Mummies Only

Day 359: Hallowe'en is one of my least favourite days of the year. For all of the fact that I enjoy costuming, the emphasis on fear and horror (building over the last several decades) is something I find extremely off-putting. There's enough of that in the real world. The fantasy-world of spirits, shades, vampires, ghouls and the like holds no interest for me, and I can honestly say I've never seen a single zombie-themed movie. That said, it would not be October without bringing mummies into the picture, and after much deliberation, I settled on a dark red one. It's usually a debate between rich red and lavender, although I have been known to buy an orange or a yellow one occasionally just to change things up. Interestingly enough, sometimes these mummies arise from the tomb the following spring if the winter is kind, ready to put up a new flush of flowers.

Mad For Mums

Day 328: I'm mad for mums, and since it has been several years since my last one gave up the ghost, I decided to make up for lost time and bought three of my favourite colours yesterday. They are all small plants, so I put them together in a pot I can easily move to a protected area when temperatures start dropping below freezing. Although they're sold as annuals, chrysanthemums are astonishingly sturdy. I've never had one which didn't come back at least one year, and more likely, three or four. Even if only one of these survives the winter, I'll be happy.

Mums are long on a natural insecticide, pyrethrum. Their flowers are processed to extract an oleoresin which is marketed under the name "pyrethrin," available in almost any garden center, but if you plant mums, you'll see a decrease in mosquitoes, ants and aphids, at least in proximity to the plants themselves. Surround your favourite sitting area with them, and enjoy mosquito-free tea-times. Autumn is here. Go mad for mums!

Chrysanthemums

Day 330: Adding bedding plants to your garden is the easy way to keep colour fresh all summer long. Chrysanthemums are a fall favourite, and sometimes reward you by sticking around to re-sprout the following year. As a matter of fact, the purple one I planted in the center of the strawberry jar just off my back porch is now on its fourth year, and I have done nothing to protect it from winter temperatures. These three followed me home recently and replaced the straggling nasturtiums in a planter box on the steps.

Although perennials require less work than annuals (especially if you're growing your bedding plants from seed), changing up the colour in your garden can be a creative experience. It's fun to play with themes, although I seldom seem to stick to one, or at least not strictly to (say) reds or blues. Some plant outside the palette always manages to sneak into my cart...a purple chrysanthemum, for example. My layout never goes exactly as planned either, so the result is that my flower beds are a riot of colour in the manner of an English cottage garden. I like the unstructured look, although I wish I'd put the tall snapdragons closer to the back, and had spread the celosia out evenly along the border rather than dedicating two square feet of space to its cockscombs. "Maybe next year," I tell myself, and then when next year rolls around, the Haphazard Plan becomes the rule yet again. Perhaps I just can't bring myself to impose structure on Nature.