Haliburton County Master Gardeners

Gardening in Haliburton County

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Zone 4 challenges

Deer Me…*

Deer In Winter

DEER PROOFING STRATEGIES

Many gardeners have their own deer-proofing ideas ~ from the bar of soap hanging from a tree to the group of aluminum foil plates or cds waving in the breeze. While some of these may work from time to time, for a while, there are other strategies that may have a longer lasting effect.

FENCING

Whitetail deer can jump at least 10 ft. (3 m) but an 8 ft. (2.5 m) fence should be ok; depending on the width of the garden. Expensive but reliable.

CHEMICAL DETERRENTS

For example, Coyote urine or various home-made recipes to spray on the leaves which can be found on the internet.
Recipes are based on combinations containing any of egg and/or milk with oil and a dash of dish detergent. Enhance with your choice of garlic or hot pepper sauce then age to disgusting (putrescent) and filter.
Commercial Products like Plantskydd and Bobbex do work if applied diligently and rotated. However, they are expensive.

It has been suggested that deer don’t like fuzzy leaves but they will, for example, eat Lambs Ears. They also may not like aromatic plants but have been known to eat Artemesia. Often deer won’t eat prickly plants although they seem to like Rosebushes.
Stinging Nettle and Thistles might be good to grow!
Native Plants have survived…
Deer will try anything once.

They prune apple trees and also eat all the apples they can reach.

Deer Eating Apples

Deer RESISTANT Plants

  • Allium (Allium spp.)
  • Bee Balm/Bergamot (Monarda)
  • Blazing Star (Liatris)
  • Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis)
  • Brown/black eyed Susans (Rudbeckia)
  • Butterfly weed (Asclepias)
  • Cleome (Cleome)
  • Coneflower (Echinacea)
  • Cosmos (Cosmos)
  • Daffodils (Narcissus spp.)
  • Dead Nettle (Lamium)
  • Delphinium (Delphinium)
  • Foxglove (Digitalis)
  • Globe Thistle (Echinops)
  • Goldenrod (Solidago)
  • Iris (Iris)
  • Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla)
  • Lavender (Lavendula)
  • Lupins (Lupinus)
  • Marigolds (Tagetas)
  • Monkshood (Aconite)
  • Nicotiana (Nicotiana)
  • Peonies (Paeonia Lactiflora)
  • Shasta Daisy (Laucanthemum)
  • Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)
  • Ferns, Grasses & Sedges
  • Rhubarb (Rheum rhubarbarum)
  • Highbush Cranberry (Viburnum)
  • Juniper (Juniperas)
  • Lilacs (Syringa vulgarism)
  • Spruce (Picea)

FAVOURITE Deer Plants

Deer have distinct preferences. The plants listed below are particular favourites of deer and may draw them into your garden. Unfortunately our favourites are often deer favourites!

Trees, Shrubs, Vines

  • Apples (Malus)
  • White Cedar (Arborvitae)
  • Azaleas (Rhododendron spp.): Both deciduous & evergreen
  • Roses (Rosas)
  • Sumac (Rhus typhina)

Vegetable Garden Plants

  • Beans (Phaseolus spp.)
  • Blackberries, Raspberries (Rubus spp.)
  • Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower (Brassica spp.)
  • Lettuce (Lactuca spp.)
  • Peas (Pisum satirum)
  • Strawberries (Fragaria spp.)
  • Sweet Corn (Zea mays spp.)

Herbaceous Ornamentals

  • Dahlias (Dahlia spp.)
  • Daylillies (Hemerocallis spp.)
  • Hostas (Hosta spp.)
  • Impatiens (Impatiens spp.)
  • Pansies (Viola x wittrockiana)
  • Phlox (Phlox spp.)
  • Spring Bulbs: Crocus (Crocus spp.) Tulips (Tulipa spp.)

Components of Soil*

Mineral soils consist of four major components:

1. Mineral Materials

  • sand, silt and clay are the 3 major components of the mineral fraction of soil
  • they account for 45%-50% of the total soil volume
  • sand and silt particles are derived from quartz and feldspar
  • gravel and sand can be seen with the naked eye
  • a magnifying glass is necessary to see silt particles
  • clay particles are derived from silica and aluminum oxides

2. Organic Matter

  • consists of dead and decaying plants and animals.
  • is critical for gardening success because:
  • improves the soil’s physical structure
  • holds and releases plant nutrients
  • increases the water holding capacity of the soil
  • increases beneficial organisms in the soil

3. Water and 4. Air

  • are found in the pore spaces between mineral and organic components
  • account for about 50% of total soil volume
  • are essential for the growth of plant roots and soil microbes
  • dissolve most plant nutrients

Soil porosity is a measure of the pore space volume of a given soil:

  • sandy soils have large pore spaces which promote rapid drainage of water and leaching of nutrients and organic matter
  • clay soils contain tiny pore spaces which may impede root growth and water drainage
  • increasing organic matter increases the soil’s porosity and capacity to hold water

Air is pushed out when water comes into the soil from precipitation or irrigation of groundwater. If air is unavailable to plant roots for too long, the plant suffers from lack of oxygen. Some water is used by plants, some is lost through evaporation, and some moves so deep into the soil the plant roots cannot reach it.

