhododendrons occupies part of the garden. One cultivar, ‘George Fraser’, is named after a local rhododendron grower, and is a cross of the West Coast native Rhododendron macrophyllum and the East Coast native R. maximum. Other species include R. rex and R. sinogrande, both of which sport 50-centimetre-long leaves. Patterson’s pride and joy, the giant Himalayan lilies (Cardiocrinum giganteum), towers in another part of TBG. The lilies send up thick, 2.5- to three-metre-tall spikes with up to 20 creamy white 15- to 30-centimetre-long trumpet flowers—and grow at a rate of about 30 centimetres per week. Their strong fragrance is reminiscent of a blend of cinnamon and frangipani. The plants can take up to seven years to bloom; TBG’s bloomed in just two. In the Tropical Garden, visitors will find rice paper plant (Tetrapanax papyrifer), Japanese banana (Musa basjoo) and taro (Colocasia esculenta). But plants aren’t the only treasures found at TBG. A gazebo, along with other structures built by local artisan Jan Janzen, provides visual contrast to the foliage and offers much-welcomed shelter on a rainy day. A number of large, wooden sculptures by artist Michael Dennis also grace the property. Over in the Children’s Garden, young ones will be delighted to find a fort tucked away in the woods. Just above the high-tide line sits an 11-metre, double-ended salmon trawler, the Evian, an exhibit created to help visitors understand and appreciate the West Coast salmon fishing industry. Future themed gardens will also educate visitors beyond basic botany. Four cultural-historical gardens and exhibits are currently being developed. When completed, they will teach about the peoples who have settled and left their mark in Clayoquot Sound: the First Nations, the European settlers from the turn of the century, the Japanese fishing community and the 1970s-era hippies. Tofino Botanical Gardens is within a 20-minute walk or cycle of most of the community’s accommodations. In typical West Coast fashion, canoe and kayak arrivals are encouraged (best at medium to high tide). If you go: Tofino Botanical Gardens is located at 1084 Pacific Rim Highway in Tofino, B.C. For opening times and admission fees, call 250/725-1220 or visit www.tbgf.org.

  ©

  Credit

  Janet Collins

  Visit the Tofino Botanical Gardens 

  Published:

  2008-09-03 00:00:00

  Author(s):

  Janet Collins

  Updated:

  2008-09-03 00:00:00

• A harvest of hues A harvest of hues

  

  A harvest of hues of

  A harvest of hues It wasn’t so long ago that gardeners began putting their gardens to bed for the winter on Labour Day: pulling out all annuals, tying up shrubs and cutting perennials to the ground. After all, the growing season was over—wasn’t it? But today’s garden is increasingly seen as a spot that can be beautiful year-round, and rather than closing down their beds in autumn, gardeners now want colour until the snow flies, or even beyond. And it’s so easy to achieve. Hundreds of plants offer fall colours to carry your landscape through to early winter. Autumn interest comes from flowers of course—numerous plants bloom from mid-September through November—but also from bright foliage and attractive fruit and berries. So infuse your patch with all three. Such plants are available in so many categories (bulbs, perennials, trees, shrubs, grasses) and grow under such a wide range of conditions (sun or shade, rich or poor soil, dry or moist conditions) that there is something for every environment. A good rule of thumb to ensure late-season colour is that 20 per cent of your plants should be in bloom or in fruit, or sport colourful leaves at the beginning of fall. Choose your flowers with care, however; in short-season climates, some, such as nippon daisy (Nipponanthemum nipponicum), bugbane (Actaea simplex) and Japanese anemone (Anemone hupehensis), may simply bloom too late. Most flowers, though, adapt to daylength. For example, the same fall mums and asters may start to bloom in late August in Yellowknife, but not until October in Ontario’s Niagara region. Should the cold come early (and some years it does), you’ll discover that most of the plants described here can shrug off light frosts. Those with attractive berries are the toughest of the lot, and many still look great and have fruit well into winter.And don’t worry about cleaning up your fall-interest plants before winter. Most experts agree that the less tidying up you do, the healthier your plants will be in the spring because dying foliage helps protect them from severe cold. Just let them do their thing; you can do any necessary cleanup at the start of the next growing season.Crank up the colourFall colour is best when days are warm and sunny and nights are brisk but above freezing. Here are some things you can do to get the most bang from your blooms:Plant in a sunny spot Stop fertilizing by mid-AugustWater plants well in the summer but sparingly in the fallThe more, the berrierSome plants with attractive fall berries need cross-pollination to produce fruit. This is especially true of hollies and bittersweet (Celastrus spp.), as they are dioecious (male and female flowers appear on separate plants). It’s now often possible to buy “combination pots” that offer a male and female plant growing together. If not available, plant one male for every five to eight females. Larry's favourites Larry's favourites

