Perennial Climbers to Start Growing Now
By Ava Green
Great garden design plays with height, and vines are among nature’s most elegant solutions. They transform a bare wall, a plain fence or an open pergola into something that feels alive and intentional. And because these are perennial climbers, they come back every year, a little fuller and more beautiful than the season before.
Start growing one of these beauties now, and you’ll be enjoying them for years to come!
Clematis
Clematis has earned its place as one of the most loved climbers in the garden, and once you discover the extraordinary range of flower shapes, sizes and colours available, you will understand why.
For a look that feels straight out of an English cottage garden, pair a Clematis with a climbing rose. The two intertwine beautifully, flowering together in a spectacular combination.
Honeysuckle
The sweet, heady scent of Honeysuckle wafting through the air on a warm summer evening is a good reason to include this climber in your garden. But its tubular or trumpet-shaped blossoms are also irresistible to hummingbirds, bees and butterflies, making it valuable to your local ecosystem too. Few vines reward you quite so generously for so little effort.
Climbing Hydrangea
It may be slow to start, but once it’s established, Climbing Hydrangea grows with remarkable vigour, covering walls, fences and structures in lush, deep green foliage. No trellis is needed; it produces its own aerial rootlets that allow it to cling independently to almost any hard surface. In summer, the entire plant is blanketed in elegant white lacecap flowers! It tolerates shade better than most climbers, making it an exceptional choice for a north-facing wall or a shady spot in the garden.
Porcelain Vine
This fast-growing climber is a treasure for its extraordinary ornamental berries. Clusters of small, jewel-like fruits that ripen through a stunning progression of colours, from pale pink and lilac to a rich purple and a remarkable, almost iridescent turquoise blue, all appearing at the same time in fall. Train it up a fence, trellis or structure to let it climb, or allow it to trail gracefully down a slope or over a retaining wall for beautiful low-maintenance ground coverage. Please note: the berries are strictly ornamental, and not for eating.
Graceful, Useful and Very Worthwhile
Vines provide something that few other plants can; they add height, softness, privacy, and beauty all at once. They can disguise an unsightly fence, cool a sun-baked wall with natural shade, frame a garden entrance, or simply bring a sense of lushness to a space that feels too bare or flat.
Find Your Perfect Vine at Eising Garden Centre
Not sure which vine is right for your space? Bring us your questions and, if you have them, a photo of your wall, fence, or structure. Our team will help you find the perfect climber for your light conditions, your soil, and your vision. We’d love to help you get growing your perfect vine!
By Ava Green
As soon as warm weather and sunshine arrive in Southern Ontario, it’s time to head to the garden centre and pick up all the plants we’ve been dreaming about all winter long! May 24th is generally the date we look forward to — the unofficial marker when frosty mornings are behind us and the promise of summer is ahead.
By now, cool-weather plants like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, peas, and lettuce should be well established in the vegetable garden. And for everything else, it’s go time!
TIP: Before you start planting, this is the ideal time to amend your soil. Top up your garden beds with fresh topsoil or enrich them with compost to improve soil health, add nutrients, and promote vigorous plant growth. Don’t forget to refresh the soil in your containers as well, with potting mix or compost.
Warm Weather Vegetables
When soil temperatures are consistently 60°F (15°C) or higher, it’s safe to plant all the warm-weather vegetable crops we’ve been waiting for! Plants that thrive in warmer weather include tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, zucchini and corn.
At Eising Garden Centre, you’ll find vegetables in 6-packs, 4” pots, trellised patio containers, patio bowls and hanging baskets - while supplies last, of course!
Herbs also love warm weather, and tender varieties like basil are safe to plant once all danger of frost has passed. Whether you plant herbs directly into the ground or create a potted herb garden near the kitchen door, they’ll add fresh flavour to your meals all season long. A container of herbs also makes a wonderful gift when visiting friends and family for a summer BBQ.
While you’re in the vegetable and herb aisle, keep an eye out for everbearing strawberries in planters and containers of tropical fruits like lemons, limes, and oranges.
Annual Flowers
Winter-weary flower beds can be revived almost instantly with a burst of colourful annuals! If you’re looking for an immediate impact and blooms that last all summer long, annual flowers are the answer.
Whether you plant them in beds, containers, window boxes, or hanging baskets — or choose from one of our gorgeous pre-planted options — just add water and fertilizer, and you’ll be rewarded with a vibrant display that keeps on giving.
Perennials
While perennials may not bloom all summer, many offer extended bloom periods, and by combining different varieties, you can create a succession of flowers that lasts for months. Perennials also provide essential greenery to anchor your garden and enhance the look of your flowering plants.
You can plant perennials from spring through fall, but getting them into the ground now gives them a strong start. From hostas and ornamental grasses to daisies and delphiniums, there’s a perennial for every style of garden — and the best part is, they’ll return each spring like dependable old friends.
