I grew up in Calgary and have been gardening here all my life, except for a few years of my misspent youth, Art College and living in Vancouver in the 90's. I learned gardening as a child at my mothers elbow whos parents came to Canada before WW1 from the UK and had a small mixed farm north of the City until the 1970's. That generation was focused a lot on growing vegetables but my Grandma also grew a menagerie of old fashioned flowers too, just like the English gardens you imagine complete with picket fence and toads. Somehow I developed a strange obsession over trees in my adolescense, learning their natural ranges, latin names, hardiness etc, being embarrisingly obsessed over trees and plants especially when we we went to the West coast to visit family. When I finished school however, it was Fine Art that I chose for a career, maybe I should have studied Biology instead?; no one thought that was a career back then, choosing art was scandalous enough! When Ralph Klein ruined the economy and any opportunity for 20 somethings in the early 90's my partner and I left Calgary and lived in Vancouver for several years and eventually moved to Abbotsford where I got the chance to garden in zone 8 for 2 years and learn so much more about the plant world than this cold barren dry landscape we call Calgary can offer! For a variety of reasons we found ourselves back in Calgary where we have been living and gardening in the same house since the fall of 1999. I started my own company, Renaissance Men, that let me persue art as well as gardening, I have designed and planted many spaces for clients all over Western Canada but mainly in Calgary of course over the last 20 years. We also lived in Mexico for two hurricane seasons which altered my attitude, colour perception and knowledge of tropical plants tremendously. I worked at a small local inner city garden store/greenhouse in Calgary for several years and have heard almost every gardening question people can have, I've heard it all and then some! So I have known and grown a lot of kinds of plants, tried a lot of things, made some mistakes, have regrets and have some good advice for gardening in this frustrating and seemingly insane place to grow anything. So here are some good ideas and do's and don'ts, enjoy!
Develop a plan
Even if you are just choosing a tree or shub you should do a little research first, what grows here? How much light and water does it need? Is it the appropriate size. So many people rely on the same few species that many people may not know there are more than Shubert Cherries, Spruce and Potentilla that will grow here. There are many books, and internet resources available to you, do some research on Zone 3 and 4 plants, what's a zone? We will discuss later but first what are my condidtions? exposures? and how much space do I have? Trees are large enough to grow in almost any site and exposure (north, south, east, west) but many perennials, annuals and shrubs may want full sun, part shade, or full shade. Full sun is a site that recieves direct sun 6 or more hours a day, the south or southwest side of a house for example, part sun usually an east or north exposure, some sun with the majority of the day in shade, full shade obviously as little sun as possible, north side, under the shade of a tree, not many plants in Calgary require full shade.
How big will this grow? An important question and mistake I have made a few times, many plants do not grow to their full potential in our climate especially trees but also keep in mind sometimes it is hard to understand how big something will get and become a nusance in the future.
This seems to be the hot new thing with new developments, what are they thinking? This spruce will grow at least 4 times bigger and will likely be mutilated in the future to prevent future problems for this building.
These Green Ash trees are planted about a metre from this building. They are some of our largest deciduous trees, why wouldn't you plant these outside the fence where they can live and be enjoyed for years to come?
Also consider, will this cast shade the way I want it to? Will it grow into wires, drop berries on my deck or heave up the sidewalk?
What grows here? I have heard many times "I come from....can I grow, Japanese Maple, Wisteria, or English Holly?" uhhh no, do you see any around here? It's a good idea to get an idea of what grows here, visit your local greenhouse or better yet walk around your neighbourhood and take pictures of plants you like, use an app that identifies plants or even Google Lense or show the picture to someone like me. I can't tell you how many times someone would come in to the greenhouse and ask do you have a plant I saw, it's leaves go like this and this? Oh boi, I cannot help in this situation but a photo can help!
Choosing plant materials, greenhouse or box store? Well, its a toss up. If you really don't know much you may need the help a local greenhouse can provide, usually the sales staff is very knowledgeable but keep in mind going on the busiest weekend day you are not going to get very good service, go at a less busy time if you need extra help. The large local greenhouses are also expensive often for exactly the same product at a box store so it's up to you if you want to pay $140 or $40 for the same tree, although most local greenhouses give a one or two year warranty so it's up to you. Sometimes I find really good deals at a box store but often they hire the worst people possible and the plants are dying from lack of proper care, go early in the season! When I worked at the greenhouse the slowest times were after dinner and weekday afternoons, we were also open for 12 hours so do not arrive at 10 minutes before closing and think you will be greeted happily, really? can you make it in any of the 84 hours a week we are open???
