Broom time

On a mid August morning a committed gardener surveys the sunny landscape and declares it's broom time.

Broom time, that's when you put away the power tools and enjoy a lull, the chores are gentle, the maintenance is minimal, and just a rhythmic brush of the broom keeps the shine on the garden.

Brooms are still in vigorous use in my neighborhood. Ladies who've lived in Hamilton since you could swim in the harbour, are out every day sweeping the sidewalks in front of their homes.

I like a broom to sweep off the groundcover in our front yard. It dispenses with leaves, and at this time of the year, spider webs, and it doesn't lift the periwinkle like a rake would.

Underneath vines there is usually something to sweep up. The glorious trumpet vine Campsis radicans, is in full bloom now, and casting off its spent flowers. It looks marvelous hiking up a weathered barn, or sprinting up a sturdy cedar arbour that has aged to a slate grey. It can easily climb 30 feet, and in full sun the red flowers are spectacular. So nice that it flowers during "broom time" in the garden, when you have time to savor the flowers and perhaps a visit from a hummingbird.

Porcelain vine Ampelopisis brevipedunculata, trickles down a fine dusting of stuff like semolina. It can get in your hair and in your food, if you dine underneath the vine, but my advice is just get over it. Porcelain vine also attracts birds with its lovely berries in the fall, and if you're lucky the beautiful little sphinx moth, which flutters about at dusk. Beware in some areas where growing conditions are right, this vine is on noxious weed lists. I do notice in my garden that it is growing from seed, though not rampantly, near the original planting. The variegated porcelain vine is even prettier.

And aren't zinnias the happiest flower to gaze upon in the August garden? There should be a fan club for this annual. I could kick myself for not planting them this year, when they are in bloom, it's like the circus has come to town. There is the pinwheel series, Candy Cane, and the cut and come again series. Zinnias are true North American natives, and one of the easiest plants to start from seed. In a hot, humid summer, and in a garden with poor air circulation, they can get mildew. But they make stellar cut flowers and also attract butterflies.

On August rounds in the garden notice that the fruit on crabapple trees is just starting to turn pinky-red, rose hips are getting fat and blushing red, and the goldenrod is an explosion of screeching yellow. Not the roadside goldenrod, but the plant that's been to the breeder and back. Goldenrod 'Crown of Rays' is clump-forming, drought tolerant, and easy to grow in full sun. A big patch of it looks like a golden mesa, and is a solid anchor for an autumn border that could include sedums, asters, ornamental grasses and the stunning Joe Pye weed (eupatorium).

With the wild growth spurts of spring a distant memory, weeds under control sort of, the lull in the late summer garden allows appreciation of what is and what can be. After all, the bulb catalogues are arriving, so put down the broom and start speculating about autumn crocus and of course tulips and daffodils for next spring.