September is my favorite month gardening wise even though I know that summer is coming to an end.  It is also a great time to go camping.  We still experience sunny days, but the nights are a little cooler.  Most of all though, the air seems crystal clear.  After returning from our trip, the very first thing that I do is look around the garden even before entering the house.  As mentioned in my previous post, there must have been a lot of rainfall while we were away.  The plants are certainly putting on their last spurt of growth and I am still discovering new plants.  Earlier on in the year, my daughter gave me a couple of plants that she got on sale, one for the pond and one for the rockery.  The pond plant (luckily I saved the tag) is called Scarlet River Lily (Schizostylis Coccinea) and is in full bloom and is certainly true to it’s name with a beautiful scarlet red colour.  The lavender ice rockery plant with bright daisy mauve flowers only open when the sun shines. 

Talking of pond plants, you need to decide when buying the plants whether it can be partly emerged in water on a shelf at the side of the pond, or as in the case of the water lily (which is an oxygenator,  see more at: http://pondclinic.com/aquatic-plants/oxygenator) is completely submerged in the pond.  The fish love the shelter of the leaves of the water lily.  The other area that we have created is a small bog garden.  This is where you can plant marginal plants such as flag iris and the umbrella palm (I have also found that the umbrella palm works well as a feature plant in containers).  Both the pond and stream are looking their best at this time.

The self seeded nicotiana is about 2 feet tall now and I just love the two tone colours.  During the day the flowers close up but once the sun goes down they open up and put out the most beautiful scent.  The sedum Autumn Joy is now in bloom and the hydrangea paniculata flowers are just starting to turn pink.  A good sign that fall is on it’s way. 

My husband and I have been busy pruning like crazy and we have a whole truck load of debris to take to the transfer station. 

This is a perfect time of the year too to pick up plants on special.  Home Depot and Canadian Tire were virtually giving away their perennials that still looked pretty healthy.  Among my purchases were a few chrysanthemums.  Some of my annuals in my containers are finished now so I have replaced these with the chrysanthemums to continue the colour on.