  ©

  Credit

  Larry Hodgson

  A harvest of hues 

  Published:

  2008-09-03 00:00:00

  Author(s):

  Larry Hodgson

  Updated:

  2008-09-03 00:00:00

• Colourful ninebarks Colourful ninebarks

  

  Colourful ninebarks of

  Turning over a new leaf I’ll admit I used to think ninebarks (Physocarpus spp.) were boring. When I went to horticultural college in Alberta during the 1980s, pretty much just the common ninebark was available. Occasionally, the yellow-leafed form ‘Luteus’ was offered, but perhaps we didn’t have a full appreciation of yellow foliage at that time—it was really considered more of an oddity. So until recently, I considered these medium- to large-sized, coarse-textured shrubs to have no particular redeeming features other than to fill space in large municipal plantings.Almost 20 years later, the appearance of the purple-leafed selection ‘Diabolo’, developed in Germany and introduced here in the late 1990s, made me change my mind. In a flash, this plant was everywhere. Every nursery was selling it, and every magazine was raving about it—perfect timing, since gardeners suddenly had a new appreciation for unusual foliage colour.‘Diabolo’ was a breeding breakthrough. As so often happens, this one development paved the way for further ninebark introductions, with a half-dozen new selections now available in a range of sizes and colours, including new dark purple to burgundy-red varieties, yellow- to gold-leafed selections and even a green-leafed Canadian cultivar, ‘Snowfall’.Ninebark has other virtues as well. Its peeling bark (hence its common name) on older stems reveals contrasting inner bark in shades of red to tan in winter. As a wildlife plant, the flowers provide nectar for butterflies, the seeds are loved by birds and the stems provide nesting sites. Canadian gardeners don’t have a great many native shrubs to choose from, but common ninebark fits the bill, growing wild from Nova Scotia west to southern Manitoba, and south into Colorado and Florida. Ninebark tolerates a wide range of soil conditions, preferring average to moist locations but tolerating dry sites once established. It has no particular pest or disease problems, which explains its long and successful use in civic plantings in the Prairies, where they receive little care. The shrub is hardy to Zone 3, though testing in Alberta has found that certain selections, such as ‘Diabolo’ and ‘Nugget’, do well in Zone 2. Full sun to part shade is fine, but the coloured-leaf varieties develop their brightest tones in sunny locations.The little flowers, which appear in early to midsummer, are white to soft pink, held together in clusters 2.5 to five centimetres wide, similar in effect to their close cousin Spiraea. I’ve never thought of the green species as being particularly showy in bloom, but the flowers do stand out in the newer darker-leafed introductions. Ninebark produces flowers on old wood from the previous season, followed by dangling clusters of reddish brown seed capsules that are attractive in late summer and into autumn.The shrub’s foliage is rounded, with enough of a lobe or indent to make it almost maple-shaped. Fall colour for green-leafed forms is basically a ho-hum yellow, but the red- to purple-leafed selections, and some of the yellow ones, produce reliable red autumn tones. While these shrubs are interesting enough to be used as specimens, they also make a nice informal hedge.What I love best about ninebark is the way it tolerates different pruning methods. When left alone for years to grow into a medium to large shrub, the only care it needs is to remove dead wood, or to thin out a quarter of the stems each year in the winter or spring, right down to the base, to maintain a bushy habit. This rejuvenates the plant, helping to prevent a leggy appearance, and encourages the production of flowers and fruit.Ninebark also responds well to being clipped back by half every few years in order to keep it in check, particularly if used in a foundation planting. This should be done right after flowering, so the shrub has time to form new buds for the following season.The easiest pruning method of all, however, is to cut ninebark back to a height of 15 to 20 centimetres in the spring before it leafs out. This technique is known as coppicing, and results in a flush of new growth with particularly large and lush foliage—absolutely stunning in the coloured-leaf forms—though it comes at the expense of both blooms and seedheads. The lush growth and more compact size resulting from hard pruning makes ninebark especially wonderful in a perennial border, placed in the middle to back. Plants should be allowed to establish for two to three years before using this method, however, and it should be done only every other year since it temporarily weakens them. Ninebarks to know Ninebarks to know

