When You Can't See the Patio From the Leaves

A Coxwell-Danforth, Toronto Fall Cleanup

Finally, my work season is over. It's been another great "year" as a paid gardener in terms of the people I've met (with a few non-paying customer exceptions!) and the gardens I've worked in and created.  The weather has been a challenge at times though with May and November being very tough months to work outside. It was a very cold and wet May while November was one of the coldest months recorded with a snow storm thrown in.

Still, even with such difficult conditions outside, I'd never go back to the office.

The next few posts will show more fall cleanups I managed to sneak in after we had a blizzard on November 11. Luckily, temperatures rose enough to melt all the ice and snow to allow me to at least rake up to the end of November.

This post brings me back to a client I see every mid-November. We wait until most of the leaves have fallen from the two massive Silver Maples in her tiny east-end Toronto backyard before tackling things.

As the "before" and "after" pictures show, it was a straight-forward job given the small area. 

The client also requests that all the "Annabelle" Smooth Hydrangeas (with their brown pom-pom flower heads) be cut down now instead of next spring. You could do this in the following spring in your own garden as this type of hydrangea blooms on new wood ( i.e., new stems) and the "brown balls", for lack of a better description, do catch the snow and can provide visual interest.

But the client doesn't find any value with this type of "winter interest" so...off with their heads!

Coxwell Danforth Back Garden Fall Cleanup Before 

Coxwell Danforth Back Garden Fall Cleanup After 

Coxwell Danforth Back Garden Fall Cleanup Before 

Coxwell Danforth Back Garden Fall Cleanup After

Coxwell Danforth Back Garden Fall Cleanup Before

Coxwell Danforth Back Garden Fall Cleanup After

Monarch Park Back Garden Fall Cleanup Before 

Monarch Park Back Garden Fall Cleanup After

Monarch Park Fall Cleanup Back Garden Before 

Monarch Park Fall Cleanup Back Garden After 

Toronto Coxwell Danforth Back Garden Fall Cleanup Before 

Toronto Coxwell Danforth Back Garden Fall Cleanup After 

Toronto Coxwell Danforth Back Garden Fall Cleanup Before 

Toronto Coxwell Danforth Back Garden Fall Cleanup After 

Toronto Monarch Park Back Garden Fall Cleanup Before 

Toronto Monarch Park Back Garden Fall Cleanup After

Got Leaves?

A Fall Cleanup in Toronto's Greenwood-Coxwell Neighbourhood

What happens when your backyard is surrounded by several huge mature Silver Maples (Acer saccharinum) and you go away on vacation for most of the autumn? Well, you likely will see this upon your return:

Monarch Park Toronto Fall Cleanup Before 

The homeowners scheduled me for a fall cleanup many weeks ago in anticipation of these leaves. I worked for them last year and profiled that autumn visit in a blog post titled "Another Toronto Fall Garden Cleanup in the Coxwell-Danforth Area; Putting A Garden To Rest (With This Gardener To Follow!)" so I knew what to expect, more or less, of the amount of work involved. Still, I marvelled at the amount of leaves covering their small east end Toronto backyard when I arrived and took these pictures:

Coxwell-Danforth Toronto Fall Cleanup Before 

Greenwood-Coxwell Toronto Fall Cleanup Before 

Coxwell-Danforth Toronto Fall Cleanup Before 

Monarch Park Backyard Toronto Fall Cleanup Before 

Greenwood-Coxwell Toronto Fall Cleanup Before 

Monarch Park Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

Greenwood-Coxwell Toronto Fall Cleanup Before

The small front yard wasn't covered by nearly as many leaves as the back but required some tidying up like cutting off the old Siberian Iris and herbaceous peony leaves:

Coxwell-Danforth Toronto Fall Cleanup Front Yard Before

Greenwood-Coxwell Toronto Fall Cleanup Front Yard Before 

Monarch Park Toronto Fall Cleanup Front Yard Before

And afterwards, with the excellent help of an electric leaf blower...

Greenwood-Coxwell Toronto Fall Cleanup After

Coxwell-Danforth Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

Greenwood-Coxwell Toronto Fall Cleanup Before 

Coxwell-Danforth Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

Greenwood-Coxwell Toronto Fall Cleanup After

Monarch Park Backyard Toronto Fall Cleanup 

Monarch Park Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

Monarch Park Toronto Fall Cleanup After 

And to the front...

Coxwell-Danforth Toronto Fall Cleanup Front Yard After 

Greenwood-Coxwell Toronto Fall Cleanup Front Yard After 

Monarch Park Toronto Fall Cleanup Front Yard After 

Danforth Village, Toronto front garden spring clean up

Monarch Park, Toronto front garden spring clean up

April 2016 is around the corner and the weather is finally warming up. I'm anticipating getting business calls and e-mails soon requesting a "spring cleanup," which is not to be confused with a "fall cleanup."  It's really the same type of work (just separated by 5 months or so) consisting of removing old perennial leaves and stalks, pruning out woody stems that died over the winter, and raking out last fall's leaves.

The clean up below, completed last spring, is very typical for what I do in early spring for clients. For this east end Toronto front garden,  I removed old hosta and daylily stalks and leaves, trimmed the lavenders and cut out any dead material. Some clients prefer to have old tree leaves remain as a mulch  (which will break down by the summer) while other customers want them removed for a more "polished" look.

This client also asked me to divide and transplant several perennials so that a more layered look was achieved. (There were a few shorter perennials in this bed tucked away in the back. I simply moved them to the front and middle spaces as they were hidden by the taller daylilies and irises.)

Early spring is an ideal time to move and divide most perennials since they are just coming out of dormancy and air temperatures are still low enough to reduce stress on the newly transplanted perennials and shrubs.

Let's have a fantastic 2016 spring everyone!

Monarch Park front garden clean up before

Monarch Park front garden clean up after 

Monarch Park spring garden cleanup before

Monarch Park  spring garden cleanup after 

Monarch Park spring garden clean up before 

Monarch Park spring garden cleanup after 

Monarch Park front garden cleanup before

Monarch Park front garden cleanup after