Trees, Shrubs and Vines
Often called “the bones” of the garden, trees, shrubs, and climbing vines add essential structure, height, and seasonal interest. Planting them now allows you to design your garden layers thoughtfully, incorporating annuals and perennials around their base.
Spring is also the prime time to purchase and plant fruit trees and fruiting shrubs. At Eising, spring offers the best selection for starting your home orchard. Are you thinking of adding a few edible shrubs? Gooseberries, haskaps, hardy kiwi, rhubarb and raspberries are excellent choices.
Mulch
Okay, it’s not a plant, but this is a reminder to add mulch to your garden beds or containers. After planting, adding a layer of mulch to your garden beds or containers helps retain soil moisture, reduces transplant shock, and suppresses weeds. Even if a few weeds manage to sneak through, mulch makes them easier to pull.
Water Garden Plants
If you have a garden pond, spring is the perfect time to add water plants. Floating plants, such as water hyacinths and water lilies, help shade the pond’s surface, reducing algae blooms. Marginal or bog plants, such as water iris, papyrus, and cattails, also help keep the water healthy and clear by improving oxygen levels and providing habitats for beneficial wildlife.
Time to Grow!
May is one of the most anticipated and exciting months in the garden. Whether you’re dreaming of fresh vegetables, a lush landscape, or a colourful flower display, planting now sets the stage for a beautiful, bountiful season. Visit us at Eising Garden Centre to find everything you need — and let’s get growing!
Adding Year-Round Interest to Your Garden
By Ava Green
Spring brings excitement and the hope of fresh beginnings, but also the harsh reality that our gardens can look a little…well…blah, in between seasons. Even when you have evergreens, well shaped trees, shrubs or perennials with “good bones” (strong framework or structure) a garden can look bare off season. This is when garden features and ornaments can really make a dramatic difference!
Create Year-Round Interest In Your Garden
Do you have a spot in the garden where plants struggle to grow? Or an area where you feel like your garden is missing something?
Items like benches, patios, ornamental urns, decorative fencing, statues, a pond, gazing balls, birdhouses and birdbaths add beauty and function in every season. In Southern Ontario’s long shoulder seasons (early spring, late fall, and the longest of all - winter) these permanent elements help to make your garden look inviting all year.
Why Every Garden Benefits from a Focal Point
A garden filled with colourful annuals and perennials can be stunning, but without a focal point, it can feel visually overwhelming. A garden focal point like a bench, statement urn, a piece of statuary, or a water feature draws your attention, and creates a sense of purpose.
Focal points guide movement through the garden and help tell a story, leading visitors toward a destination. While naturalized gardens and wildflower areas don’t always require structure, for gardeners who prefer a more organized look, incorporating a focal point can create a sense of order and transform your space.
Add Contrast With Texture and Shape
Many gardeners naturally gravitate toward favourite plant forms. Tall, spiky perennials like coneflowers, salvia, and Black-eyed Susan are popular in Ontario gardens but they can feel repetitive when planted together.
Introducing contrast changes everything. A round birdbath nestled among upright perennials adds softness and contrast making it more visually interesting. In shady gardens dominated by hostas, a tall iron obelisk or trellis creates height and drama. Mixing plant textures with garden features like lighting instantly elevates beds and borders.
Express Your Personality!
Gardening is a creative process, and experimentation is part of the joy. Moving plants to find the right light or shelter often leads to surprising combinations and successes. Garden features allow you to express that creativity even further.
Statuary, ornaments, and structures, whether handcrafted or purchased, add personality and meaning. From whimsical accents to bold architectural elements, these features bring height, structure, and style to your garden in ways plants alone can’t.
More Than Just Flowers
Flowers bloom and fade with the seasons here in Southern Ontario. Garden features provide continuity, offering year-round interest, structure, and charm. With just a few additional elements, your garden can look beautiful in every season, not just when it’s in bloom.
For tomato lovers, picking a warm, flavourful tomato right off the plant for a sandwich, burger, or salad is a sure sign of summer! I eagerly await the day the first fruit begins to turn red, knowing that I am a day or two away from the first of many toasted tomato sandwiches for the season!
By the end of June, your tomato plants should be in the ground or pot, staked, and well on their way to producing fruit. But how do you keep your plants healthy all summer so that you can maximize your investment? Here are a few tips to help keep your tomato sandwiches coming until frost!
Water
Water early in the morning and water deeply. For tomatoes, consistent moisture is best.
Keep the water on the ground, not on the foliage. This is important because damp foliage can lead to diseases like early blight, which can ultimately cause the entire plant to die. Mulching around the base of plants will reduce the amount of water that can splash up onto the leaves. A soaker hose or drip line is also a great way to ensure that water stays on the ground, rather than on the plant.
