Little House Hawthorn

 

 We were well rewarded!

Last September Miles took down two very large trees that were killing a smaller, much prettier, Hawthorn at the little house yard. Our little Hawthorn really bounced back! (I know that is an odd angle but it was the only way I could get it all in and still have it be relatively close.) We will have to wait a few years for it to straighten up but with regular trimming it will get there because not only is it alive, it is FULL of flowers. And even better? It smells FANTASTIC! It was a lot of work and we will be burning the wood forever but it was so worth it. The little house yard is so much prettier this year with the Hawthorn blooming at the same time as the iris. The Linden will be next and will bloom with peony. Then the columbine and cranesbill will take over for the summer. With the big trees gone you can actually see it all and the increase in sunlight hours, the flowering plants are looking so much bigger this year than last. It makes me want to go and find a tree to cut down. Oh happy day!!

Corner of the Drive

I almost titled this post, My Favourite Spot. Then I realized that I don't have a favourite spot. I have many, many favourite spots. So unless I wanted to do a very long series of posts, I'd have to find another title!

This corner is passed by if you move from the house to anywhere, or from the car to anywhere. It sits at the junction of the road to the Campground yard (which also leads to the dogs building), the drive parking, the path to the firepit and the entry to the Boardwalk Garden. It is impossible to move around without passing by here and yet, Sean still does not notice the blooms... but that is another story, for another day.

The 'William Baffin' rose fills with blooms here, even if it does stretch forever to reach the sun, making it lean all to one side. Still, the roses are pretty with a lovely, soft scent. The lamium continually threatens to take the whole spot over and Iris were added last year. They are my most scented Iris so it is a nice spot to stand when they are blooming. Johnny-Jump-Up shows up in the rock, outside the garden edge, as often as the many, many weeds. But still this spot manages to put on a magnificent display year after year.

I think this is one of my favourite spots because it represents the way I see my garden. A little messy, slightly overgrown, never weeded enough but still dazzling me daily!

Lilac

There are lilac in several places in our yard. All of them need help. None of them get sun so they have to really stretch to bloom.

It has taken a long time to beat back the bush and this year, we can finally open up above the lilacs, in almost every spot, so they can reach sun without leaning.

I love lilac. We have dark and light purple. No white that I have found but they are on my list to add.

The light purple grows in the campground and the dark purple grows at the top yard edge and at the road gate. There are so many great things to say about Lilac but what has to be the best is the scent on the dining table!

Forsythia

The first of my shrubs to bloom is always the forsythia. I have to admit, it kind of creeps me out. I think flowers coming from a bare branch, with no leaves, is just plain weird.

The forsythia I have here was planted long before I came along and it was huge the day I walked onto the property. It is so huge, that like almost everything else here, it was way overgrown.

I don't dislike it particularly. At least not enough to do anything about removing it. But every year, the yellow flowers take me by surprise. And every year, I think it looks just a little odd. This year, I am actually going to try pruning it. According to the book, I need to be thinking about that tomorrow!

Who doesn't want more flowers?

I couldn't let this article from Organic Gardening go by without posting it. The title says all you need to know... Five Simple Steps to More and Better Flowers. Now who doesn't love that? Simple steps usually means I can accomplish them despite my lazy gardening habits. More and Better flowers sounds divine. A couple of them were good reminders and one of them would have saved my fern patch two years in a row. Worth the read.

Rose, 'J.P. Connell'

This 'J.P. Connell' rose was a gift from Judy and is my first yellow rose. It came to me in a bag and I transplanted it to a pot while I got its' permanent spot ready. I was told it was a climbing rose so I planned to put it on the second trellis next to the 'John Davis' pink climbing rose. It is very fragrant and I thought the pink and yellow would look pretty together off the front deck. However, looking it up this evening, I discovered it is an explorer shrub rose. It will not have room to grow between the trellis and the deck. This means I need to find a place for the 'J.P. Connell' and decide which of the climbing roses will climb the second front trellis. All the climbing roses I have are in shades of pink. I think I may still have an unplanted 'John Davis'. I could plant them together, one on each trellis. I'll have to give that a think.

