I can't believe it is Nov. 2 and we still haven't had a killing frost in St. John's. Today was sunny, light winds and 13 C...seems like I'm in Vancouver!
Hate to inflict pain but......
I took a few pictures around work (the Memorial University Botanical Garden) today...Dahlias in November...that's a first for us!
Aster novi-angliae
Papaver atlanticum...been in continuous bloom since late June
Chrysanthemum nipponicum
Daphne burkwoodii is having another go
Rhododendron ferrugineum...it thinks it is spring!
Our Doronicum is confused as well!
Back in my own garden, the Jap. Maples are still spectacular.
wonderful to see Todd, even we've had a killing frost.
Excellent Todd. You deserve this after the past few seasons of brutal weather you guys have had out there.
echoes
Nov 03, 2006
I agree, you earned it. I think you waited long enough for summer this year too. That's the way fall was for us last year.......endless, lots of colour. Enjoy, it's all part of the wonderful world of gardens. Lovely pics as usual.
Gorgeous photos, Todd. Enjoy rhar weather you're experiencing. I believe you are the only place in Canada that hasn't felt winter's first sting.
Don
I'm living on borrowed time...today its 16 C!...tomorrow is suppose to be 5 C and Sunday night is forecast to drop to -2 C so the Dahlias will be finished then. However, Dahlias till Nov. 3 is nothing to sneeze at in my area (mind you it was not safe enough to plant them out until June 18!). Allow me to gloat, since I could still be buried in snow when the trees are leafing elsewhere in the country!
Will Todd you may not have had a killing frost in town,but we have had ours ,ohhhhh i hate this time of year.Love the pics
Great pics Todd. Enjoy the mild weather while it lasts. I'm betting your winter will still be more severe than many of us have to endure.
Ann
No doubt it will! I could live with an earlier fall frost if our winters were no more severe than southern Ontario, southern Nova Scotia or BC...but I'd find the cold too much on the prairies! (although I wouldn't have much snow to shovel!)
Enjoy while you can Todd. The Papaver is what really surprises me. Mine is long gone.
Lovely pictures,
Joan
That poppy is practically everblooming. Even our Iceland poppies don't bloom as long and I thought they did pretty good.
Thank you so much for the wonderful eye-candy Todd! I must admit it would be a toss up as to whose winter would be worse (I remember some bad snowfalls here).........years and years ago. ;)
I'll give you this picture to warm the cockles of your heart whilst you shovel.............of course the shoveling should take care of that as well. :S
(I really, really, really dislike visiting some farms in the depths of winter;).
Now that is truely colder than a well digger's bottom.
LOL at Lilypon and Sofer!
Todd, that Japanese Maple is dazzling. Wow.
Sandy
Keep them coming until they are gone Todd. We Snow Bounders need to live lives of you who can have a life. Thank you also for the wonderful photos. (continually) Steve Oh now I know where the Weird Hair Kids get the color for the spray on hair doos. LOL Todd is that the real color or did you use a filter? This is as close, but not hardly, as I could get to it here.
This message was edited Nov 3, 2006 10:10 PM
The Jap maple was the real mcCoy...no filters. I think this was the most brilliant fall yet for them. Here is my Red Dragon...nearly as bright as my Suminigashi shown earlier.
That Red Dragon would sure be a traffic stopper. I sent a picture to my daughter who is still looking for shrubbery to plant on her relatively new property. She's going to love it.
Joan
For me, there's no flower that comes close to the beauty of that Red Dragon. Gorgeous against the green of the grass.
Sandy
The Dahlias will be dead tonight! Its 6:30 pm here and down to 0 C already. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!