Pruning
Reducing the amount of foliage on a tomato plant is necessary for a couple of reasons: good air flow, which reduces the chance of powdery mildew forming, and less foliage means that the plant can send energy to growing fruit instead of lots of leaves.
Follow these easy steps when you prune your tomato plants:
- Before you begin, remember to follow the rule for pruning - no more than ⅓ of a plant should be removed at a time.
- Use clean scissors or pruning shears to cut the leaves off the bottom of the plant. Remove any leaves that are touching the ground. These are particularly susceptible to mildew formation.
When fruit starts forming, remove the leaves from the bottom of the plant up to the first or lowest fruit.
Remove suckers ongoingly. What are suckers? When you look at your tomato plant, you will see the main stem that comes up from the ground, and branches of leaves that come out of the main stem. As the plant grows, suckers begin to form in the “Y” between the main stem and a branch of leaves. Suckers won’t harm a plant; they just make it very unruly and reduce airflow.
If your tomatoes are indeterminate (growing into a tall vine), remove the top of the plant when frost is forecasted at the end of the season. Topping the plant allows energy to ripen the fruit that’s already set, rather than being used to continue growing the vine.
NOTE: Some gardeners like to leave suckers on determinate tomato plants as this can increase the yield.
TIP: Tomatoes ripen from the inside out. That means that by the time you see fruit beginning to flush on the outside, the inside is already ripe. If you have competition for tomatoes from pesky critters, or when there’s a chance of frost in the weather forecast, you can pick fruit that has just begun to turn colour and leave it on the kitchen counter to continue to ripen.
Fertilizer
Using organic material is one of the best ways to feed your crop. A good layer of compost, 1-2 inches, in the spring when you’re planting and again in the fall each year is one of the best ways to improve your soil structure in the garden, and it also adds lots of nutrition.
If you missed this step when planting your garden, you can always add a layer of compost around your plants or use other organic fertilizers, such as compost tea, seaweed, worm castings, or fish emulsion.
Alternatively, you can use a fertilizer that’s formulated especially for tomatoes - these usually have a ratio like 3-4-6 or 4-7-10. Follow label directions for amounts and err on the side of caution. Using less fertilizer is always better than using too much, as an excess can stress the plant and make it more prone to disease.
Following these simple steps for tomato care will help to ensure your plants stay healthy and producing fruit, but if you should have problems, here are some great resources to identify tomato issues:
- Ontario.ca: Bacterial diseases of tomato: bacterial spot, bacterial speck and bacterial canker
- Guelph.ca: Healthy Landscapes – Plant List Native and Drought-Tolerant Plants
Growing Vegetables in Pots!
A few years ago, I was walking through town with a friend as we discussed planting vegetables in our tiny front gardens. It seemed like an unusual idea until we spotted not one but two front gardens with pumpkin vines rambling amongst the shrubbery. What a novel way to cover the ground without mulch and have the bonus of showy, bright blossoms and bold foliage! Of course, this is eventually followed by the standout feature of brightly coloured pumpkins. It’s built-in fall decorating!
Right now, everyone is looking for ways to reduce grocery bills, and growing a few vegetables amongst the flowers and shrubs can make a big difference. If your garden is on a patio or balcony, there are lots of ways to add edible plants to maximize your space and beautify it at the same time. Who says vegetables can’t be ornamental and beautiful?!
Gaps and Small Spaces
If you have a new shrub and flower garden that has gaps or there’s a space in your garden where you’re not sure what to plant, consider tucking in a potted vegetable. In a cool, shady space, try some luscious lettuce bowls. Shade allows lettuce to grow more slowly in the heat of the summer. Keeping lettuce in a cool, shady spot will prevent it from bolting and becoming bitter.
If you have a small garden, a patio or a balcony, pots with compact varieties and hanging baskets are a terrific alternative for growing vegetables, herbs, and some fruits. These are some of the options we offer at Eising Garden Centre (based on availability) that can be purchased fully planted, or you can grow your own from seed if you have time, space and lights.
Trellised Planters and Patio Pots
For patios, balconies, or even a gap in the garden, there are lots of vegetables that can be grown in a trellised planter.
Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and eggplant all love warm soil and growing in pots provides the heat to help them thrive. Eising trellis pots are planted with specific varieties that are smaller but pack a flavourful punch.
Sweet Snackabelle, Candycane Chocolate Cherry or Red, Mocha Swirl and Fresh Bites peppers.
Little Sicily, Patio Hybrid, Candyland Red, Rapunzel and Tidy Treats tomatoes.
Eising Greenhouse also carries eggplants in trellised pots - a patio pot with Patio Baby eggplants is a perfect choice if ratatouille is on the menu!
All of Eising's trellised planters would look lovely plopped into one of our decorative outdoor cover pots!
