January 2012: November's Garden - Jennifer Porwitt
Since winter is the planning season rather than the planting season, lets consider the late autumn garden. Surprisingly, there are enough plants that look good in November that it might be worthwhile to consider devoting one bed just to them. The following are plants that are in our own gardens or were observed elsewhere.
For the background a couple small evergreens to consider are ‘Holmstrup’ arborvitae and Alberta spruce. The Alberta spruce looks especially fresh at this time of year. ‘Holmstrup’ retains its dark green color all winter. For the mid or foreground bird’s nest spruce provides a completely different texture from other plants of the same size.
The ‘rest your eyes’ grey foliage plants that have done their job all season and still look good are lambs ears, culinary sage, and lavender ‘Munstead.’ Shading from grey to green are rue, catmint ‘Little Titch’, and yucca (Yucca filamentosa). Rue (Ruta graveolens) has possibilities for use in a knot garden, but do wear gloves when handling it as it gives some people a rash. In November ‘Center Glow’ ninebark’s foliage looked much fresher than some of the other shrubs that still have foliage at this time of year (like magnolia). Incidentally, most of the foliage of our ‘Diablo’ ninebark had already fallen by then.
Still very green were german irises, yellow bleeding heart (Corydalis lutea), and parsley. (I especially like parsley!!) The corydalis and parsley have nice fine textured foliage, in great contrast to the spears of the iris. Corydalis is a plant that is long-blooming. It gently reseeds, but is easy to control.
Not all is so calming—‘Fort Laramie’ strawberry and ‘Biokovo’ geranium leaves turned an eye-popping red (which becomes burgundy when it gets really cold). Both of these plants make nice low groundcovers for the front of the garden and between taller plants. ‘Fire Chief’ heuchera was still a brilliant magenta. Also in the red side of the spectrum are grasses—‘Blue Heaven’ little blue stem, ‘Shenandoah’ switch grass, and flame grass (Miscanthus) ‘Purpurescens’. They combine a nice burgundy with gold tones. It is best to purchase these grasses in autumn so that you can see exactly what you are getting—there can be variation in coloring between plants.
In contrast to the green of german iris, Siberian iris foliage turned a deep gold by November that looked just lovely in the sunshine.
Last but not least—flowers!! Johnny jumpups (violas) just kept blooming. They are nice little plants to tuck in between bigger ones. Another astonishingly long lasting bloomer is german statice (it still has blooms/bracts in January). I was amazed to discover a ‘Radio’ calendula still going strong with its cheery golden blooms. This annual can be started indoors in the spring when you start peppers and tomatoes or sown directly outdoors when the ground thaws out. I suspect that they could be started in milk jugs as a winter sowing. ‘Immortality’ iris is one of the most reliable of the reblooming irises. In catalogs it is described as being pure white, but ours is actually the palest blue.
The grand finale—‘Mystic Fairy’ rose! This garden workhorse just doesn’t know when to quit. There were still lots of flower clusters in full bloom in our garden when it got so cold that they froze solid.
Happy gardening
Jennifer Porwitt
Previous Garden Sage Columns
November 2011
50 Latin Names of Plants
October 2011
It's Time to Plant Bulbs
September 2011
The Beautiful Crabapple
July 2011
Beat the Japanese Beetle
May 2011
Bringing Birds to Your Backyard
April 2011
The Rotten World of Composting
March 2011
The Joys of Basil
February 2011
Switch to Seeds for Pricy Foliage Plants
January 2011
Repot orchids for re-bloom
November 2010
Protecting Plants Against Winter Injury
October 2010
Is Your Tree a Hazard Tree?
May 2010
Butterfly Gardening
April 2010
Eat Your Landscape
March 2010
Belles of the Border
February 2010
Superstar Seeds to Try
December 2009
New Years' Resolutions for Gardeners
November 2009
Just When You Thought You Were All Done
October 2009
Digging & Storing Dahlia Tubers for Winter
September 2009
Gardening for Wildlife
June 2009
Frond of Ferns
May 2009
All American Selections
April 2009
The fine art of borrowing ideas
March 2009
Be Seed Smart
February 2009
Some Like Them Hot
Dec 2008/Jan 2009
Feeding the Birds
November 2008
Winter Damage to Evergreens
October 2008
Putting Your Flower Bed to Bed
September 2008
The Return of the Tulips
July 2008
Oh Dear, Oh Deer
June 2008
DANGER IN THE GARDEN (ESPECIALLY FOR CHILDREN)
May 2008
Rainwater Gardens
April 2008
Growing Peaches in Minnesota
February 2008
Insects That Might Bug Us This Summer
January 2008
Avoiding Crying After Buying... Wise Mail Order Shopping
December 2007
On Comet! On Cupid! on Donder and Blitzen! On Garden Catalogs
November 2007
Latin is for Lovers ... of Plants
October 2007
Use Those Leaves!
September 2007
The Coneflower Explosion
