Where have all the flowers gone?? - Trish Symons

Looking for some new ideas for your garden other than more flowers?

If you didn't attend the April meeting, you missed out on a great presentation.

Trish Symons shared a lot of different ideas to bring ongoing colour and beauty to your garden. Here is a small summary of some of the things she shared.

The problem with perennials is that they usually flower only for 2 -3 weeks and in order to keep annuals flowering you have to continually take the dead flowers off.

By using different coloured foliage you can keep the colour in your garden until the snow flies! With trees and shrubs you can even create a visual effect throughout the winter.

Trish suggested adding some of these features to your garden in place of flowers:

• Art work - like statues, sculptures, globes
• Water features - which can add reflection and sound to create serenity
• Structures like arches, windmills, and walls
• Ornamental Grasses
• Winding pathways wide enough for 2-3 people
• Shrubs, trees and bushes - in different heights, shapes, and colours
• Scree garden - this is a soil-less garden that is made up of sand and gravel
• Herbs

Some great time saving tips that she shared:

• Plant daffodils amongst ornamental grasses. Once the daffodils are finished flowering the grasses grow up to hide the dead daffodils so that you don't have to clean them up.
• Using coloured foliage plants in your planters will allow for an extended period of colour

Here are some of the plants she suggested for coloured foliage:

Photo by Trish Symons - Persian Shield

Photo by Trish Symons - Geranium "Mrs. Pollack"

Photo by Trish Symons - Canna Pretoria

She also mentioned the Thunderbolt Hosta, Gold Sword Yucca and Ornamental Maize

To learn more from Trish Symons you can visit her blog here http://www.orangeville.com/blog/655778