Herb Planters
Many herbs thrive in a sunny and warm spot with well-drained soil, making a pot the perfect container for them. Herbs also make great companion plants with other vegetables and can be tucked into other pots. Most herbs also love to be harvested frequently, especially when they’re given these ideal conditions.
Lettuce Bowls
Lettuce bowls are a great way to grow greens in small spaces. Our 10” bowls are chock full of a variety of lettuces and are never boring!
👍Tip: Try the “cut and come again” method for harvesting lettuce, which prolongs the plant’s life. Simply pinch off the outer, mature leaves each time you pick the lettuce and leave the centre of the plant to keep growing.
Hanging Baskets
If there’s a spot to hang a basket or place a shepherd’s hook, you will want to grow one of the edible options we offer.
Topsy Tom tomatoes.
Pot-a-Peno and Peppers From Heaven peppers.
Tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries are all available in hanging baskets. Our deliciously sweet everbearing strawberries are also available in 4.5" pots and bareroot, which are great options for window boxes.
👍Tip: Pick strawberries as they ripen to encourage your plants to produce more. Also, remove runners as they grow to allow your plants to send energy into growing fruit instead of bigger plants. Painting rocks to look like strawberries is said to deter birds from feasting on ripe berries.
Citrus and Figs
Consider growing a beautiful and fragrant lemon, orange, fig or grapefruit tree in a patio pot. Just keep in mind that it will need to come indoors in the fall.
Container Plant Care
Whether you’re growing edible plants in the garden, a pot or a hanging basket, don’t forget to give them the care they need to maximize productivity:
- Water regularly, deeply and in the heat of the summer, frequently. Watering early in the morning is ideal. Pour water on the soil, not the foliage to prevent diseases like powdery mildew.
- Feed your vegetables and fruits throughout the growing season with fertilizer or compost.
- Remove dead foliage and prune plants as needed. Especially herbs.
Once you start foodscaping by including vegetables with your flowers and ornamental plants we’re sure you’ll want to keep looking for innovative ways to grow your own food! Who knows, maybe even pumpkins by the front porch!
Clematis, the climbing plant that looks far too elegant and exotic to be growing in Ontario! Not only beautiful, Clematis gets along well with climbing roses (this is a gorgeous combination), trees, shrubs, and perennials. Different varieties of Clematis can also be grown together and provide a succession of blooms!
The variety of shapes, sizes, and colours available make Clematis a very desirable plant. Ranging from delicate, white, bell-shaped blossoms to dreamy, pastel rosettes, or sumptuous, deep purple double-flowers, and everything in between.
A stroll through the garden centre is a must to peruse Clematis labels and choose the ones that are most appealing to you. The varieties that we have will all suit our southern Ontario climate.
While the blooms vary widely, planting Clematis is straightforward. A few simple considerations when planting will help avoid root stress or Clematis Wilt, which are common problems when the location is wrong and the soil isn’t enriched. Here are some simple steps to ensure success!
Location, location, location!
Clematis like at least 6 hours of sunlight a day, but not an excessively hot location. Some shade in the late afternoon will extend the length of time that a bloom looks good.
Provide Support
A trellis, archway, arbor, or even a shrub or tree, all make excellent supports for your clematis. Install a well-secured support system first, to avoid damaging your clematis roots.
Soil is the Key
Fertile, well-drained soil is essential to successfully growing Clematis. These vines are heavy feeders and require nutrients to produce their show-stopping flowers. Prepare your soil by mixing in plenty of compost or well-rotted manure.
Prepare the Planting Site
Dig a hole that’s as deep as it is wide. Use the plant as your guide and dig approximately 13 cm or 5 inches deeper than the root ball. Add some of the soil that’s been amended with compost, then check to see that your plant is sitting at the right height - the top of the root ball should be even with the soil around it. Once the root ball is sitting at the right height, backfill the rest of the hole with more amended soil and gently firm the soil around the plant with your hands.
Watering
Water deeply after planting, and keep the soil and root ball moist, not water-logged, throughout the season. Be sure to water at soil level, not with an overhead sprinkler which can scorch leaves and flowers.
Mulch
Mulch the soil around your plant to help suppress weeds and maintain moisture. Compost, organic shredded bark, or straw works well.
Fertilizer
Fertilize regularly throughout the season, or apply a slow-release fertilizer at the beginning of the season to maximize the blooming potential of your Clematis. For more information about fertilizer, see this article about caring for annuals and perennials.
Pruning
Pruning instructions are often included on your plant label as requirements vary from variety to variety. If in doubt, there are many growers who recommend pruning early blooming Clematis a little, after they bloom, to maintain the desired shape of the plant. For later blooming types, cut the vines right back to 45-60 cm in early spring.
Following these steps will provide a healthy environment for your Clematis to thrive. But be careful, Clematis are like potato chips - bet you can’t have just one!