Make a list! Even I have to do this to limit impulse spending, I also forget really important things if I'm distracted so I need to do this to not overspend and be in trouble when I get home.
Buy enough! Don't be CHEAP! You need to have enough to make the impact you want, one perennial or an under planted flower box will look terrible, it's sometimes better to have too many annuals than too little.
Make sure there is room in the car and put a moving blanket or plastic in for any spilled dirt.
Leave pets, children and cranky elderly folks at home! My dog cannot handle shopping and it becomes very frustrating quickly. I made a sign at the greenhouse that said in bold letters "NO WHINING!" because children also become quickly bored, I remember a father grabbed the sign and put it in his childs face, fingers pointing to the letters, you're welcome daddy! And need I say anything about large crowds, 33 degree greenhouses and old ladies in winter coats, come on a cooler day dear.
So, be prepared, have a good idea of what you need, be well rested and everyone will be happy, there's another day if you need something else.
Work with the weather, just because the calendar says May 25 that does not mean it is safe to plant out. A few times I had clients who just could not wait and demanded I plant on the long weekend only to have snow or frost damage plants, sometimes severely. This is Calgary wait until the weather co-operates, we even had a snowy day in the first week of June recently so watch that forcast! Many times June is also too cold for warm weather plants like zucchini or especially basil and I wait several weeks for it to be warm enough, above 10C on a consistent basis overnight, to plant out tender annuals and veg.
What are zones? so many people are too confused and concerned about zones even longtime horticulture buffs. Simply it is a measure of a plants cold hardiness, obviously we do not grow bananna trees because our winters are too cold but plant hardiness mostly pertains to trees and shrubs above the ground and zones may or may not apply as much to perennials and bulbs which can be mulched under leaves and snow in the winter.
Above, Canada's horticultural zones, Calgary is zone 3a like most cities on the prairies, compare to Vancouver's zone 8a or Toronto and Halifax's zone 6a, the higher the zone the warmer the winter and the greater the variety of plants that can be grown. Our zone is listed as -40C which means plants for this zone can survive temperatures up to -40C, however, as a longtime resident I don't think we get -40C that often, this does NOT include wind chill which is a measurment only for heat generating creatures like humans or dogs. So I usually consider plants from zone 3b -37C, zone 4a -34C zone 4b-31C as most years our minimum is usually around or near -30. And anyway it's not so much about the zone but our stupid climate, did I say stupid?, I mean challenging, cities like Edmonton or Saskatoon grow a better and much wider variety of plants even though our winters are warmer, being this close to the mountains is not loved by plants, it's too changeable, chinooks and all. The hydrangeas my sister in law in Saskatoon grow are immense compared to the struggling pathetic hydrangeas I grow for example. Also know that American zones from the USDA are different and their zone 4 goes down to -34C so look carefully if you are worried. Most plants sold at local shops are selected for our zone so it shouldn't really be an issue. I also grow many zone 4 and a few zone 5 plants, it's not always about how cold but how suited to our climate. I have had zone 2 plants die because they require a woodland environment and zone 5 Donkeytail survive because it likes our high and dry climate. *NOTE I have just been reminded that as of 2016 Agriculture Canada reclassified many Canadian cities, upping the zone a number or so, Calgary is now listed as zone 4a, as Edmonton and Winnipeg, Ottawa has changed from 4a to 5b, this reflects the reality of our changing climate which is changing the plants we grow. I would say yes our winters are mostly more mild than say 40 years ago but our weather is much more volatile and extreme so I'm not sure that's exactly better? Anyway, don't fret over zones, the question is more have I seen this growing here before? Am I willing to experiment? If not go with a safer bet.
