Today’s photos are from Anne Peters in Steinbach, Manitoba. She says, “Here are some photos taken last summer. Living in Zone 3b limits one to a short summer season and a long harsh winter with limited plant selection. However, that does not impinge on one’s love of gardening! Included are hibiscus, bergenia, barberry, hydrangea, roses, allium, peony, primula, and dahlia.”
Anne, 3b?? That’s COLD! But you haven’t let it hold you back. Beautiful! Show us more….send more photos!
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Comments
lush/full and LOTS of color and i'm envious of your Bergenia here it kind of "melts" and never thrives. in a compressed growing season do things just spring forth and grow fast exploding with color to get everything done before frost? and a Hibiscus that far from Honolulu! can't imagine 3b i grumble about the cold in 6b,, what are your frost free dates?
Great garden, great pictures! I didn't realize monarch butterflies migrated that far north (you are 400+ miles north of me in Minneapolis) or that such fabulous-looking primula are so cold-hardy. Love the peonies, too. Thanks for sharing.
What a lush and beautiful garden! I'd love to see more pictures. Are the roses from the Explorer series? They must be hardy to survive in a 3b zone. I have trouble with roses in 5b.
That's a mighty fine bird bath, and what looks like barberry near makes great bird habitat I see a lovely large spruce in the background, spruce do well down to zone 2, perhaps plant more of the dwarf varietys as accents. I'm wondering what is that letuce like plant by the birdbath, looks like it'd make a tasty ceasar salad. And I see one solar light, I bet there are more... I used the Malibu brand, got mine at Lowe's but now I see them at Home Depot; http://malibulights.com/. I'd like to see more of that garden... thank you.
Hi, Anne, your plantings are gorgeous. I, too, wonder about the timing of things bursting back to life in a zone 3b area? Your knees and other joints are probably glad for the enforced break from gardening!
tractor1, I think the lettuce like plant is the bergenia tntreeman made mention of in his comment. Ann's clumping of them looks great and they certainly makes a stunning edging for her birdbath bed.
Is there any way to identify the plants that are shown in the photographs? Most of them are so interesting that I would like to add them to my garden! Some photos identify one particular plant, but most do not show any identification at all.
Yes, I see two more solar lights in the second picture down on the left... they are similar to mine... they came with two screw-in extensions (made very well) for the post so I can raise them up two feet higher. They also included a bracket for hanging on a wall. I bought them in a two-pack some ten years ago, cost $30. They come on as soon as the sun sets and go off when the sun rises... I never remember them not lighting even in winter when there's heavy cloud cover for days and even with the little solar panels covered with snow. They are a metalic grey and coated with some sort of tough clear plastic, after ten years outdoors in all kinds of weather they show no wear whatsoever. I placed mine inside my fenced beds mostly so I don't run into those corners at night, and so I don't need to mow around them. I originally bought two to place at the foot of my driveway, but then realized that anyone walking by could just pluck them out of the ground. For accent garden lighting solar is the way to go.
Beautiful! I love the plantings around the birdbath. The only plant I don't recognize is the low growing purple one.
Love the plants. Curious about the large green mound around the birdbath. It appears it might be slightly invasive, but have a spot that it could take over, if we could identify it? Thanks for sharing.
Please, please tell me what you have for a hedge!!! It's gorgeous and really makes your garden a personal and private space. I'm looking to replace my overgrown and very labor intensive Canadian hemlock hedges with something more manageable. Do you have to do a lot of pruning? Is it at its ultimate height?
pattyspencer: If you're referring to those low growing plants next to the bird bath I don't see them as purple, my monitor shows them as deep reddish brown, I think they are bayberry... a very hardy perennial shrub, lots of sharp thorns make it attractive to small nesting birds and deer won't eat it, and in fall it's loaded with brightly colored berries. Bayberry does well left naturalized and sheared makes an attractive hedge. There are several varieties of bayberry, with leaves of green and various shades of red like the one shown here... the berries can be hues of red, orange, or yellow. Bayberry with it's bright shiney berries and typically reddish bark makes a very attractive plant in winter. Bayberry does well in full shade or full sun, needs little water, and will do well in poor soil, really needs no care at all... they grow naturally at the forest edge... one of my favorite plants.
SilkPurseGarden: in my opinion Canadian hemlock makes for the king of privacy hedges... evergreen all year... the hedge in the photo (not sure what it is, almost looks like forsythia) looks deciduous so will offer little privacy for half the year, and it sure looks like it needs shearing in the photo and more often than Canadian hemlock. If your Canadian hemlock hedge has become too tall for easy maintenence it can be cut back to a two foot height with no harm, it will send up new leaders and grow back better than ever. I'd think very carefully before removing your healthy Canadian Hemlock hedge, you surely will be very sorry. Canadian Hemlock makes for a wonderfully graceful specimen tree as well as a spectacular privacy hedge. If the deer didn't enjoy it so I'd plant many.
pattyspencer: I meant to write barberry... for some reason I often call them bayberry, a different plant.
Please send us more photos showing layout of whole beds plus how they are situated in comparison with your home and outbuildings. Beautiful and I thought gardening in zone 4a was limiting.
