Its nice to have a season where the outdoor work is minimal – just a little bit of clean-up to finish, and the occasional foray into the vegetable garden for winter vegetables. But even in winter months there are things to enjoy and marvel at in the garden.
Here on the west coast we have gone through the wettest November in over 100 years. NThe rains brought floods to several towns on Vancouver Island, but it also built up the aquifers that were strained after a very dry summer, and gave gardens a good deep watering to get them back on track. Now in early December are experiencing cold dry clear days, with temperatures about ten degrees below normal.
In my gardens, I’ve just dug up the last carrots to store for the winter. The Swiss chard and kale seem to thrive quite well in this weather, and we have been enjoying their fresh greens quite frequently. The parsley also loved that November rain, and I’m sure I have enough to keep a restaurant stocked with it all winter! My perennial herbs – thyme, rosemary, oregano and sage – are still green and producing enough for my winter soups and stews. I’m not sure how long the oregano will last, but I’ve dried enough to get by until spring.
In the flower gardens, the last calendulas have just succumbed to the cold weather, and looked so pitiful I removed most of them today. They have been blooming prolifically, on two foot high bushy plants ever since mid-August. (I was a bit late with the seeding). My pot of nasturtiums is also finding this weather too much, and it was another one I had to cut back and add to the compost today. Like the calendulas, it has been a mass of golds, deep bronze and bright orange blossoms all summer and fall.
Nasturtiums Just Keep On Blooming
The last bloomer in my gardens is usually the tall late chrysanthemum that my mother-in-law gave me several years ago. Over the spring and summer it grows from the base to at least three or four feet, bushy and green. From one small clump I now have several large ones, great background fillers in the flower garden. In November the buds that have formed start to open, and for a month or more I enjoy gorgeous bronze-rust flowers, with gold on the underside of the petals. They make a wonderful cut flower, bringing color back into the house when there are no other blooms in the garden.
