Notes from Havenwood

November: Bulb planting, Finishing the Trellis Wall & Mowing Leaves

Completed Trellis Wall this November

Welcome to Notes on Havenwood…

where I share more of the inner workings of my one-acre town garden in western Pennsylvania. We are located in a Continental horticultural zone 5/6 between the Great Lakes and the Appalachian mountains.

Our November has been warm and dry, with only a dusting of snow. It was warmer than usual in October as well, and plants have been pretty dry out there, causing the leaves to fall early. But the temperatures are set to plunge to 17°F (-8 C) on Friday, so we are just in time getting the last of the bulbs in and the dahlias pulled into the basement.

This month we did something that I have been waiting ten years for: finishing of the Trellis Wall! Our first glimpse of it at completion was in the dusk (above), as it was two years ago when we completed the frame. There were 2000 more bulbs to go in, leaves to chop, seeds to sow, and plants to settle before winter proper.

Let’s see what’s going on around Havenwood this November…

Curb plants for damp soil

It has been two years since I added a couple hundred native, blue Camassia quamash to the curb garden at Havenwood. They have bulked up well and their yellow pollen is just the same color as the vivid buttercups that are impossible to keep out of this wet soil, so I decided this year to go for it and add 300 more to create a brief but car-stopping display. Since our temperatures are often quite warm at the end of May/beginning of June for Camassia season, the flowers do go over very quickly. But I think this display will still be very worthwhile, especially as the plants grow so happily here at the damp bottom of the garden in full sun.

North American native bulbs, Camassia quamash, in the Curb garden last year.

Bulbs for the Cottage Garden