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  Credit

  John Valleau

  Colourful ninebarks 

  Published:

  2008-09-02 00:00:00

  Author(s):

  John Valleau

  Updated:

  2008-09-02 00:00:00

• Designing with warm colours Designing with warm colours

  

  Designing with warm colours of

  The warm palette Municipal park workers must feel such shameless joy as they plant up blazing beds of floral displays. Those stands of scarlet cannas and carpets of orange marigolds speak to me in a primal way, and I’m resolved to heat up my own colour scheme. There’s no doubt warm colours appeal to the senses—who can resist touching red roses and orange pumpkins? But along with the siren call of heat-generating hues, there’s also a small voice of caution. Will I be tempting colour-overload with the warm palette of red, orange and yellow? Straight-talking American garden writer Henry Mitchell (The Essential Earthman: Henry Mitchell on Gardening, 1981) offers this useful advice: “No colour is ‘safe’ and no colour is ‘dangerous.’ More gardens are rendered dull by timidity than are rendered vulgar by excessive daring. Be bold. Be simple. Use large enough patches of colour to make the point.” Now, that’s good direction. If you have a passion for burnt orange calendulas and fiery red zinnias, plant enough of them so you can properly swoon with pleasure; using too few plants weakens the statement and makes the garden seem disorganized with dabs of vivid colour here and there, but no cohesive message. British garden designer Gertrude Jekyll had no fear of warm colours at her residence, Munstead Wood, planting a hot border of oranges and golds without a trace of self-conscious doubt. Her garden pulsated with African and French marigolds, orange gladioli, lanceleaf tickseed (Coreopsis lanceolata), golden glow (Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Hortensia’), orange sneezeweed, torch lilies, orange ‘Fire King’ lilies and double sunflowers. Miss Jekyll included scarlet sage (Salvia splendens) and red Maltese cross (Lychnis chalcedonica) as contrasting accent plants, both of which appeared in small drifts like flannel petticoats peeking out from a hot orange skirt.With Miss Jekyll’s orange border in mind, I filled a large stone container with ‘Nonstop Orange’ tuberous begonias and apricot ‘Wizard Sunset’ coleus, cooled just a bit with lavender-blue ‘Blue Ice’ fan flower (Scaevola aemula). By late summer, the plants had massed and grown into a blaze of glory on the doorstep, causing the letter carrier to blink. Inspiration for pairing warm colours for mutual emphasis can be gleaned from the natural colorations of familiar plants such as ‘Kobold’ blanket flower and ‘Royal Standard’ torch lily, both with petal combinations of orange-red and yellow, and ‘Primadonna Deep Rose’ purple coneflower, with double-petalled, deep pink rays surrounding a glowing copper orange centre.Colour-timid gardeners like me need a strategy for harnessing intensely warm hues and putting them to best use. Finding a similar characteristic among several plants and grouping them together is one way to make harmonious combinations. The brick-red ‘Niobe’ clematis is deeply saturated with black tones, and makes a pleasant partner near ‘Black Knight’ canna, which has similar deep red flowers over huge, black-green leaves. The frost-tender chocolate cosmos has this same red-black suffusion in its chocolate-scented petals and could nestle happily around the base of the canna. Together, these three plants emphasize their shared red-black characteristic. If Miss Jekyll were on the scene, she’d probably add the tangerine-and-yellow ‘Mandarin’ honeysuckle vine, along with a stout, 1.5-metre clump of bright yellow Autumn Sun coneflower, with prominent brown-black cones.  