I know it isn’t really winter yet, but with all the rain and grey skies it sure feels like it. While most of the plants in our gardens are done for the season, there are a few surprises out there that can keep our gardens interesting during these dark and damp days. Here are several that are tried and true that I highly recommend.

It’s that time of year again when gardeners have to decide how they are going to manage their piles of leaves. Over the years I have observed two distinct groups. There is the fastidious camp that is constantly collecting and removing leaves as fast as they fall. Then there is the al natural camp that prefers the more passive approach of letting the leaves fall where they may.

For most gardeners, when we talk about spring-blooming bulbs our minds go to the fields of tulips and daffodils we can see just north of us in the Mt Vernon area in the months of March and April. Or maybe some of you have journeyed to Canada and the Butchart Gardens and seen their amazing displays of color.

I don’t know about you guys, but I can hardly believe that it is October already. With all this climate change I am beginning to think that maybe October will be my favorite fall month. I read somewhere that our rains are coming later and ending earlier, even though the total rainfall is about the same.

It has always puzzled me that there are plants that bloom in the fall, or stranger yet, in the winter. Here are three bulbs that bloom this time of year and can usually only be found and planted in the fall.

It always seems a bit odd to me to be talking about fall and winter gardens when we are still very much into late summer, but “fall is in the air” and now is the time to make some changes in our containers and plant some fall veggies while the soils are still warm and conducive to good root growth.

I love summer tropicals. The drama they create is unsurpassed by anything the northwest has to offer. Take my red Abyssinian bananas for example. I always plant a couple of pots up with a red banana in the center as the focal point of the container.