|
FREE
to your e-mailbox!
What's new in gardening, upcoming events
gardeners won't want to miss - PLUS all the latest
from Canadian Gardening magazine and our website.
Subscribe
now! |
|
Win
fabulous prizes -- see all our contests and enter online.
Enter
to win! |
| 
Find great
gardening books to inspire and inform you. Plus, order
custom binders to house your Canadian Gardening
magazines.
Start
shopping! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Plan a planting party
|
 |
|
Instead of a housewarming, organize a planting party for new homeowners
|
|
|
By Kathleen Dore; Photography by Mark Burstyn
|
|
|
|
|
Party day essentials
• Enough tools to share for the work at hand-spades, forks, trowels, buckets, etc.
• Source of water (plus hose or watering cans)
• Extra pairs of gardening gloves
• Soil amendments, such as compost, manure and mulch (either a bulk order for big jobs or a few bags for smaller patches)
• Containers for potting up and suitable potting soil
• Transplant solution
• Cleanup equipment, such as bags for yard waste and garbage, broom and dustpan
• Sunscreen
• Dollar-store hats and bandanas
• Chairs in shady spots (the new homeowner might not have garden furniture, so bring some along). If the garden has no shade, consider bringing patio umbrellas or renting a small canopy as well
On the menu
• Big containers stocked with lots of cold drinks, such as lemonade or iced tea
• Easy, no-cook snacks such as crudités and dip, cold, herbed vegetable pasta salad, antipasto platter and hard cheeses; seasonal fruit; cookies and squares
• Non-breakable patio serving ware such as brightly coloured paper plates, melamine platters, goblets and paper napkins (or bring out the real deal - china, glassware and linens)
• Garden-themed decorations, if desired
Sturdy basics
These tough plants are easy to find and easy to grow
Herbs
Chives, thyme, sage, basil
(annual), summer savory, garlic
Perennials for shade
ASTILBE (Astilbe cvs.), ZONE 3
DROUGHT-TOLERANT FERNS such as sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina), ZONE 3 or leather wood fern (Dryopteris marginalis), ZONE 2
Thick-leafed, slug-resistant HOSTAS such as 'Sum and Substance' (golden leaves) or 'Krossa Regal' (blue leaves), ZONE 2
SOLOMON'S SEAL (Polygonatum biflorum), ZONE 3
Perennials for sun
YARROW (Achillea spp.), ZONE 2
LADY'S MANTLE (Alchemilla mollis), ZONE 3
ORNAMENTAL GRASSES such as Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster', ZONE 3 or Miscanthus sinensis 'Silberfeder', ZONE 4
GLOBE THISTLE (Echinops ritro), ZONE 3
PERENNIAL GERANIUMS such as Geranium macrorrhizum 'Bevan's Variety', ZONE 3 or Rozanne (G. ‘Gerwat'), ZONE 5
DAYLILIES (Hemerocallis cvs.), ZONE 4
'GOLDSTURM' BLACK-EYED SUSAN (Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm'), ZONE 3
Shrubs
JAPANESE BARBERRY (Berberis thunbergii cvs.), sun or part shade, ZONE 4
EUONYMUS such as 'Emerald Gaiety' (Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety'), sun or shade, ZONE 5
HYDRANGEAS such as Hydrangea paniculata cvs., sun to part shade, ZONE 4 or shade-tolerant oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia cvs.), ZONE 5
'GOLD LACE' JUNIPER (Juniperus chinensis 'Gold Lace'), sun, ZONE 4
PAVEMENT ROSES sun, ZONE 2
DOUBLEFILE VIBURNUM (Viburnum plicatum forma tomentosum), sun or part shade, ZONE 5
by Anne Marie Van Nest
Click here to see some planting party accessories.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