Understand our climate,
Except for a handful of native trees mainly found alongside our rivers the Calgary area is a treeless plain of rolling hills that become the Rocky Mountains, we are the northernmost limit of the Great Plains that stretch from here to Texas, at 3,000 feet we are also a pretty high city, not as high as some Colorado towns or Mexico City but high enough to effect our climate. For humans we experience the warm effects of chinooks and indeed our altitude protects us a little from the worst of winter, warm air rises, cold are descends, look at the Drumheller valley some winter days at -20C while we are at plus 5C. High altitude also gives us cold nights and volatile weather like hailstorms and prevents us from getting too hot, great for my otogenarian mom but not great for growing corn and tomatoes. We are also treated to snowfall which could fall 10 or 11 months of the year, many Canadians do not understand this because they live at much lower altitudes but it can be snowing one day and be 20C the next, or vise vera, get used to it! SO, my point, this is not a natural area for most plants except grasses, this is a grassland, and we need to take extra care with our trees and plants.
Get familiar with what grows here, I like to walk around my neighbourhood and see what other people are growing, sometimes it is pleasantly surprising, it's a free resourse, if you really like something take a picture and look it up or show it to your local horticulturalist.
Take a trip to the zoo's Dorothy Harvie Gardens where they have a wide variety of annuals and perennials and a broad collection of trees and shubs all labelled for you, some of them are experimental but many are just nice examples of a lot of the great things to grow here!
Some of the perennial collection at the Dorthy Harvie. There are also some other great public parks such as Reader's Rock Garden at the Union Cemetary and Riley Park in Kensington both of which I have written about on this blog, please use the search tool to the right to find the articles.
Grass is not horticulture, I would often get grass/lawn questions at the greenhouse, I don't know, we live on the grasslands I wouldn't worry too much about it is what I would have liked to say. Grass depends on two things temperature and rainfall, lawns were invented by the British in the 18th Century, a place where it doesn't get too hot and it rains all the time, now we do have this weather for about a month or so in June and maybe September the rest of the time it's probably too hot and dry. I find mowing a huge waste of my time so I don't know why people want to water their lawn every time they think it's hot? The City gives plenty of free advice on lawn care, don't water in the middle of the day, don't water more than 2" at a time, don't water the sidewalk, but so many people do it anyway and it's just a waste of water and time and money. I rarely water grass, unless there is a special occasion and I need a nice lawn or have planted grass seed I really don't bother, there is ample rainfall most seasons and anyway I may be the only person who likes grass brown and dead (dormant) in the summer, it reminds me of warmer climates, to me it say hot weather and I like that! Because I have a female dog I have to use a balancing fertilizer and reseed almost half my backyard lawn every spring. I usually wait until June, the rainy season, so the seed can germinate easily, but it's usually a frustrating chore with too much rain washing the seed away or birds eating it, but somehow it gets grown in by July. Now female dogs damage grass not because they have super strong acidic pee or something, geeze what do you think of female humans then?, it's because they pee in one spot while a male dog pees in several spots. If I can catch my dog peeing I just dilute it with some water, it helps. Often grass goes dormant in hot weather (over 25), it does not like hot weather and a lot of watering often will not bring it back to springtime green. It's a natural thing it is doing and the green will return with cooler fall weather, calm down about it!
Dandilions, my solution is to mow them off. If you are one of the OCD set then go crazy dig them all out with a knife. There are many dandilion pulling devices and most of them suck, these were the most returned items at the greenhouse so fair warning. You can use chemicals but be careful! The best method is to dig them out and then apply corn gluten, it resembles fertilizer but what it does is prevent new dandilion seeds from germinating. I wish the City would have used this en masse when they stopped using chemical control, their idea was no control? And now we all suffer. Also remember, like grass, dandilions like cool moist weather and hit their peak in June but will go dormant in hot weather. I just wish the City and citizens would mow the flowers before they seed, this would help us all tremendously!
Here you can see the variety of new grass patches that have grown in as well as some newly seeded patches, it's a grass collage.
Just remember no one has won an award for grass growing that I know of, I don't know why people are so obsessed with it? I have a theory that golf courses have skewed peoples perception, like super models, this is not attainable by most people and shouldn't be. I also belive lawns are a weird hangover from 1950's culture, OK kids the grass it perfect now go throw some not dangerous lawn darts around. Are you still wearing a bouffant and crinoline dress in the 2020's, probably not, it's not the 1950s anymore? Just like the generation after the 50's, relax and smoke some grass and don't be so uptight man.