Second strategy My second strategy is to select two basic warm colours, such as red and gold, and repeat them in flowers of different form and size, and sequential blooming periods. Mitchell described oriental poppies, such as the brilliant red ‘Allegro’, as “undreamed of outside of a flag factory,” and yes, it’s an electrifying orange-red that blooms for the month of June. Combine it with the sparkling golden tickseed ‘Early Sunrise’, and the pair is the picture of warmth for six weeks. Following nearby could be two plants of identical red and gold hues, to bloom from July through September: the blended yellow gold of ‘Siloam Dave McKeithen’ Trophytaker daylily and ‘Jacob Cline’ bee balm, with its whorls of 10-centimetre-long, scarlet red, tubular flowers so attractive to hummingbirds. Those four plants in two basic warm colours can fill a large garden corner for most of the growing season. Stretch the sequence of bloom further into autumn by adding clumps of crimson-mahogany ‘Bruno’ sneezeweed and ‘Prairie Sunset’ false sunflower, with golden yellow, red-centred flowers that eventually turn all golden. If you follow this suggested planting, you’ll definitely need to rest your eyes over winter. Plants of different hues but with similar form and intensity complement each other and make effective partners. Drought-tolerant ‘Mainacht’ perennial salvia (Salvia nemorosa ‘Mainacht’ a.k.a. ‘May Night’) and its compact form, Marcus (S. n. ‘Haeumanarc’), are loaded with violet-purple flower spikes that are attractive to butterflies, and either can stand by its sister plant, ‘Rose Queen’, with fragrant wands of warm rose pink florets from summer through early fall. All three salvias are good matches in intensity for the yarrow ‘Summerwine’, which has flat-headed blooms of tiny, vivid, crimson-red flowers, each with a light purple-pink eye. A deeply coloured, violet-pink, mildew-resistant phlox such as ‘Robert Poore’ could be added to the backdrop to provide height.And then there is apricot. I’m besotted with the colour. It’s the warmest tone in the orange range, and a graceful companion to warm pink and rosy coral. For example, in mid- to late spring, the soft orange flowers of ‘Orangekönigin’ barrenwort—a good plant for moist, shady corners—are enhanced by the lovely rose-pink plumes of ‘Federsee’ astilbe, which prefers the same growing conditions. That’s a good way to introduce apricot into the season. For continued warmth, I plan to employ the deeply saturated oranges of crocosmia—peachy yellow ‘Venus’, apricot orange ‘Solfatare’ (with bronze-copper foliage) and apricot yellow ‘Star of the East’—and combine them with two striking summer phlox: ‘Orange Perfection’ and ‘Becky Towe’, rose-pink with a small magenta eye and variegated yellow-and-green foliage. Mid- to late summer brings the irresistibly named ‘When My Sweetheart Returns’ dwarf daylily, a creamy apricot repeat bloomer with a rich rose-pink eye, partnered with two lovely, old-fashioned mulleins—‘Jackie’, soft apricot yellow with contrasting butterscotch eye, and ‘Helen Johnson’, copper orange flushed with cream, with contrasting violet stamens. And to set this all off, I’ll add a few rose-purple ‘Atropurpureum’ bonesets, along with the distinctive ‘September Charm’ Japanese anemone, which, come late August, has rose-pink flowers with darker pink on the reverse of each petal.Considering the massive display of orange tuberous begonias and scarlet coleus on my doorstep this past summer, I seem to be conquering my colour-timid ways. As for next season, I feel a wave of fuchsia and chartreuse coming on. Warm palette plant list Warm palette plant list

