November. Not everyone's favourite month as daylight hours shorten and the expectation looms of cold and clammy, rain-drenched times ahead. Still, this autumn has been mostly glorious. Following a hot and sunny September and early October, the fall colours have been more brilliant than usual.
Most gardeners have their own personal preferences in trees and shrubs that brighten the autumn garden with golden or fiery foliage colours. Maples probably top the list. Others delight in crimson and gold Parottia, the gorgeous yellow and scarlet of Cornus kousa (Japanese dogwood), or the crimson, orange and amber of Liquidambar (sweet gum) trees.
In my own garden, I love how the blueberries, after giving an unbelievably abundant summer harvest this year, deliver yet another gift, of scarlet, apricot and bronze. The big leaves on an oakleaf hydrangea turn a dramatic scarlet-purple, a little like the bronzed purple hues of the smaller leaves on a Viburnum plicatum (dou-blefile viburnum).
Lovely too are the soft tones of apricot, rose, red and purple of a Cotinus (smoke bush). Even the bracken lights up wooded areas with its tawny gold ferns.
But the absolute star of my autumn garden, and the sight that dominates the view from my upstairs bedroom window, is the brilliant scarlet of a substantial Oxydendrum (sourwood, sorrel) tree. And there's more. Arching elegantly out from the fiery foliage are slender, white, finger-like clusters - the remains of the tree's late summer flowers.
It's quite a show, one that lasts for many weeks. In years like this the active growing season makes its departure in a burst of glory.
November. This is a purposeful, invigorating time of the year. For outdoor people like gardeners, cool temperatures combined with fading plantings in parts of the garden spur us on to cleaning up the landscape.
It's time to create a clear path for next year's flowers and vegetables, which will be inspired, at least in part, by those glossy tempters - the new seed catalogues arriving in the mail.
This is a time of renewal. Compost, composted manure or seaweed dug into emptied plots is a worthwhile investment on a productive and beautiful gar-den next year.
Another aspect of renewal worth considering in autumn is to cast a critical eye over the landscape, with a view to eliminating plants that have become over-demanding, pest-ridden, over-large or just plain ugly.
I've already dug up two big shrubs. One had been sending out suckers with maddening ferocity, and I'd simply come to dislike the other.
The cool part of the year is also prime time for making repairs to fences and other structures in the garden, and for building new trellises, arbours and other useful and decorative garden elements.
The onset of our rainy season is a signal to lime the lawns. I aim to apply lime after the last cutting of the season. As rains leach alkaline elements from the ground to lower the pH and acidify the soil, the lime will be releasing to counter the acidity and maintain a steady pH.
Apply lime now to emptied plots and other garden areas as well, except where potatoes are to be grown and where acid-loving plants are growing.
GARDEN EVENTS
VRS meeting. The Victoria Rhododendron Society will meet on Monday, Nov. 5, at 7: 30 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre, 813 Darwin Ave. This will be Photography Night for the group, with a show of pictures of rhododendrons, their blooms and foliage, and companion plants, taken by VRS members in the last year. Brighten a dark November night with pictures of the last growing season.
Gordon Head meeting. The Gordon Head Garden Club will meet on Monday at 7: 30 p.m. in the Gordon Head United Church Hall, 4201 Tyndall Ave. Don Wuest, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited, will demonstrate how to turn a home garden into a bird feeding habitat. He will also cover procedures for keeping feeders clean. A question and answer session will follow. Visitors and new members are welcome.
VHS meeting. The Victoria Horticultural Society will meet on Tuesday at 7: 30 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre, 813 Darwin Ave.
Brian Minter, well known garden expert, will deliver an interactive presentation, both informative and entertaining. Brian will bring plants to be sold at the end of the presentation. Bring cash to take advantage of this opportunity. vichortsociety.org.
hchesnut@bcsupernet.com