Watering, I have already discussed grass watering (sprinkling), I think it's nuts and if you think it's good for shrubs or other plants you're wrong, most plants dislike tap water on their leaves and could get burned and it's not enough water anyway. To really water a tree or shrub you need to get the hose to the ground and let it soak in at a slow pace and that is only when needed! Most years there is ample rainfall in the growing season here, there are times when you want to water extra like when a tree or shrub is just planted or we are having a drought. When I was a boy in the 1970's Calgary had many issues with drought and I remember many summers of even address gets to use water on these days and odd numbers these days, don't take water for granted! I just saw some knucklehead standing with a hose spraying the grass today, which is nicely green right now, and after 2 days of rain and more to come this afternoon, oi vey!
Any gardener in Calgary worth their salt uses rainwater to water plants, I didn't invent it it's just how it is. Rainwater is best for plants, is free and can be collected easily. I handwater most annuals every summer morning which brings up another point, get some watering jugs, you will also get a little upper body workout lifting a full jug. This picture is Troll Falls because I don't have a pic of my water barrell!
Some things that drive me crazy, or MAJOR Dont's
Bad trimming of trees and shrubs. It seems everytime the weather gets warm enough everyone is out doing something stupid to our urban forest. In Art School we used to talk about "the Protestant work ethic" the idea that one must work hard and suffer either creating art or I belive in this situation to enjoy a nice day, do you need to badly hack up a brautiful tree to justify being outside? maybe you need ritalin or a good hobby?
Most trees should be cut in late winter or at least while still dormant, it is illegal to cut Elm trees from May to October. Only Birch and maple should be cut while in growth, we do not willy nilly trim trees at any time of the year as it can exacerbate disease and insect problems!
Here is a contender for bonehead of the year! Really? do you think this looks nice or is even safe? I have never met an arbourist I liked, most of the time they are just making an ugly mess. I have had green ash branches randomly break so good luck and I hope you have good insurace when it hits the neighbours house!
Bad cuts. We do not begin cutting and then abandon the job, this branch should be cut flush to the trunk, there are many resources out there for you, use them! This stump will eventually die and have to be cut in the future. So many times I see people have trimmed a formerly beautiful tree into a 20 foot stump, we do not have the trees that take to pollarding, does it look like Italy around here?, trees and most shrubs do not sprout branches from a stump so stop it!
Another contender for bonehead of the year! Here someone cut the tops off of these American Elm trees that the City planted. You should be aware of what trees are actually City trees and note that you are not allowed to do anything to them, if there is a problem they will come out. Also know that Elms live for 500 or more years, are some of our most prized trees in this City and have laws about when they can be cut, educate yourself, you think that trees this close to the street belong to you? The folks at the Urban Forest Department were interested in seeing these photos as well! Don't be a knucklehead, even if these trees belonged to you, you don't take a tree that grows 50 feet and try to make it conform to a small space, or try to make it smaller, you would select a smaller tree species. Facepalm!
Before, these spruce created a nice backdrop for my yard.
After, some genius thought topping these spruce would be a great idea. I think it will shorten their lives and it has marred my view pretty much forever. It looks like we've been thru a hurricane or tornado! What an addition to the neighbourhood!
Most shrubs, when rejuvination is needed should be cut to the ground, cutting half way up the stem is of little benefit. Please ask yourself, do I know what this shub is ? Will I be cutting off next years flowers? Is this the time of year to cut?
Stop Spruce Abuse!!! I don't know why so many people want to hack off the bottom branches of spruce trees? Is this the glof course aesthetic again? Or does it have to do with Christmas trees? Sometimes it's because some genius did not allow for the proper space and now this spruce is growing over the sidwalk or living space, plan accordingly!
What is the point of this? Gee I really miss looking at that beautiful wall?
Here some knucklehead at the school board trimmed these spruces which used to grow down to the ground, now the boys and girls can enjoy all the traffic and noise from Highway 1! I guess someone had to justify their job that day?
This is how spruce trees evolved, over millions of years, to have branches at ground level to protect their roots. If you don't have room for one get a smaller variety or have a look at the pines. Once cut evergreens do not regrow branches so keep that in mind and also remember Calgary is a very windy place so be wise about those cuts!