  ©

  Credit

  Judith Adam

  Designing with warm colours 

  Published:

  2008-08-29 00:00:00

  Author(s):

  Judith Adam

  Updated:

  2008-08-29 00:00:00

• How green is your thumb? How green is your thumb?

  

  How green is your thumb? of

  Organic waste What do you do with your organic waste? A) Bring it out to my compost binB) Throw it in the garbageC) What exactly is the difference between waste and organic waste?Check your answer on the next page  Waste not, want not If you picked A then you’re familiar with the benefits of composting. It’s easy to throw your organic waste into your garbage bin without thinking about the landfill sites your garbage is taken to. But it’s just as easy to keep it in a bin in the fridge (to keep the smell under control) and walk it out to your compost pile daily, or even just a few times a week. Compost makes your soil healthy, helps it stay moist, keeps your garden cool in the summer and warm in the winter. You can dig it into your soil in the spring and generously sprinkle it over your garden in the summer. Need more convincing? Compost adds as a natural fertilizer, reducing your dependency on chemical-based ones.Contact your municipality to see about getting a compost bin, or if you’d like a little challenge you can always build your own. New to composting? Check out Environment Canada’s tips. Eat your veggies I make my vegetable soups with:A) Whatever vegetables are on sale at the grocery storeB) I don’t cookC) The vegetables from my garden/community gardenCheck your answer on the next page  Growing tips If you’ve chosen C, you probably know a great deal about vegetable gardening. Did you know that you don’t have to use pesticides to keep bug and critters away from your tasty veggies? Separating your vegetable rows with marigolds will help stave off roundworms. They also attract bees that will help along the pollination process. Chrysanthemums, chives, garlic and onions are also known to keep pests away from your precious veggies. Pest control To keep persistent animals out of my garden I:A) Chase them out with rake in handB) Build a short fence and use an assortment of natural products found in my homeC) Put up an electric fenceCheck your answer on the next page  Be kind to your pets Choosing B means staying friendly with our furry four-legged friends. You don’t have to let animals eat out your vegetable patch, but you don’t have to cause them harm either.Build a short fence to keep small animals out, but make sure it reaches about 8” into the soil to keep out animals that like to dig. If a fence doesn’t work try sprinkling cayenne or hot chili peppers around your garden. Animals seem to steer clear of this spicy product. Mothballs are also a good option. Not working? Try spraying a mixture of vinegar and water around the perimeter of your garden (not on your plants). Build it, and they will come When planning to build a new deck or fence I tend:A) To think about designB) To let a builder take care of itC) To think about all sorts of aspects, including design, colour and where my wood comes fromCheck your answer on the next page  Built it right If you’ve chosen C you’re certainly ahead of the game. Today we aren’t only thinking about the origins of our food, clothes and coffee, but also our wood. Much of the wood available for purchase in Canada comes from forests suffering from illegal logging practices, is cut by workers who are unfairly treated and originates from land where the culture of indigenous people is threatened by logging. The story of our very own Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia is just one example of the problems surrounding logging.Be sure to purchase eco-friendly, sustainable wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for you next project. The FSC ensures that your lumber is acquired in a manner that pays heed to legal issues, fair labour practices, the rights of indigenous peoples and environmental issues. For more information, visit www.fscus.org or www.savethegreatbear.org. And finally... The most important thing about gardening is:A) To impress your neighboursB) To show-up all the other gardeners on your blockC) To have funCheck your answer on the next page  Small plots I hope you picked C! Even if you want to impress your nosy neighbours or show up other gardeners with your skills, be sure to have fun in the process. Gardening is an inclusive activity that just happens to keep you active. Get you spouse, kids and grandkids out in the yard to get their exercise and to teach them about the great outdoors.Or, if you’d prefer the company of like-minded folk, look for a community garden in your area to exercise your green thumb!Take part one of our eco-quiz!

  ©

  Credit

  Daniela Payne

  How green is your thumb? 

  Published:

  2008-08-25 00:00:00

  Author(s):

  Daniela Payne

  Updated:

  2008-08-25 00:00:00

• Falling for daylilies Falling for daylilies

  

