Leaves on the lawn

I was coming back from the Y this morning and couldn't help notice the carpet of maple leaves on the lawn all nicely dancing above the grass blades. It looked so natural and dare I say normal compared to leaves on the sidewalks and streets which feel more like trash. I guess it's all about the presentation or to put it another way: location, location, location.

The photo is in my back yard where my large and old European Weeping Birch has littered my little (but just the right size) lawn.

Sunnyside Nursery

Sunnyside Nursery

Structure--It's what you need for winter containers

Arranging containers for winter interest can be a challange. There really isn't much color except for pansies and ornamental kale and cabbage if you want to call them color. So structure is extremely important and the easiest way to achieve structure is with the use of evergreens. In this photo I have arranged three containers into a vignette with a thriller being the spiralled juniper, the filler the single ball arborvitae and the spiller the weeping deodor cedar. It's just that simple and this arrangement will look fab all winter long.

Ginko biloba has the absolute best yellow fall color of any tree I know. And the foliage is so unique that it is a must have for any garden. This picture was taken today as the last of the leaves were falling onto the ground. You can plant Ginkos now and they will be fabulous next year and you too will have this wonderful beacon in your garden come next October.

Check out the attached photo of a Beauty Berry from my back yard. This is a fabulous shrub that comes into its own in the fall with these incredible purple pearl-like berries that hang on for several months. The fall color will improve as well. It likes full sun and is very easy to grow. I think everyone should have one in their yard.

On the hunt for new introductions as always. I spotted a new Euphorbia in the nursery today which was very eye catching. Ascot Rainbow has the same variegated leaves and growth habit as Glacier Blue only it is on the warm side of the spectrum with yellow and green leaves and changes to the pinker side in the winter. Looks like a real keeper to me.

I spent the better part of the day today moving all of my containers into a cool greenhouse for the winter. When I say all I really mean just the ones that are on the tender side that I don't want to risk loosing. So the Aloes, bananas, Melianthus, Corokias, Citrus, Albutilon, Borinda (a clumping bamboo) and several mixed containers that had cannas, aeoniums, lantana and few other exotics got to move inside for the winter. Now it looks so bare in the patio that I might have to pot up a few more conifers to fill the space for the winter!

Now is a really good time to visit the garden centers and see what kind of interesting conifers they have for winter interest. Many of them change colors over the cold months, going from yellow to copper or from blue to purple. Keeps the garden interesting.