Soil Layers (Horizons)

Ontario soils have at least 3 distinct layers that differ in colour, texture, consistency, and structure.

1. Surface Soil

  • contains most of the organic matter and plant roots
  • provides most of the nutrients and water to plants

2. Subsoil

  • consists of small clay particles that are carried down by gravity and rainfall
  • is lower in organic matter
  • provides storage space for water and nutrients
  • helps regulate the soil temperature and air supply of plant roots

3. Parent Material

  • is made up of decomposed rock characteristic of the bedrock
  • influences the soil’s texture, fertility, acidity, and depth

Soil Structure

In each textural class there is a range in the amounts of sand, silt, and clay that can be present. Most surface soils in Ontario fall into five textural classes. Each class name indicates relative amounts of sand, silt and clay in the soil.

Soil Texture Pyramid

 

1. Silt loam

2. Loam

3. Silty clay loam

4. Sandy loam

5. Clay Loam

Erosion Solutions From Heavy Rain*

Question: Can you slow water runoff at the top of a slope?

Natural Stone StepsMaster Gardener Carolyn Langdon advises you to build a small rain garden at the top of your slope. Add a small berm at the top of and/or mid-way down your slope. Put in a berm of logs, branches, soil and/or rocks to slow down the water running off and to allow time for the rain to absorb and for plant roots to establish. The idea is to place any material that will act to obstruct or slow down the path of water. Organic material has the additional benefit of providing texture and nutrients to your soil as it breaks down.

Clearing a shoreline or hillside of herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees can lead to erosion if not re-planted. Longer, steeper slopes, especially those without adequate vegetative cover are more susceptible to very high rates of erosion during heavy rains than shorter, less steep slopes.

Please remember that a rain garden is not the same as a water garden. There are 5 components to a rain garden:

1. Depression
2. Amended filter bed (see wood log trench below)
3. Berm on the low side
4. Rockery to slow water entering the garden if necessary
5. Plants tolerant of water and long periods of dryness (i.e. 2-3 days of standing water)

Woodlog Trench DiagramNatural Wood Log Berm

 

 

 

 

A rain garden is a low tech solution for a location that periodically gets inundated with water. For example some downspouts can’t handle the quantity of rain and the spill over can cause existing vegetation to die and erosion of soil. Hard surfaces channel water during torrential rain and spring snow melt events that cause erosion particularly on steep slopes. A rain garden and berming might be an affordable solution. A 5X10 foot rain garden 6 inches deep is equivalent to 11 rain barrels.

Dig your rain garden (12-18” deep) and fill with a combination of logs, branches, and wood chips at different stages of decomposition. Add native soil and locally composted organic matter. Plant. Remember good humic soil will store a lot of water. Other practises for extreme sites is to mulch deeply, contour the soil, plant native species adapted to the location and plant densely.

Select the Right Plants

In this situation plants that can withstand short periods of flooding and long periods of dryness are required. Xerioscaping plants i.e. those that tolerate drought won’t do well in a condition that includes extreme wet and extreme dry. Likewise plants that require constant moisture wil not do well.

Do favour native over non-native plants and do not plant fast growing invasive plants however tempting that might be to stabilize your slope.

The following native Ontario plants can tolerate moist and dry soil:

Aster (Aster spp.)
Bergamot, Wild (Monarda fistulosa)
Black-Eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta)
Blazing stars, Rough (Liatris aspera)
Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)
Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens)
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
Verbena (Verbena spp.)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Sweet gale or bog myrtle (Myrica gale L) Myricaceae (Wax-myrtle or bayberry Family)
Non invasive ornamental grasses, native sedges (they look like grasses and can tolerate some shade), and rushes. Hierochloe odorata or Sweetgrass
Marginal Woodfern (Dryopteris marginalis) can tolerates mid-summer drought if planted in the shade.
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) a Zone 3 Ontario Native that is heat and drought tolerant,
Liatris aspera or Blazing Star, another Ontario native,
Schizachyrium scoparium or Little Bluestem (Ontario native)
Highbush Cranberry (V. trilobum or V. opulus var. americanum). This native shrub likes to grow in open, wooded, somewhat poorly drained locations. In the ideal location, cranberry can become very wide, often three metres or more, and reach about the same height.
Low bush Cranberry or Squashberry (V. edule)
Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago) will grow almost anywhere including shade, but they take on their best form in full sunlight. In full sun their fall leaf colours will be a vibrant purple-red.
Common or Eastern Ninebark up to 3 m, spring flower cluster, berries

Credit Valley Conservation planted native plants in their rain garden. They chose the following plants because they were widely available at local nurseries: Red Osier Dogwood, New England Aster, Tall Meadow Rue, Black Eyed Susans, Canada Anemone.  Shade-tolerant native plants included: Common elderberry, Sensitive Fern and Heart leaved Aster.

