YORKTON – No matter what the weather, the end of August and beginning of September are a new chapter in our 2025 gardens! Now we focus more on harvesting and clean-up, rather than the lazy-hazy days of summer!
So as we look ahead to September, there are two things to note. The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be having their first meeting on Wednesday, September 17 at 7:00 PM at the Yorkton Public Library. Our guest speaker will be Bonnie Warkentin speaking to us about “Succulent Wreaths”. I’ve seen pictures of projects like this, so it will be fascinating to find out how it is accomplished! Everyone is welcome.
And the next item is the Fall Plant and Bulb Sale on Friday, September 26 at the Parkland Mall, Yorkton. There is still plenty of time to add plants to our garden collection; they have time to settle in before winter comes and will be ready to be beautiful in our gardens next spring! So if you see some areas of your flowerbeds that could use some enhancing or amending, this sale is the perfect time!
Perhaps there have been a few things about your garden that you want to re-work. As time goes by, garden styles change, and so do our tastes. I think I mentioned to you that we enjoyed seeing some landscaping styles in Winnipeg this summer when we took a leisurely drive one afternoon. One thing that I noticed was that we saw only one traditional flowerbed. Only one. Whenever flowers were featured into the plantings, they were usually in containers. And while we saw some stunning plantings, they often used grasses or small and colorful shrubs.
This was garden information to consider. I can think of a few reasons why this might be a new garden path, pardon the pun. For one thing, planting flowering annuals in the ground is a huge amount of work to plant and then maintain. Anything that needs deadheading or pruning requires regular attention.
But there are alternatives. There are so many beautiful and colorful small shrubs that are suited to our climate. Combined with easy-care perennials, they would give us the beauty and interest that we want, without quite as much hands-on work.
So. Some shrubs that are diminutive but delightful: spirea, potentilla, ninebark, hydrangea, globe caragana, barberry, dwarf Korean lilac. Do some homework about the best choices for our area: we are zone 3b. Whatever shrubs you choose, make sure they are not going to be too big, and will not fill up your entire flowerbed. They will look more lovely if they have some breathing room around them.
Team them up with great grasses: some gardeners enjoy the look and movement of grasses, even if it means giving up bloom. They are easy to maintain and no deadheading involved. And I love the look of elegant hosta at the edge of a bed such as we are describing.
Imagine it! ‘Dart’s Red’ spirea against the purple tones of ‘Concorde Japanese Barberry’ that grows to only 18 inches high! Back with a Karl Foerster ‘Overdam’ variegated grass, blowing in the breeze, and front with a collection of hosta with green and cream leaves…beautiful as any flower garden! And much easier to care for!
We can easily enjoy the best of both worlds with flowering annuals in containers, set among the plantings we just talked about. So take a look around your yard! Visit the Yorkton Hort Society at www.yorktonhort.ca . Thank you to our friends at YTW—have a great week!