Mmmm, beautiful colors and plant selections to start my day, "thanks Anne". How fun learned some new plant names and details too, very cool..."thanks all." And the solar light in photo #1 on left (opening photo) looks the same as our backyard ones...12 in total which we've had roughly 7 years. Needed to replace "AA or "AAA" battery on a couple once but that's it. Have slightly different styled solar lights in several potted patio plants too. Wonderful soft, soothing lighting to relax by. More solar lights in front yard garden beds, including a several floods to accent a tree and climbing shrubs and ends with several clustered by front door area to light the way.
"Happy Tuesday!"
Very nice, we have a Zone 3b cottage on Anarchist Mountain near Osoyoos BC that I have been attempting to create a garden in, and so I know just how challenging it is, you've done a wonderful job. I also would like to know what the plant near the birdbath is, it's lovely.
I can't begin to imagine gardening so far north but you seem to be managing magnificently.
How many gardening months do you actually eke out? Do you have a greenhouse or sunny area inside where you can have some plants to keep you company during what must be a long, long winter?
The primrose is a gorgeous color. I love them. What variety is it?
The bergenia around the birdbath are beautiful. How do you keep them so perfect? Once their bloom is past, mine always look a little the worse for wear. You have a lovely garden.
Anne... you can create all this beauty in Zone 3b, really??? You must be a magician, and a very good one, too! The 'few' pics of your gardens just leave me wanting more. Please?
tractor, do you not have wooly adelgids there?if so how do you control/eradicate them on hemlock. they are in a steep decline here . we have always had to fight spider mites on sheared hemlocks but adelgids have appeared in the last few years and it's becoming a real problem here now the emerald ash borer is moving in fast
Anne, your garden is beautiful in any zone, but seriously impressive in zone 3. I love the dark on dark container against the white wall. What is the black ornamental grass next to the potato vine? Wittyone , I think the primrose is a drumstick primrose, Primula denticulata 'Lilac'. Tractor1 and Happily-Gardening, thank you for the additional lighting info. I started looking online for solar lighting. There are mixed reviews on the various lights. It sounds like you two may have the same ones and love them. My only question for you both is, the light they give off blue and very dim, as some complain, or a pleasing soft white light? Tntreeman, I think I have been seriously lucky combating wooly adelgid. About 10 years ago I noticed them suddenly on my hemlocks. I beat the heck out of the branches with a corn husk broom till the vast majority fell off. They are still alive and well and I have never had as bad an outbreak of that pest since( I do see a little now and then). I am sure this is not a recommended remedy and your neighbors may think you are nuts, but hey, it seems to have worked.
@Tractor1 - nope not the barberry - it's the bottom right picture - the little blue/purple flowers
cwheat000 - my solar lights give off a wonderfully pleasing soft white light. Fairy light ambiance? I wonder if the "blue light" is really white light but rather a thick plastic globe, tinted slightly blue, hence "giving off a blue dim light"? As I mentioned previously I have three different kinds and the ones in the potted plants have perhaps a very vague bluish tint due to that...these ones give off a tinge less light also. And the solar spot lights too are white, a brighter white. Hope that helps...if I can be of more help, let me know.
"Nite, nite!"
cwheat, i'm sitting here almost laughing with the vision of you "whipping" the hemlocks with a broom! but i have read that knocking them off they rarely can climb back on the tree. i was curious as to how far north the adelgids have migrated
tractor1: Many thanks for the advice on my hemlock hedge. They're about 10' tall and I like to keep them looking very formal. It's a huge bear of a task and I'm not getting any younger. I do love them, and you're right, they're a fantastic hedge so maybe I'll try to take them down to about 8' to make the job easier.
tntreeman: no adelgid here in Bethel, Maine yet, but I suppose it's just a matter of time before I really do have to put in something else.
Anne - I love your garden! I'm a former 'Steinbacher' living another 180 miles northwest of you and I can appreciate the amount of care that has gone into your corner of paradise.
Thank you for all the lovely compliments! Here's answers to some of the questions posed:
tntreeman - frost free days in Manitoba range from 116 - 125 days! Frequent spring showers and a short, hot summer make for a good growing season.
sheilab - the roses are from the Parkland series developed in Morden MB.- named Winnipeg Parks, hardy to Zone 2b. Dark, glossy, oval leaves emerge a rich burgundy color, then turn red again in the fall.
Silkpursegarden - the hedge is Villosa lilac. If left, without pruning, it will reach 10 - 16 ft. with nice arching. We keep it pruned to about 8 ft. to obtain more formality.
Saxifraga bergenia(cordifoia) surround the birdbath, then Cherry Bomb Barberry, back dropped by Pinky Winky Hydrangea - bursting out in white blossoms in June, then turn pink over summer, then burgundy in the fall!
The grass in the planter is "Prince'.
BlueRidgeNative7 - I don't have the botanical names for all the plants, but here they are(T - B, L - R) Snowball Vibernum standard, Prince grass with potato vine, peony Mikado with allium in the foreground, dahlia, Ligularia Dentata 'Othello, Winnipeg Parks rose, primula, and Pink Versicolor hibiscus.
125 frost free days, hard for me to imagine. i would stay up 24 hours a day just to get my horticulture fix for those other 240 days. your garden really is beautiful and i really am envious of those bergenia, here they look like a bad crop of collards they just won't work
Thanks again happily-gardening
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