  Falling for daylilies of

  Late-blooming beauties Composer Sandy Wilson must have had late-season daylilies in mind when he penned these lines:It’s never too late to have a flingFor autumn is just as nice as spring,And it’s never too late to fall in love.—The Boy Friend, Act III (1954)The first late-blooming daylily I fell in love with was red-and-yellow ‘Challenger’, bred in 1949 by pioneer daylily hybridizer A.B. Stout. But the world of daylilies has changed dramatically in recent years—there are now more than 55,000 registered cultivars, all of them bred from just a dozen or so wild species. This mind-boggling statistic demonstrates the gardening public’s admiration for a plant that can be both demure and dramatic, while possessing a cast-iron constitution.Daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.) are native to China, Korea and Japan, where they grow at the edges of forests and in damp meadowlands. Individual flowers only last one day (hence the common name), but as multiple buds are produced on each flower scape, plants may remain in bloom for weeks at a time. As well, daylilies are among the most disease- and pest-resistant perennials to be found in the herbaceous border.Writing in Flowers and Their Histories in 1956, plant historian Alice M. Coates declared, “One reason for the deserved popularity of these new daylilies is their hardiness and adaptability; they will grow under almost any conditions, in sand or clay, from Canada to California.” Daylilies are divided into various groups based on factors such as behaviour of foliage during winter and floral characteristics (see Talking the talk.) They are also classified according to when they flower:Early (early summer), Middle (midsummer), Late (late summer) and Very Late (early autumn). It’s this last category that in recent years has caused the most excitement. The push is on to develop new cultivars that will bloom right up until the first frosts, an advance that has increased the late-season garden’s colour palette far beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.Like any plant, newly installed specimens will appreciate extra organic matter, such as compost, leaf mould or well-rotted manure, and sufficient irrigation to establish a strong root system. To reach their full potential, daylilies also require plenty of sunlight; an eastern to southeastern exposure is best, to protect flowers from the scorching rays of the afternoon sun.Being robust customers, established clumps of daylilies need to be divided after several years’ growth or they will crowd out neighbouring plants. Dig up either the entire root ball, or just a section of it when plants are dormant, and divide the thick, fleshy roots with a sharp spade. Replant divisions at their original depth and water in well.Diploid vs. tetraploidMost of the older daylily cultivars are diploids, meaning they have 22 chromosomes. In the early 1960s, plant breeders discovered that treating daylilies with colchicine (a compound extracted from the autumn crocus, Colchicum) could double the number of chromosomes in plants to 44. Daylilies with 44 chromosomes are known as tetraploids; these tend to exhibit more vibrant colours, sturdier petals and sepals, and larger flowers. 15 repeat performers 15 repeat performersThese 15 daylilies belong to that wonderful class of plants that bloom early and continue to flower sporadically until the first frosts. Don’t neglect these workhorses; established clumps are worth their weight in garden gold. All are hardy to Zone 3. Flower forms Talking the talkBefore you rush out to purchase new late-blooming cultivars, arm yourself with a bit of daylily lingo about their blooms and how their foliage behaves. Throat: located at the base of the petals; most of the newer cultivars have green throatsSelf: refers to flowers where the petals and sepals are the same colourEye: the dark band on some daylilies at the juncture where the throat opens out into the exposed petals and sepalsMidrib: the stripe or large vein that divides petals into halves; may be prominent or hardly noticeableBitone: refers to blooms where petals and epals are the same colour but differ in ntensity or shadingDormant: dies back to below the soil surface; new leaves are produced each spring. Traditionally thought to be hardier than evergreen typesSemi-evergreen: retains some of its outer leaves over winter, but the centre (or growing point) of the plant goes dormantEvergreen: stays green under snow all winter. Although evergreen types have been planted more widely in warmer zones, many new cultivars, such as ‘September Heat’, have proven themselves to be fully hardyFlower formsDaylily blooms fall into five main categories depending on their shape. They can be star- or spider-shaped, triangular, circular or double.   Star-shaped     Double Spider-shaped Triangular Circular 9 late daylilies 9 late dayliliesRecommended for Zones 4 and lower. 21 very late daylilies 21 very late dayliliesRecommended for Zones 5 and higher (in colder zones, very late cultivars may not have time to produce mature flowers before the first frosts hit due to a shorter growing season; choose late varieties instead).

  ©

  Credit

  Stephen Westcott-Gratton

  Falling for daylilies 

  Published:

  2008-08-25 00:00:00

  Author(s):

  Stephen Westcott-Gratton

  Updated:

  2008-08-25 00:00:00

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  Welcome to the new CanadianGardening.com

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  I’m proud to welcome you to Canadian Gardening’s brand new website, which is designed to be beautiful, useful, interesting and interactive. Like a garden, this website is a work in progress. Many more features will be added over the coming months, so please check back often. Better still, become a member and we’ll notify you when new updates are made. 

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  Favourite Plants

  An ideal book for Canadian gardeners looking for perennials, roses, trees and shrubs to suit their particular locations, from Zone 3 to the warmest climates in the country. It includes planting and growing advice, detailed descriptions and information from the personal experience of expert Canadian gardeners. The lush photographs will inspire every gardener. more

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• Editor's Picks

  • Late bloomers
  • Inspired pairings for the late summer garden
  • Tips for planning a backyard potluck picnic
  • The best ways to water
  • Designing with grasses
  • Water update
  • Greening our roofs
  • Cool colours in the garden
  • Raising canes

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