Another Toronto Fall Garden Cleanup in the Coxwell-Danforth Area

Putting A Garden To Rest (With This Gardener To Follow!)

Just another week or so left in my work season and a few more fall cleanups to complete for my clients. It will be too cold for me to work outside by the beginning of December and who knows, it may even snow! 

My previous post titled "A Cabbagetown Toronto Fall Garden Cleanup: Saying "Goodbye" to "Annabelle" for the Season" covered the "pros" and "cons" of pruning Smooth Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle') hard in the fall versus doing so the following spring. I was faced with the same scenario with another fall garden cleanup in Toronto's east end neighbourhood called "Coxwell-Danforth." 

There are three groups of Smooth Hydrangea in this garden and, previously this summer, I staked and "corseted" the leaning stems and flowers with twine. In the picture below, you may notice how upright the brown stems and "pom-poms" are but that's only because of the twine encircling everything.

The client's backyard is small, which is typical for this area, and surrounded by two massive Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) trees which means the garden is in shade for most of the summer and by the time autumn rolls around, a ton (not literally) of leaves collect in the yard.

As instructed by my clients, the tasks for the backyard were to prune the hydrangeas "hard" to about 6" above the ground and collect all the leaves from the beds and patio. They didn't find snow-covered shrubs particularly interesting so down went the stems. (In case you're wondering, all garden clippings and leaves can be collected by the city to be composted.)

And here are the results from this straight-forward cleanup:

At times like this, my electric cordless
leaf blower is indispensable.

I didn't know the statute was there either!

You can see more closely how the
fences accommodate the trees.

Not much "winter interest" with these
stubs but the clients don't care so...

Already for the impending blanket of snow.