Hi
Today was a nice day. So I found my long plant auger attached it to my drill and went out and planted 40 tulip and daff bulbs. I still have 30 tulip bulbs to plant but at least I have gotten started on them.

It started cooling off and the clouds rolled in so looks like we are going to get some rain.

The leaves are changing colours really fast and falling quickly too. We still haven't gotten a killing frost yet as my flowers are still blooming on the patio. A very late frost this year, though it did say it wen't down to -2C the other night, but I guess we have a good microclimate. :-)

Take care
Debbie :-)

Well, I woke up with a migraine and that got me really depressed as I had the whole weekend planned out. So I took an Imitrex and slept for a couple of hours and by the afternoon I felt well enough to work outside. Dug up all my big red dahlias. A few of the bulbs got separated so I'm giving those away to anybody who wants them. Tomorrow, I'll be digging up my canna lilies. Some of them are over 8 feet tall. Now, I truly believe in manure. It was a beautiful today and hope the rest of the weekend stays nice.

Peatpod (Laura) brought me a couple of hibiscus. She's a real sweetheart. Gave her a birdhouse gourd.

We had frost a couple of nights ago so some pots will need to be emptied. I'm sort of in a panic mode. I know we won't have too many more weekends where we can get our hands dirty.

Happy gardening.
Claudette

Just dug out my carrots and put them in a bucket of sand. hope they keep through the winter.
Claire

Claudette, I hope your migraine didn't last too long. I get them every few years and they are just awful.
I have grown dahlias from seeds a few years ago but never the really big ones from tubers. They must be so pretty when they are all in bloom. And canna lilies over 8 ft tall? Wow! That is great. I hope u got pics of them that u can show us.
Claire, how many carrots did u grow? I know a man that over winters his carrots in a box with peat moss I think it is. They do really well for him. I will ask him next time I chat with him to make sure I am remembering it right though.

Today I went out and planted the last 30 tulip bulbs in the raised hosta bed by the patio. When the tulips bloom I will be able to see them from the kitchen so I am looking forward to that! Almost all the leaves are off the crabapple tree now thanks to all the wind we got yesterday.

It went down to -4C here last night so the pots on the patio are starting to look a bit worse for wear. Almost all of the petunias have stopped blooming so I started pulling them out. I couldn't do too much as my back only lets me stand for a few minutes before it starts feeling like it is collapsing which is really annoying when I want to get stuff done.
Take care everyone
Debbie :-)

I'm a crabby gardener. This is what we have today:
{{!gwi}}
You probably have it by now too, Debbie. Sigh... It was just like this the other day, nice and colourful:
{{!gwi}}

So, winter has struck. The long-range forecast doesn't look too promising either. Big sigh.

I did get almost everything done that i needed to do. The containers are dumped, all except two, and stored under the deck. Leaves are raked, but not all of them, and stationed around gardens and rose bushes to become mulch and winter protection. Cuttings are taken - two kinds of bacopa, geraniums, dichondra. Naturally, i don't hold out much hope of actually rooting and keeping these cuttings all winter, but i have to try, don't i? I didn't get all the seeds collected that i'd like to, but if we get some decent weather, that may still happen. Some things froze without setting seed, though.

All my orders have come in except for two backorders from Veseys. I have no idea what i'm going to do with them if this doesn't clear up soon. Whose idea was it to order 16 poppy plants anyway?! LOL Everything that came in got planted, which is pretty good. I'd better find out what i did with that lemon lime amaryllis bulb so it can be potted up, maybe in a month. I'm sure it's just in a box somewhere. :)

The wind is really howling out there now, and every so often the lights dim. I'd better get off here just in case of a power failure. 'Nother sigh. Good night!

Hey Marcia, what's with all that white mulch laying around your place? It looks nice and fluffy too. *Giggle* You sure got a lot of it by the look of things. We haven't had any yet, *touch wood*. Though I did think I felt a few flakes mixed in with rain today. I laughed when I watched the news and saw Orangeville area. WOW!
I hope the snow will melt so u can finish up the yard. Son and granddaughter were suppose to come over today and help catch the fish and put the hoses away, but his furnace broke down so he had to wait around for hours for the furnace guy to show up. Still hasn't shown up at 8:30pm and they are all wearing their coats in the apartment. It went down to -9C last night with the windchill! I'msure am not ready for winter yet!

Marcia, do u use rooting hormone on your cuttings?
16 Poppy plants? LOL..u did say u were expanding one of your garden beds didn't u? LOL Cause if you weren't planning on it I thinkit might be a good idea. LOL

Take care and stay warm.

Debbie :-)

Debbie, quit being a smart-aleck! LOL

My daughter could sympathize with your son. Last year their furnace went out at the end of October and it wasn't fixed for over three weeks because the model was out of date and the landlord was too cheap to replace it.

Okay, if you look at the above picture (the one without the white mulch), you'll see an area to the left that looks unplanted. It has bulbs, three gaillardia, a euphorbia and a daylily in there, but four of the poppies will probably go there - all the plants (not the bulbs) are orange hues, so the orange poppies will be planted there. Along the other edge, there's an unplanted strip. It has either eryngium or echinops in there - can't remember which one - and the rest of the poppies will go in there. However, if this stuff doesn't melt, i don't know if i'll be able to plant them. This is frustrating!

Keep your fingers crossed for an Indian Summer!

Btw, the garden i'm expanding is behind and to the right of those bags of leaves. You really can't tell. There's cardboard on the ground covered with soil and plants from dumped pots. And i just left any leaves there that fell. I was planning on raking that strip of leaves into it, but that didn't happen. Anyway, i'll just have to winter sow some shade plants this year!

Ttyl!
Marcia

Since mid-Oct I've been hearing about snow in Ontario. My parents in the North Bay area are under a snowstorm warning. It all sounds so early this year with the snow in Ontario. I don't remember so much in the way of snow days in Sudbury or North Bay before Oct 31st. Especially not in places like Fort Erie. I hear all of this seeing a Laurel return to flower in Victoria while gardens have lots of summer flowers. We don't get much fall colours but there are some nice colours from eastern trees. Foliage was usually done by the 15th of Oct in North Bay. It's a long, sporadic process out here.

Here are Victoria flowers for those in the snow:

Here is a link that might be useful: Fall Flowers

Well, we have snow now in Sudbury, Ontario. I was hoping to get another weekend to clean up some beds but I guess we'll have to wait till the spring. But I still have one pink hollyhock in bloom.

Marcia, Moi? being a smart alec? Whatever do u mean? *LOL*

It sounds like your beds will look so pretty with all the plants u plan on adding. I can hardly wait to see it next year in bloom. Did u get your Indian summer so u could get all your things planted or are u using a snow shovel now? LOL *ducking so I don't get whacked* LOL

claubill that is amazing u still had a hollyhock in bloom. Are u all covered up with snow now?

Take care everyone and keep warm, I have started a November thread.
Debbie :-)