Love the Jap Maple, shoot Todd, just love your gardens period :o)
Connie
I have never seen color like those maples Todd! Gorgeous!
carolvan
I must admit I do love the Jap. Maples. Thank goodness my climate allows me to grow them. Here is a pic of my Acer pseudosieboldianum...a Jap. Maple look-alike that is much hardier. The fall colour is so different from the typical Jap. Maples. As you can see it is MUCH too close to the house but I'm running out of space! I actually picked up this maple in Calgary back in 1999. It was about 2 feet tall. Mind you, that maple is not hardy in Calgary, yet was being sold in their nurseries!
Check out my tiniest Jap. Maple called Sharp's Pygmy. The plant was purchased in 1999 at 4" tall. Now it is a staggering 8"! LOL! If you look at the my picture, you can just see it located in the back corner of the garden not too far to the right of my Suminigashi...look for the small speck of red at ground level.
Sharp's Pygmy is absolutely adorable Todd! I went back and looked for it in your previous picture too, and I must admit it looks very sweet wher you have it situated. I didn't know that Jap. Maples came in such small sizes. How big will it eventually get?
--Ginny
This message was edited Nov 4, 2006 8:06 PM
LOL Todd lots of things sold in Calgary's nurserys that are not hardy here. And of course some of us like to push the zone too but sometimes I wonder.
I bought a little Japanese Maple this spring the tag says Acer palmatum 'Atropurpurea'.It is rated a zone 5
Brought it in the house a few weeks ago although it could probably have stayed out until near the end of October.There was a bit of new growth after it came in but now it has dropped all its leaves. A friend told me he does this with his and after Xmas it starts to get new growth so I am hoping that will happen to mine.
carol
Carol, that maple will get BIG! Atropurpurea is one of the largest cultivars (and most popular) on the market. If you had a cool garage, I'd keep it there. I have a variegated maple that suffers in our winters. I have it potted and bring in into the basement in winter. It gets no light at all but with no leaves, it doesn't matter. The temp is about 6 C by mid-winter. In March, it starts to leaf and has to be brought upstairs but its a pain trying to keep it in enough sun and eventually it will be too big to handle this way. I think you have a challenge ahead of you....on the plus side, Jap. maples can be hard pruned and you'll be one of the few Calgarians with a Jap. Maple!
Ginny, to quote Vertrees' description from his book 'Japanese Maples' (the JM bible) "Sharp's Pygmy is unlikely to reach 1 m". Certainly, at the rate mine is growing, I won't be around to see it reach that height! Strangely, the vast majority of JM are grafted but Sharp's Pygmy is grown from cuttings...can you imagine trying to graft such a tiny plant?
Hah! I dont have a garage at all let alone a cool one!
I guess I could put it in the basement but that means carrying it up and down which I prefer not to do.
Right now it is sitting just to the side of a south and west corner window where I have most of my indoor plants.
Do you water the one you keep in the basement?
Actually I think lots of people have them here. One lady I know has dug a' ditch' behind her greenhouse and takes the maple out of the pot, lays it down on its side, coveres it with mulch and carpet and brings it out again in the spring. I think it is about 5 years old and 5 feet tall.
Looks a bit sad doesnt it?
Carol, I think the maple will need a 'winter' of cool temps to break its dormancy. I once had a bonsai JM and in the fall, lost its leaves as usual, then I kept it in a window, well-watered...spring came and no leaves but the stems were still green. I put it outside...no leaves all summer but still green stems. That winter I left it in my coldframe outside. Wouldn't you know it, it leafed the best kind in the spring! Maples are weeds! So yes, water it all winter...maybe put it outside until you get temps below -10 C then bring it inside...and maybe do that all winter!
NO way am I dragging it in and out all winter!
But I am thinking I might put it out in the back porch. It is cool there,( although i am still heating it enough to sit out there on a nice day) can get below freezing when it is really cold outside.
You could do what I do with my JM youngins and mulch the roots heavy and place 2x4 welded wire around tree and pack in straw to limit exposure to harsh. When they get too big then quit you will loose a few tips but the tree continues to thrive.
Your cool back porch might well do the trick. All they need is about 2 months cool...think how long a dormancy they get in northern California yet they still grow there.