Summer Notes/Seasons Changing

It has been quite some time since writing notes about the progress of my Fintry garden. Once again as we reach mid October the summer just flew by. Along with doing a final sale on our property in the Shuswaps and then being away for a month overseas, the garden has been a little neglected. However, these past few weeks I have been doing some major clean up and I am still enjoying some of the late summer flowers including rudbeckia, dahlia, cosmos and the annuals in my hanging baskets and containers. We also had a great harvest of peaches and grapes. Thankfully we did not have a bear attack the fruit this year.

I will certainly miss our escape to Eagle Bay as we much appreciated the peace and quiet allowing us to truly relax. I had also started to develop a tiered garden going down to a pond area which my husband created. Just a few photos of the garden at its peak.

Our Shuswap Garden

Meanwhile back at Fintry we had excessive heat this summer (well into the 30’s) which ultimately affects the garden. However, more disturbing though was the wildfires that started towards mid August which did significant damage close to where we live. We were very thankful that our house is still standing but our heart goes out to neighbors in the community that lost their homes. Coincidentally while we were evacuated my husband and I went on a long awaited trip to the UK including Ireland and Scotland as well as a cruise around Iceland. Needless to say I was looking for updates daily on the status of the wildfires and was relieved to hear that the evacuation order was lifted in the Fintry Delta shortly after we left.

OUR UK/ICELAND TRIP AUG/SEPT 2023

Since returning home I have appreciated the cooler weather and the garden of course has come back into its own. I eventually had to pull out all the cosmos and zinnia as they literally overtook my new garden bed. Gradually each day as the night temperatures dip I have been slowly dismantling my hanging baskets and containers plus moving some more tender plants that I know will not survive the winter. I know my husband cringes when I eventually move all the plants to the garage filling up much needed space. I have also started to dig out the dahlias as I know we could have a sudden frost and they would be lost.

COSMOS & ZINNIA

Here we are now approaching mid October and my husband and I have been doing some major pruning. I know I am to blame for planting too much in the garden but initially we wanted to create privacy. There comes a time though when the trees become all too overbearing and an intensive prune on some of the deciduous trees and plants was needed. I have also become all to aware that we need to be more fire smart and realize eventually we are going to have to pull out our cedar hedge.