Heritage Perennials® are grown by Valleybrook Gardens, an innovative and leading producer of over 1500 varieties of perennials, hardy ferns and ornamental grasses. Our distinctive blue pots of HERITAGE PERENNIALS® are available from independent retailers and dealers in many parts of Canada and the USA. We're passionate about perennials! We hope this newsletter helps you to enjoy your perennial gardening even more.

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Our best-selling book, the Perennial Gardening Guide is a handy reference used by gardeners across North America — written by our own Horticulturist, John Valleau. Released March/2003 in a brand new 4th edition!

How about going crazy with a few cans of spray paint on your ornamental grasses or Sedum? And I don't just mean subtle tones of copper or metallic gold, but how about day-glo lime green or orange!! This idea was invented by designer Edith Edelman of North Carolina about ten years ago, and it's well due for a major revival. It's a temporary thing of course, fading over the winter until the dead tops are finally cut down in early spring, but doesn't it sound like fun? And having FUN in your perennial garden is even more important than having the most beautiful yard on the block. It's what keeps us all interested, energetic and inspired.

Our September contest winning entries:
"This summer my garden met up with the cutest wee bunny rabbit that you ever did see. It was very tiny and melted the hearts of my 20-year-old daughter and her dad (mine too, but I did not admit it). It visited our fenced-in backyard daily through a tiny space under the fence. It really liked the Oakleaf Foamflower and kept it trimmed neatly.
I went away for 2 weeks and left the bunny lovers in charge. When I got back, the bunny had tripled in size and had annihilated three huge Chocolate Veil Heucheras and half of the large Tiarella -- see exhibit A [above].
I was devastated and declared war on all bunny rabbits in the neighbourhood. We stapled chicken wire to the wooden fence and dug it down approximately 6 inches into the ground. The next day, the rabbit had chewed his way right back into our yard and had a great feast on the Cushion Spurge. I was not going to be outsmarted by a rabbit, so I put a fair sized rock in his path and he tossed it aside! Finally it took three large rocks to keep him out of the back yard.
So, he moved on to the front gardens that are not fenced in. I read that rabbits will avoid areas that have been urinated on by big cats or foxes. Our fox population is down considerably, and there are no roaming lions or tigers that I know of in the area. Our neighbour has a huge cat... so I asked him if I could have some of his kitty litter. It was a disgusting job, but I sprinkled it in my garden beds until I could order a product called Liquid Fence®, which finally arrived and our front yard had been free of rabbits since then. In order to avoid this next year, I plan to stay home and sit on the porch like Elmer Fudd!" Cheryl -- Oakville, Ontario

"I am a new gardener. Until three years ago I was a plant-the-impatiens and there-you've-got-a-garden person. Then I tilled the rock hard clay in my back yard, put in some sand then 8 inches of top soil, garden cloth and colored stone. I then planted assorted flowering shrubs, hostas, sedum and a few highly recommended plants. I was so proud of the garden for two and a half years, then this summer I began to notice that the St. John's-wort that had been recommended was growing. Boy was it growing, the section of the garden it was in is only 7 feet across and 30 feet long. The St. John's-wort was in the centre of it but after three years it was now taking over about half of the area. I tried to trim the plant and the roots, but to no avail; the roots were like a spider web, they were very thick and EVERYWHERE. I finally called a local nursery and they recommended Killex® to get rid of the monster. Well, two bottles later and hours of digging and pulling, it is finally gone! Never will I ever plant such an aggressive plant again. I've never worked so hard or ached so much as I did trying to get rid of this plant. That is the disaster that almost made me retire from the pleasures of a lovely garden." Jan -- Niagara Falls, Ontario

"My garden disaster this year happened because of all the rain we had in the spring. It spawned blankets of mosquitoes just waiting for me with their knives and forks. I could not get outside to take care of my roses or to tame the Japanese Anemone that was strangling them literally. So I lost lots of them and for the first time in years I had an ugly rose bed. My perennials grew very tall and again because of the above mentioned I could not get out to prune them. I am enclosing what went right for me; my Martagon Lilies against the backdrop of my smoke bush [pictured right]. Marjorie -- Cambridge, Ontario

