To plant, or not to plant. That was the question in mind as I viewed the flats of annual flowers lined up at the front of the house. They had been destined for an oval plot carved out of the front lawn, but it was late in the planting season and other gardening projects were calling.
In the end I decided the healthy seed-grown plants must be moved into the garden, but fast. I cleared the space, plumped it with compost, transplanted quickly, and hoped for the best.
I’m so glad I did. That hastily planted patch of flowers created a glorious display of colour from mid-August onward. Best of all, the display was in the section of front garden directly in my line of view as I work at my office desk.
The flowers bloomed in front of a background of tall dahlias bearing large pink, cactus style flowers. The dahlias are flowering still, along with some of the late transplants.
Most of the annuals, planted in July, were cosmos varieties. The one still blooming most strongly is Dwarf Sensation from T&T Seeds. It’s a compact version of the fine old Sensation, a cosmos well loved for its long season of large daisy type flowers on tall, feathery bushes.
Sensation came upon the gardening scene in 1936, when it won an All-America Selections gold medal award. Dwarf Sensation has the same large, beautifully symmetrical flowers as Sensation, but on compact plants that need no staking and are well suited for limited-space gardens.
In the Stokes Seeds catalogue I found Carmine, a cosmos in the Apollo Series with large, deep reddish-purple flowers on bushy plants 60 to 90 cm high.
William Dam Seeds lists four European Fleuroselect award winning cosmos varieties. I chose two of them to grow — Rubinato and Xanthos. Fleuroselect winners rarely disappoint.
Rubinato bears pleasingly rounded, dark red flowers on 60-cm tall plants. It is well suited for small gardens and pairs nicely with Xanthos, a variety growing to the same height as Rubinato. Xanthos bears soft yellow blooms that blend in with other flower colours while bringing a muted brightness to a flower garden of mixed hues.
Off to one side of the cosmos plants I tucked in a patch of Starfire signet marigolds (Veseys Seeds). There ferny little, 30-cm plants, introduced in the 1930s, are often referred to as rock garden marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia, T. signata). They are excellent filler plants, good in vegetable and flower gardens.
While other marigold plants did a meltdown weeks ago, my signet marigolds are still blooming merrily. The orange, gold, lemon and maroon colours increase in intensity as nights begin cooling in late summer. The petals of the little blooms add light citrus notes to salads.
GARDEN EVENTS
Floral arts. Victoria Floral Artists Guild meets Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Garth Homer Centre, 8113 Darwin Ave., for a pre-holiday celebration. Guest fee of $5 can be applied to a membership. Feel free to bring a floral design to share. Details victoriafloralartists.ca.
Qualicum meeting. The Qualicum Beach Garden Club will meet Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the QB Civic Centre, 747 Jones St. Speaker will be Mike Yip, an avian photojournalist dedicated to raising awareness of Vancouver Island birds (vancouverislandbirds.com). Doors open at 7. Guest fee $3.
Nanaimo meeting. The Nanaimo Horticultural Society meets Wednesday at 7 p.m. in First Unitarian Fellowship Hall, 595 Townsite Rd. Jo Canning will discuss composting and there will be a judged parlour show. More information at 250-758-6783.
Pruning Japanese maples. Russell Nursery, 1370 Wain Rd. in North Saanich, is offering a workshop on Japanese Maple Pruning with Brian Russell on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. Cost is $20 plus GST. Register at russellnursery@telus.net or phone 250-656-0384. Please provide your phone number when registering.
Plant profiling. The next session in the Plant Identification and Culture series at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich is on Saturday, Nov. 16, 1 to 4 p.m. This is an ongoing, monthly course that can be joined at any time. In each session Diane Pierce introduces 25 new plants, with descriptions, preferred growing conditions, landscape uses and maintenance. Cost to HCP members per session is $35, others $45. Cost for 12 sessions: members $350, others $450. To register call 250-479-6162.
