Happy Monday GPODers!
A couple of years ago we were introduced to Joan Galloway’s gorgeous garden on Sheridan Lake, in the central Cariboo region of British Columbia (Check out that submission here: Five Years in a New Garden and Climate). After decades gardening at her home on the BC coast, this new landscape brought with it many growing challenges and new gardening lessons to learn. Two years on and Joan is really getting into the groove of her Zone 3 garden, and the results this fall speak for themselves.
My name is Joan Galloway. I’ve submitted pictures of my northern garden before. My home is in Surrey BC, a suburb of Vancouver. But I spend 5 months of the year at Sheridan Lake in the beautiful Cariboo area of central BC, which is about 300 miles northeast of Vancouver and at 3600 ft elevation. The gardening is challenging for me after more than 40 years of gardening at the coast in mild Zone 7b-8. Sheridan Lake is in Zone 3 with heavy clay soil, very little summer rain, and voracious deer. I have found that many shrubs struggle; any branches that are exposed above the snow die back every winter. Perennials fare better. Under a thick mulch of wood chips plus the snow, many perennials rated at Zone 4, and sometimes even Zone 5, survive and thrive.
This year was difficult. The winter was warmer than usual and there was much less snow than usual. By February my south-facing garden was bare of snow; then it went down to -30C at night! There were quite a few casualties, even among plants I had previously considered bullet-proof. Spring was cold, wet and windy, and summer heat really didn’t get going until August, so it seemed like everything was struggling. But then it finally turned hot and sunny. Growth exploded; everything came into bloom at once and lasted a long time as September remained unseasonably warm. Fall is a short but spectacular season here; some years frosts come early and the buds on fall-blooming plants are frozen off before they even open. But this year, a glorious fall made up for the cold wet spring. So here are some pictures of my Cariboo fall.
Fall colours. Fall explodes into brilliant golds and greens. The yellows of the native quaking aspens (Populus tremuloides, Zones 1–6) are set off by the dark evergreen pines, spruce and fir.
Asters and rudbeckias are the stars of the fall garden.
Deer find the buds of the asters tasty, so I protect them with stakes soaked in Plantskydd, a potent deer repellent.
Ornamental grasses give a sense of motion to the garden as there is always a breeze. Many ornamental grasses are not hardy here, but blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens, Zones 4–8) and variegated purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea subsp. caerulea ‘Variegata’, Zones 4–9) are very happy. ‘Zagreb’ coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata ‘Zagreb’, Zones 3–9) is also reliable performer and is still blooming in late September.
Another aster beside a young ‘Northsky’ blueberry plant (Vaccinium corymbosum x v. angustifolium ‘Northsky’, Zones 3–7) that actually produced a handful of delicious berries its first year.
Potentilla shrubs love the north country’s cold winters and dry summers. This one is ‘Lemon Meringue’ (Potentilla fruticosa ‘Bailmeringue’, Zones 2–6) that is covered in soft yellow double flowers from May until October. Another favorite variety I grow is ‘Pink Beauty’ (P. fruticosa ‘Pink Beauty’, Zones 3–7).
Joan sent in so many wonderful photos of her fall garden that we will be returning to British Columbia tomorrow to see more. Keep an eye out for Garden Photo of the Day in your inbox so you don’t miss out on even more spectacular fall color.
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