October has been an exceptional month.
It has been a month of beautiful sunrises and sunsets providing a range of colours from red to golden-yellow. In the Findleberry garden the hydrangea paniculata continued to put on a good show, however, sadly as the leaves fell I finally had to prune the fading flowers. I have dried some of these as they do add to the indoor fall decor.
Meanwhile I have been busy putting the plants to bed. We have plenty of leaves in the garden and they act as a very good insulator around the border plants. I also heap them onto the vegetable bed. They do eventually compost down and add to the soil base for next year.
Putting plants to bed for the winter 
Most exceptional once again has been the fall views in Fintry Provincial Park. www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/fintry/. Most of the trees turn a golden yellow and are certainly a sight to behold. They contrast well with the remaining greenery as well as the graceful grasses.
I located a new variety of aster novi-belgii “Crimson Brocade” and picked up a berberis (atropurpurea “Gentry”) at Dogwood Nursery in West Kelowna. (www.dogwoodnursery.com). I didn’t realize that they stay open until Christmas. I bought a mixture of miniature bulbs including two varieties of scilla, tulip, crocus and muscari. Once again I have potted them up in containers and plunged them into the vegetable bed. This system seems to work well. I bring them on in the greenhouse next March and have early spring blooms on my porch. 
Lastly my tender plants are still tucked up in the greenhouse but they will be moved shortly to the garage. It is not economical to heat the greenhouse in winter so I use the warmth of the garage instead.