"I am new to the newsletter, but I can tell it is going to be a real asset to this flower-loving Texas transplant to Ottawa. In semi-arid West Texas we never had to worry about Iris borers. A friend told me that was my problem. Every Iris in my garden this year had the borers. So I dug them all up, washed them off, cut out the slimy little borers and replanted the Iris. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this method worked. It was such a wet summer and I'm sure that contributed to most of my gardening problems this year. Powdery mildew is all over my beebalm, so thanks for the good information about it. It's such a change to go from a dry, hot climate to gardening in a wet, cool one. But I love Canada and all the beautiful plants that I couldn't grow in Texas. Ottawa is a gardener's heaven!" Karen -- Ottawa, Ontario

If you have a lot of squirrels in your neighborhood, consider avoiding planting both tulip and crocus bulbs, which are not only the absolute favourite fall food of squirrels, but also regularly grazed by deer and rabbits in the spring. Narcissus (including daffodils) and Hyacinths are rarely bothered by animals, since the bulbs and foliage contain toxins and most likely taste horrid. Also seldom bothered are the many wonderful kinds of small bulbs, such as Scilla (Squill), Chionodoxa (Glory-of-the-Snow), Puschkinia (Striped Squill), Eranthis (Winter Aconite), Anemone blanda (Grecian Windflower), Galanthus (Snowdrop), Allium (Flowering Onion) and Muscari (Grape Hyacinth). All these small bulbs are also excellent value, relatively inexpensive to begin with and the plantings actually increase from year to year.

However, if you MUST have tulips and crocus and squirrels are likely to be bothersome, consider a few simple approaches to deter their feeding:

• Squirrels tend to dig where the ground has been newly disturbed. Cover the area over your bulbs with a two-inch later of FRESH cedar bark mulch or other strongly fragrant mulch. This may be enough to mask the smell of your bulbs.
• For large areas, cover with 1-inch mesh chicken-wire immediately after planting. Bulbs will grow up right through this with no trouble at all. Hide the wire using a mulch of soil, bark mulch or compost.
• For smaller areas lay down old boards, shingles or even whole sections of newspaper over the area. Leave these in place until the ground freezes hard in late fall. Remove for the winter otherwise the bulbs might be trying to push up through the boards in early spring.
• Purchase a repellent at the garden center. It might be wise to put a little bit into each planting hole, and also apply it to the soil surface. Repellents break down in the rain, so plan to re-apply as necessary. Products that work on both bad taste AND bad smell are likely to give the best results.
• Blood meal or mothballs scattered on the soil surface is sometimes recommended. Neither is likely to work for very long through damp and rainy weather.
• Consider feeding the resident squirrel population during the fall as a distraction. Peanuts are a particular favourite. This method is reported to actually work!
• Hot pepper powder, also known as cayenne pepper, is said to work well for deterring squirrels. The jury is still out on this one, so we don't recommend it. Visions of poor little squirrels scratching their eyes out because of hot pepper powder is just way too creepy and sad.

QUESTION: "Can I still be planting perennials in the fall? Is there anything special that I need to be doing at this time of the year?" Susan -- Buffalo, New York

ANSWER: Fall is a really good time for planting perennials. In most regions the cooler autumn weather brings plenty of moisture along with it, conditions that are perfect for newly-planted perennials to establish a good, strong root system before the cold of winter arrives. A second period of cool and moist weather in the spring gives them even more time to become well established before the heat and stress of hot summer weather.

We advise trying to get your planting done at least 4 weeks before the ground freezes hard in your region. Here in Niagara that seldom happens before early to mid December, so planting until the end of October is generally quite safe. Fall-blooming ornamental grasses and Japanese Anemone are best planted a bit earlier still, and also anything that is considered to be borderline hardy.

Our SEPTEMBER WINNER (drawn at the end of the month) is CAROL of Newcastle, Ontario. Congratulations! Carol will be receiving a gift certificate for $50, redeemable for Heritage Perennials® at a Dealer of her choice. Our October 2004 contest winner will be picked on November 1, 2004.