Northern Shade Gardening

There might be hope that the pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) will not spread farther into Alberta just yet, laying waste to our pines the way it has in British Columbia.

I love this pine in my backyard and so does the wildlife. I’m fortunate that a previous owner thought of the future and planted a number of trees. Now I get to enjoy their cool shade, wonderful shadow patterns, long branches that create privacy, and watch the birds that they entice to the yard. My pine is the tallest tree and often a robin likes to perch at the top and proclaim its territory. There is a birdbath next to the pine, and many birds perch on the lower branches before and after their baths. Sometimes a woodpecker will visit systematically up and down the trunk; it’s hard to begrudge it the food it finds. The nuthatches like to hop down the pine trunk, in their typical head down position, as they too search for a meal. The trunk is covered in an assortment of interesting life forms, including moss. Isn’t the bark fascinating? Altogether it is a valuable part of the yard.

However, this pine and all the others in Alberta have been on the brink of potential endangerment as the voracious pine beetles have made their initial forays east over the Rocky Mountains into our province. In British Columbia they have caused terrible devastation to the forests. The amount of damage done to the ecosystem and economy has been incredible. There are vast stands of dead trees.

However, there was a ray of hope in an article by Bill Mah in the Edmonton Journal newspaper this morning.

‘We’re cautiously optimistic that the winter did give us a helping hand,’ said Erica Lee, a provincial mountain pine beetle prevention specialist. At 299 other sites across the province researchers are also taking stock to test the prediction that temperature were low enough for long enough,12 consecutive hours of -40° C (-40°F) ambient air temperature, in January and February to kill enough of the beetles to make a difference.

The article goes on to explain more of the problems associated with the pine beetle invasion, such as damage to the watershed leading to flooding, the loss of $23 billion worth of timber, and of course the impact on the wildlife. For example, without the lichen which grows there, the woodland caribou will be in trouble.

The original invasion was caused by freak gusts of wind, which carried the pine beetles 400 kilometres over the Rockies to Alberta. It would be sweet revenge if our freakishly cold temperatures managed to kill off enough of them.

I hope for the sake of the vast stands of the pine trees in Alberta, the wildlife, the watershed, the economy, and my beloved backyard pine tree, that the pine beetle invasion will be halted.

Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ (Siberian Bugloss) is the most beautiful and versatile plant in my garden. It is blooming its little blue heart out right now, when very little else has started to flower.

This plant has so many positive attributes. The beautiful sky blue flowers resemble forget-me-nots, and are held in airy sprays above the plant. The blooms of ‘Jack Frost’ are fairly long lasting for a perennial. It blooms early in the spring, and is the first plant, other than bulbs, to flower in my garden. I appreciate the early bloomers, after a long winter, more than any other plants in the garden.

The leaves are exquisite, each one a stained glass painting in silver and green. As they grow through the season, the leaves become more silvery, more heart shaped, and the dark green veining patterns more distinct. Its foliage really stands out in the shade. It is one of the last plants to be visible at dusk as I glance out my window for that final look at the garden before dark.

It’s incredible that such a beautiful plant could be so hardy and versatile. Every one of my B. macrophylla survived over the winter in our zone 3 cold climate. It also adapts very well to shade. I have this plant in 3 different aspects, from semi-shade to medium deep shade and it has no problems. One area gets only an hour of light in the very early morning, yet they are blooming right now. I’ve been surprised at how well they handle the competition from willow roots too. I squeezed a few plants into tight pockets between roots, and they are doing just fine.

While in the garden centre recently, I saw the newly introduced B. macrophylla ‘Mr Morse’. The leaves are very similar to ‘Jack Frost’, but the flowers are white. I liked it, but I love the sky blue flowers of  ‘Jack Frost’ better. However, if you if you would like the foliage effects of this plant, but with white flowers, then you might want to check it out.

Here is a post I wrote on 3 silver toned Brunnera macrophylla plants, including ‘Jack Frost’.

I heartily recommend Brunner macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ for its beauty and versatility in the garden. You can get away with buying the smaller less expensive sizes, since they grow quickly over the summer.

I love the small blue spring bulbs. Their pretty blooms and fresh foliage are appreciated while many other plants are just breaking dormancy.

Chionodoxa luciliae (glory of the snow) is in bloom this week in the garden.

This bulb blooms in early spring with star shaped flowers of purplish blue with white centres. This photo is a bit misleading, just like the ones in catalogues. The blossoms are actually a bit more lavender blue than the photo. While this is a dainty plant, the blooms face upward and can be easily viewed without getting on your hands and knees. The foliage is narrow and somewhat grass-like. They look great with the other spring flowering plants. This bulb is very easy care and reliable.

Scilla siberica “Spring Beauty’ (Siberian squill) is another petite bulb.

This bulb has a true blue colour. The flowers are star shaped with darker blue lines down each petal and faint white areas to either side. The overall effect of a swath of Scilla is of a sheet of rich sky blue. This variety ‘Spring Beauty’ seems to have slightly larger flowers than my other S. siberica which has no variety name.

The leaves of the squills are narrow and strap like, and have the advantage of dying back fairly quickly to make room for perennials. This habit makes it easy to integrate them into the garden with other plants, giving longer interest and colour. The bulbs are small and easy to tuck in around the perennials in the fall. You can see how closely these resemble Puschkinia (striped squills), to which they are related .

Puschkinia, Chionodoxa, Scilla and Muscari are all members of the Hyacinthaceae family, and bloom in that order in my garden. The Muscari (grape hyacinth) should be flowering in another week or so.

I find that all 4 of these are very reliable in a northern garden, returning year after year. They are all worth planting in the fall. In the spring, when you see their pretty blue flowers, you will wish that you had planted them in even larger numbers.