Young trees need protection from rabbits! I believe the wild hares, Jack Rabbits, we have live everywhere in the city and they will eat some trees and shubs to death in the winter. Things like fruit trees, apples, almost any tree that flowers or has berries is irrestible to the Jack Rabbit, as well many many shrubs, and they need protection like this wire from October until May. When the trees and shrubs have grown large enough over a few years the wire will not be needed.
It took me around 20 years to get used to these guys, if everything precious is protected rabbits will mostly only eat grasses which benefit from the trim anyway. Always be observing your garden at all times of year, especially for rodent damage in the winter.
Mulch with leaves. If you are trying to grow perennials or bulbs or a rose like this a large amount of mulch will ensure moisture is retained, the ground stays frozen during chinooks and plants are happily insulated over the winter. This technique may only be suitable on the southern prairies where our problems are more moisture related than other places in Canada. I often see people removing too much leaf litter in the fall, actually our gardens need it, the earthworms need it and ladybugs need it too. Recently we had an explosion of aphids in the fall, because the ladybug population had been decimated that year and I believe all our green cart program and the super keeness of new home owners to clean up everything in their yards led to this. We need to have a healthy ecosystem for earthworms which will give you better lawns and many helpful insects who are trying to overwinter in dead leaves! In the spring I often just pile leaves loosly in my compost area so the ladybugs can live another day.
This brings me to another important point, Insects. So many times customers at the greenhouse would be in a panic over a supposed infestation that was ruining their lives. Really? are we living in the Brazilian rainforest? There can be insect problems on certain plants but get a grip, we do not live in a place where huge insect problems occur. Most times we were having nice weather in June and since people were out they were encountering insects and this was stressing them out, don't worry, insects mostly come and go.
Don't panic, there are a lot of insects in our world and they all have a place in the ecosystem, unlike Kardashians or Trumps! When I was a boy I remember my dad using industrial strength insecticides like Diazanon, luckily this has been banned, bee and bird populations are suffering enough! This seems like another dumb mid-centruy idea of control all nature and I'm glad we don't encourage it anymore. I remember a woman asking me at the greenhouse how to kill all the earthworms in her lawn because it was lumpy. I said "you are pregnant and have a little one in tow, what you are talking about would be so toxic you would not be able to enjoy your yard for a year or more." What a dumb idiot, maybe you should ask yourself will incredibly posionous chemicals effect my unborn child? Cripes, like this would be allowed to flow into our local streams too, just deal will the lumps lady. It's like nuking the worlds oceans because there are too many sharks, oh now the beaches are safe but the radiation!
Please get to know the good insects of your yard and try not to kill every insect because they don't suit your tastes.
I don't have pics of all these but please familiarize yourself with;
Ladybug larvae, they actually eat the most bad insects.
Dragonflies, they eat mosquitoes
Spiders of all kinds, we don't really have dangerous ones here
Wasps, not yellow jackets or hornets, there are many and they are often quite small but can control many caterpillars.
Ants, I think ants have a huge role in nature but people seem to hate them and accuse them of killing grass, the grass would probably be dry anyway.
Bees, obviously, there are many kinds, wild bumble bees and tame honey bees, be kind, plant flowers, limit insecticides, they pollinate 80% of our food supply!
There are a few pretty bad insects, Red Lily Beetle must be eradicated or they will eat all of your lilies. Aphids can get out of control but can be easily rubbed off with a kleenex or sprayed with insecticidal soap. Insecticidal soap is a contact insecticide and if used properly will not harm other species we are trying to keep.
Slugs, are best controlled with a pelleted bait found in most garden stores, I have messed around with folk remedies but nothing works better than the pellets, it is harmless to humans and pets. Consider ourselves lucky we do not have the giant bananna slugs and snails like the West Coast, they are ravenous, plentiful and huge and hard to control.
If there is a big insect problem in your yard it is likely because your ecosystem is out of balance, grow more variety, encourage birds and relax, we can't control nature all the time!
Create enough variety, having a variety of plant material, extending our short season as much as possible is not only great for us but all the other creatures we share our gardens with too. A horticulture snob I used to know would say "I don't mess around with annuals, I only do perennials" well too bad for you darlin' I think having the most plants possible is a thrill I always enjoy. I like to have a good collection of spring bulbs, blooming shrubs,groundcovers, annuals, decorative trees, summer bulbs, flowers that grow from seed and don't forget winter interest as well, winter is a long time here, plants that have berries or interesting profiles for example.
