Hello from Markham, Canada Zone 5a

Hi there,

I am a new member and live just north of Toronto. in Markham (Zone 5a). My garden is considered a city garden.

My interest is in seeing if I can grow higher zone plants in my Zone. I have had success and failure, however I keep on trying , looking for that micro climate/plant that may thrive in my garden. (Presently on a quest for a hardy Fuschia , all attempts to date have failed. No plants survived the winter.

My garden cromprises of 7 beds. Two in the front of which one has roses and the other a mixture of perennials, mini rose climbers and clematis.

The back beds consists of two long rose beds with climbing roses and clematis at the back and tea and floribunda in the front of them.

The other three beds have perennials, lillies, 2 cherry and 2 plum trees, 1 Peach. Wonderful fruit and great plants. Everything works out so well in spite of the competetion. I have one Musella and a few Gingers that survive the winter planted close to the house and covered with a couple of bags of fall leaves, which get mulched in the spring

I mix my own fertilizers which I purchase from the co-op In addition I add Gypsum as an additional soil admender plus Sulfur, Magnesium Sulphate , Chelated Iron and Micronutrients in the early spring.

For weed control, I use no fabric but apply 3 inches of mulch. For difficult weeds, I use "Touchdown

I Hope this was a satisfactory introduction :)

Welcome Illya -- your introduction presents a very clear picture of your garden, which sounds lovely. I don't garden much any more, but really enjoy this site. Glad you joined!

You gave a very nice introduction, thank you for the look at your yard. You'll enjoy the variety of Davesgarden as well as the friendly people and great information that is shared in both directions. It's a great place to learn and plenty of fun too.

Welcome to the friendliest place you'll ever see. Jo

Yipeee!!!! Another Canadian!! Welcome to Dave's Garden Illiya! You will not regret joining this site. Come
visit us in the Canadian Trading forum...we are so happy
to have another potential plant trader with us!

Welcome to DG Illiya !
As you already know I am a newbie also. I am learning so much from all these people it's great. I know that someone (of coarse not me) will be very helpful to you with their knowledge.
Thank you for your e-mail about the daisies. I appreciated your knowledge.

Hi Illiya and a warm welcome to DG! I have already replied to your post on Gerbera daisies. I like to push the zone envelope too. I am in zone 5b so I will be watching your experiments with interest. Glad to have you here. :^)

Welcome, IIIiya. Your garden description sounds lovely... and that you will likely hang out here in the Rose Forum!

Hi llliya. great introduction and your gardens sound so lovely...so glad to have you with us at Dave's. There are lots of Canadians here so I'm sure yall can come up with something that lives through winters there....Anyway let me welcome you from the Coast of Texas...no wintering over problems here just wish I could send yall some heat........... :o)

Illya, hi........come on over to the Canadian Trading forum...we are a bunch of happy garden nuts...the conversation gets better all the time.....Elaine

welcome to daves garden. your garden sounds wonderful

Hi Illiya,Welcome to Dave's
I just discovered you...LOL
Wonderful that another Canadian has joined. This site is yet to be discovered by many Canadians.
As you described your gardens I could imagine them..
I like the "picture in my mind" of clematis on the fence with roses in front. I hope you will share all your gardening ideas and photos with us.
Cheers,
Carol

This message was edited Oct 5, 2003 6:26 AM

Welcome Illiya! I loved your garden discription! I am at the opposite end of N.A., The NW FL panhandle! And try to grow many of the same things you grow. I"m sort of at the southern end of the zones for clematis, roses and certainly fruit trees. But keep trying to grow them anyway -to see what will survive! Lots of knowledgeable folks here. Enjoy! Jen

Thank you all, for your kind words of welcome. I think I am really going to enjoy this site.

Last night it was 3 Celcuis and I thought the Dahlias were toast; they are the 12 " variety, but they survived and I think I have them for another few days. I am not sure if any of you are into Dahlias, but the best tubers can be had from Ferncliff Gardens in B.C.

See you all around,

Illiya

Thanks for the tip Illiya

Welcome to DG. Must admit I am also one of those who loves to grow out of zone 6a here. Good luck on your endeavors, sure you will find all you need to know here at DG.

illia - welcome to dg from your new york neighbor

Hi and welcome. I am sure you will love it here, just prepare to spend lots more time here than you would have thought possible.
I have a hyperlink here to a fuschia that I just purchased from a local grower who has had them for the last 2 years and been quite successfull in wintering them in our zone 5a. I bought 2 of them so if they are still alive in the spring I would be glad to send you a start off one.
Have fun wandering around there is a wealth of information on these pages, and everyone here is wonderful.

http://plantsdatabase.com/go/1977/