A dense base of day lilies and irises will give you a fibrous root system. While they aren’t native they are often planted in a naturalized landscape.

To buy plants please try your local garden centre and check other sources listed in our list of suppliers and services here.

 

Article Sources

Credit Valley

Toronto Zoo

For additional plant selection please see Appendix C, List of Plants tolerating both wet and dry conditions. University of Guelph

Gardening in the Highlands*

As many northern gardeners will agree there are challenges to gardening in the highlands. The impulse to keep trying speaks to the doggedness and persistence of the type of character who make this region their home or cottage.     

As a gardener you’ll be up against: 

  • Long, cold winters with drying winds
  • Variable summers of hot dry or cool wet weather 
  • Short growing season and cool nights
  • Blackflies and mosquitoes
  • Nutrient poor and thin soils
  • No municipal water or limited well water
  • Pests like deer, bear, beaver, and turtles
  • Fewer sources of information for northern gardeners

There are benefits of gardening in the Highlands.  There are the spectacular views and the ready-made stunning natural backdrop to one’s garden.  You’re certain to have an upper story of native trees, an understory of native shrubs and herbaceous plants, and the contrast of a glittering lake, a burbling creek or an imposing rocky outcrop.

The Highlands are part of the Algonquin dome with the contour of the land sloping from a high point downwards to the east, west and south.  The northern part of the county, often called the Algonquin Park Region is marginally cooler, dominated by coniferous forests, and poorer soils.  The central and southern parts of the county called the Haliburton Slopes benefit from areas of underlying sedimentary limestone.  Limestone contains calcium which can neutralize acid and benefit plants.  If you happen to garden in one of these areas you have a bit of an edge.  In general however Haliburton soils are acidic with a ph. of 6 or less and that’s because the subsoil is composed of ground-up granite rock of the Precambrian shield.  

For information about growing zones please click here. 

Canada’s most recent Plant Hardiness Zone map takes a wide range of climate variables into account, like minimum winter temperatures, maximum temperatures, rainfall, snow cover, wind, and elevation. In Canada, there are 10 zones, which are numbered from 0 to 9. The higher the zone number, the warmer the climate.  Haliburton County is generally considered to be zone 4.

There may also be areas of exception or ‘micro climates’.  Factors that contribute to microclimates may be nearby bodies of water, presence of concrete or stone, slopes, soil type, vegetation, or structures.  For example, plantings close to a house that are sheltered from northern winds will do well so you might experiment with a plant rated for a warmer zone, like a zone 5.  Read the plant tags when you are buying new plants to ensure they will survive year after year. 

Beware of imported plants that have the US hardiness zone information on the tags. This is not equivalent to Canadian hardiness zones. As a general rule of thumb gardeners can simply add one zone to the designated USDA zone. For example, USDA zone 4 is roughly comparable to zone 5 in Canada. Buying locally and asking questions at your local garden centre will help alleviate this confusion.

If you want to overwinter perennials outdoors in containers, it’s best to sink them into the ground.  This will protect your planter and the plants.

Gardening in Zone 4*

Canada’s most recent Plant Hardiness Zone map takes a wide range of climate variables into account, like minimum winter temperatures, maximum temperatures, rainfall, snow cover, wind, and elevation. In Canada, there are 10 zones, which are numbered from 0 to 9. The higher the zone number, the warmer the climate. Haliburton County is generally considered to be zone 4.

Lady Slipper FlowerThere may also be areas of exception or ‘micro climates’. Factors that contribute to microclimates may be nearby bodies of water, presence of concrete or stone, slopes, soil type, vegetation, or structures. For example, plantings close to a house that are sheltered from northern winds will do well so you might experiment with a plant rated for a warmer zone, like a zone 5. Read the plant tags when you are buying new plants to ensure they will survive year after year.

Beware of imported plants that have the US hardiness zone information on the tags. This is not equivalent to Canadian hardiness zones. As a general rule of thumb gardeners can simply add one zone to the designated USDA zone. For example, USDA zone 4 is roughly comparable to zone 5 in Canada. Buying locally and asking questions at your local garden centre will help alleviate this confusion.

If you want to overwinter perennials outdoors in containers, it’s best to sink them into the ground. This will protect your planter and the plants.