I like to grow everything possible.
Whats my style/colour scheme? This is a huge topic and one I probably can't answer. Having also been in the interior design world, this is sometimes a painful process for people, I also have a background in aesthetics so this can be a painful process for me as well, you know, helping people discover their aesthetic. Gardens take a lot of time, years in fact, we have a 3 month growing season and new gardeners must be PATIENT!!!! I think it takes about 7 years to get a garden/landscape the way one wants, sometimes plants don't work or grow, or grow too much or you just don't like something in the future. There are many garden styles but hopefully your style will reflect you, here are a few in my area;
Many houseplants enjoy the summer outside, in the right condidtions, don't plunk an indoor plant outside on the first 20 degree day, it will get fried in the sun. Ease plants into outdoor conditions and wait until it's warm enough overnight. Many cactus, poinsettia, amaryllis, spider plants and many more love being outside.
This house uses an amazing amount of annuals every summer.
This is almost Japanese with a huge reliance on decorative evergreens and rockery.
This is very formal, low maintenance, but for me lacks any "life" and must be kept pristine, one weed or a dead shub would have to be removed immediately.
How about open informal? No grass.
Here is a great way to grow some heat loving and drought tolerant plants in a small space.
How about a rose garden? There are many varieties we can grow here.
As for Colour, oh boi, I studied colour theory in college in two intense classes, there is a lot to it! Hopefully you have a natural aptitude for colour, if not, lets avoid what we used to call "floral vomit" which is all colours jammed together. I naturally like purples, blues and reds so most of my plants stay in this range, maybe think of ranges, hot colours like reds, oranges, cool ones like blues and purples and jarring colours like majenta and yellow. I could go on and on about complimentary or monochromatic colour schemes but simply think about what you want to achieve, a soothing colour scheme, a jarring colour scheme (without saying, we are colour blind and/or hate our neighbours) maybe all white? very classy.
Hanging Baskets, they are so versatile and add so much to our yards who can go without one or two or several? Keep in mind hanging baskets need a lot of water, most of my day at the greenhouse was spent watering hanging baskets, if it is hot you may need to water twice, you can tell from how heavy or light they are. Deadheading! most of the rest of my day at the greenhouse was spent deadheading, some of the newer petunias don't need as much deadheading but most hanging plants need to be deadheaded on a regualr basis to ensure reblooming, if you can't tell what's a bud or a seed head then you need to become a better observer, sorry. Also, regualr fertilizer, a good shot of 20-20-20 every two weeks or better yet a slow release fertilizer if you're too busy, follow the directions!
The seed pods of pansy are easy to recognize, some other flowers not as much, you can use your fingers or fine trimming snips for deadheading.
A hanging basket of lotus vine and other heat loving plants.
If we are having a short cold spell I bring anything I can inside, exend that season!
Creating a bed
Hardscaping is where we begin, what shape will a new perennial bed or annual border take? Generally curvy lines look better than straight in landscaping, you can lay a hose on the ground to trace out a new bed. A barrier to keep grass out is highly beneficial and there are many edging options for the consumer, I never did this and have to redig my borders every few years and fight wayward grass the rest of my life! You may want rundle stone or boulders or stepped gardens which may require a professional. The main thing is to get your hardscaping in, then we usually pick trees and shrubs and fill in the rest with perennials and annuals. I began with an established yard and only had to add borders which I did with a rented grass stripper, the sod went to my neighbours in some kind of symbiotic coincidence that year.