This Year's Starring Couple

Last year, Nicky phlox was my perennial pick of the season.  This year, it's grown taller and pairs up beautifully with my Opus One Oriental lilies.  These lilies are over my head!  And the scent of these two together is awesome - spicy and sweet.

Voodoo Lily

This bloom has been 4 years and 2 bulbs in the making.  Only my husband would want to grow a flower that smells like carcass!  Apparently it will smell as it is pollinated by flies - but I haven't caught a bad odour yet.  This is one of a few 'first times' in our garden this year.  aka Dracunculus vulgaris

Plant Pair - Laura and Nora

It was undoubtedly one of my best planting decisions when I put Nora Leigh next to Laura.
Plants:  Both are phlox paniculata, 'Laura' (on the left) and 'Nora Leigh'.  Commonly called tall phlox or garden phlox, these both grow to about 3 feet.  Each stalk wears a big bunch of small flat blooms on top, like a shower cap.
Conditions:  Tall phlox thrives in full sun but will grow in partial shade.  I've grown it in average garden soil and it does fine for me.
The down side:  Powdery mildew, but it doesn't affect either of these as much as some others.
Why I like them:  Where do I start?  The heavenly scent overcomes me whenever I walk out back in August - I have 13 varieties.  The masses of bright colours bloom over a long period.  These two in particular provide a nice contrast side-by-side.  Some phlox are like chameleon, changing colour depending on time of day and temperature.  Laura changes from bright fushia to mauve to dark purple.  Nora Leigh's blooms are a little smaller but she makes up for it with striking green and cream foliage.

Mmmm, Smell that Smell

It's taken me 6 years of gardening to get that heady scent of Oriental lilies and phlox permeating my backyard.  Danielle dislikes the lily fragrance a lot, but I love it.  And now I have so many blooms that I don't have to stick my nose right into the flowers to get a whiff.

As much as I love the smell, my preference for Oriental over Asiatic lilies comes from a different source.  For the past 4 years, we've been fighting red lily beetles.  They start in the spring and the only way to fight them is to pick them off by hand and crush them.  If we don't stay on top of them, they multiply fast.  It's the larvae that does the most damage.  The thing is that they seem to prefer Asiatic lilies to Oriental ones.  Oh, the Orientals get attacked, but not nearly as bad as this.

Obviously we're not as careful about picking off the beetles once the lilies are done blooming!  While lily stalks should be left standing once done blooming, I really hate to have this mess in my garden.

Even though there is a greater variety of Asiatic lilies, and in brighter colours, I may just satisfy my lily fetish with new Oriental hybrids in the future.

Can't you smell that smell?

Contrary to what people who introduced us thought would happen, Linda and I agree on almost everything. Where we disagree though, we tend to be at totally opposite ends of the spectrum. Enter the Lily. Linda prefers Oriental to Asiatic and this year, mentioned to me that she is considering sticking to only Oriental for future additions to her garden. Linda does have Lily problems in her garden that I do not have to contend with in mine so I will leave it to her to outline her preference. I however, prefer Asiatic and when these Stargazer Orientals started blooming, I began to consider only adding Asiatic to my garden in future. This Spring, I received 25 Stargazer Oriental Lily. I gave a couple away to another gardening friend and planted the rest all in the same garden, in three patches, to both sides of the path. They are blooming now and look awesome. The buds start green, turn bright white and open to this blinding pink. I can see them from the front deck which is an added bonus for anything blooming in the lower level of that garden. I can't say enough about how bright and cheery they are in the garden. Lots of people tell me that Stargazer are not spectacular for Oriental Lily but they look pretty darn beautiful to me. The problem is the smell. I find the smell very disagreeable and if I am standing in it too long, it can even give me an upset stomach. I had a friend in my garden last week that mentioned that same thing as we walked through this spot. She agreed that the smell is both strong and sickening. Since she mentioned it before she knew how I felt about Oriental Lily scent, I know I am not alone. The Asiatics typically do not smell and if they do, it is not the same cloying kind of scent that I find so overwhelming with the Orientals. I am keeping these Stargazer and they can stay right where they are as long as they don't get to the point where I can smell them on the front deck. If that happens, they will need to be moved further from the house so it is a good thing they are so bright. As I suggested to Linda, she will just have to be my Oriental Lily expert and I will try to do that for her with Asiatics. As soon as I buy another book ;)