I think a nice looking garden has a lot of variety, colours, shapes and textures, many of my plants are grown for foliage and not flower. Let it spread! unlike our behinds gardens look better if plants are left to spread, now this may not work with a lot of our prairie and agriculture based sensibilities but you must get over it. Also if we have the ground covered there will be less weeding to do and who wants to look at dirt anyway? Many perennials and bulbs spread and self seed in our gardens I always have lamium and sedum as groundcovers both multiply easily, lamium self seeds and spreads and sedum can be just started from cuttings or just take some stems and drop them onto a new area where you want it and wait a few weeks, I also use sempivarium (hen and chicks), vinca (periwinkle), sweet woodruff, sages, thyme and ajuga (bugleweed) of which there are many, keep in mind you can't use wood chip bark mulch with these groundcovers, they need to grow in open ground and you will have to deal with some weeds and bare ground until they grow in, however, this base will be very rewarding in the future. I extend the spring season by growing the earliest flowering bulbs possible, I have a good article on bulbs please use the insite search bar, but also plants like hepatica, bergenia and alliums all start greening up very early on and pansies can be planted out most April's, above -5C is OK for pansies. Once we get to June the garden takes on its own life with different beauties coming and going until September. When we get to fall keep watering annuals and protect them from frost, some years the weather is just too cold and we lose most foliage but hopefully there are enough warm days for sunflowers, cleome (turtlehead), ligularia, and fall asters which are all very late bloomers.
A little Bergenia which is also evergreen is a great early spring plant.
Decorative kales and grasses also extend the fall season.
Weeds, as insects do weeds also seem to send some novices over the edge with gardening. Relax we all have weeds. Once again, since we live in a pretty cold and dry climate weeds will probably not get too out of control here. Now, there are plants classified as noxious weeds, which means they must be eradicated, because we still live in a agriculture area, we do not let certain weeds grow, you can see a list of noxious weeds of Calgary on the calgary.ca website. I have some weeds that will never go away like dandilion, foxtail grass, bindweed and creeping bellflower, dont confuse creeping bellflower with the many nice cultivars of campanula. Creeping bellflower came with the house in this old neighbourhood, it is my suspicion that this was grown in gardens at the turn of the century but is now just a nusiance! I have tried everything from digging up the entire area to painting roundup on the leaves, I still have it, it will always be here, the best I can do is pull out the flower spikes before they seed as this is when they easily lift right out of the soil, at least lets stop more from seed!
As I said before a garden full of plants discourages weeds from floating in but it won't stop them all, I still have to go around on my hands and knees every spring pulling out every single green ash seedling before they grow an immense tap root. Most weeds can hopefully be pulled out before they have a chance to set seed, if you are a good gardener you will be out everyday looking at your plants so there should be no chance for a weed to take hold.
There are times I have to use something like roundup but you can also have some success with boiling water poured on the plant, vinegar application, and there is always good old digging it up! Every once in a while I take a long knife to some giant dandilions and am always amazed at how giant their roots are and wonder if they just come back because you missed the bottom third anyway? Relax, as long as we don't let weeds seed out we have done the most we can!
Soil, or dirt if you're not a snob about it, it's all the same but hort people like to say soil. I have never obsessed about it as the soil I have is really good. I remember being almost crippled trying to plant a garden in Cougar Ridge for a client, the delevopers took away all the soil, then put 2 inches or so of top soil on top of a super hard layer of clay, it was like I needed a pick axe, not a shovel, it was painful and arduous to dig a hole for a tree! One solution for insane clay based soil like this is a product called Zeolite, it is granular like phosphate or fertilizer and can be added to planting holes and dug into the soil, I did use this for this job and years later the garden does great, Zeolite helps with water retention, nutrient absorbtion and makes clay soil more friable. Of course when we have an already established garden we can just add compost in the early spring or fall as a surface or dug in treatment. If you are growing vegtables you may want manure as an additive and if this is a raised bed make sure to get a good quality vegtable mix from your soil monger. My beds are so established I don't do a lot of digging around, I add compost from time to time but it's really earthworms that do most of the work in my soil.
Random Advice,
I would like to finish this article one day but keep thinking of different things that may not categorize easily and I can always add to it later, as I bolt awake at 4am "I should have put that in the article!"
Many houseplants enjoy the summer outside, in the right condidtions, don't plunk an indoor plant outside on the first 20 degree day, it will get fried in the sun. Ease plants into outdoor conditions and wait until it's warm enough overnight. Many cactus, poinsettia, amaryllis, spider plants and many more love being outside.
Avoid planting in rows and planting too sparsely. Usually we are trying to imitate nature, plant in odd numbered groups with a variety of plants.
Tools, every gardener needs the proper tools, a good pair or two of clippers, a good limb saw, extendable is even better, twine and string, spade, shovel, pitchfork or garden fork, hand trowels, all these come in very handy and necessary. What? did you think I have a pic of garden tools?
Buena Suerte!
