Groundcovers

Tricolour Sedum; summer blooming, slow spreading

 

Cerastium; spring blooming, summer re-blooming, fast spreading

 

Pinks; summer blooming, slow spreading

 

Dwarf Flax; summer blooming, fast spreading if left to self-seed

Beautiful Disaster

I think I hear an echo in here! Thought I'd show you just a little taste of what keeps me so busy that I don't post for weeks. This runs half way across the top end of our drive.

It is a mass of daisy, orange lily, weeds and the edge of a raspberry patch. I have whole sections of garden that look just like this. But if you look really hard, you will see a short, tangerine lily buried way in the back. See it?

That is the last of what used to be a huge patch of tangerine lily. It was originally here and when all the orange lily were moved out of here to allow the raspberry patch to extend, the rest disappeared. To top it off, the raspberry patch decided it would rather extend in a whole different direction, leaving weeds and more daisy in its wake. Nevermind all that bad news though, the great news is that I still have that lily. That lily is one of the many reasons why I don't get my husband to go through these 'should be empty' gardens and hack everything down with one piece of equipment or another.

Weeding Strategy

 

The flowers bloom even if you don't get around to the weeding. Just sayin'

My Monet

weigela 'My Monet'

After 6 years, I'm finally getting a beautiful show from My Monet. I bought this small weigela in 2007 with the intention of planting it my rock garden - appropriate since the size was listed as 12"x24". As I was trying to figure out where in the rock garden to plant it, I realized it wouldn't even be seen among all the round pebbles. It's leaves are mottled shades of cream, greyish green with a little pink and would blend right in. We ended up planting it with some bigger rocks as part of a small retaining wall in the front garden. This year it's full of blooms and grown to about 24"x36".

Columbine

I even love the way it sounds... Alpine Columbine. Columbine are one of my favourite plants which is a real feat considering almost all of my other favourites are bulbs or rhisomes. I think Columbine sits alone as the only perennial on that list. I kind of collect Columbine. From the double red that I shared with Linda and then promptly lost in my garden to my first, and still stunning yellow and purple. My second addition was a pretty yellow that I immediately planted right beside the first. They remain side-by-side today. When we first moved here, I found this pretty, little pink and last year I added a black that has come up but not yet bloomed this year. The Alpine came from Linda's garden and they are similar in height to the pink but have a larger flower. So far, I have two of them and Linda tells me I should expect a lot more. She made it sound ominous but I think that's all good news!

 

 

Daylily begins...

'Stella D'Oro' was my first experience with daylily and I have to say... she didn't make me fall in love. In fact, for a long time, it was her fault that I didn't like daylily. Then Linda introduced me to 'Frans Hals' and the love story began. What a guy, he was slendor and elegant with dark, rich colours. Everything 'Stella' wasn't. She is short, squat and that particular shade of whatever its called that isn't really orange and isn't really yellow. Over the years though, 'Stella' has really grown on me.

She is reliable, long blooming and her odd colour compliments either yellow or orange and works with purple, white and - even more oddly - several shades of red. Another of her advantages is that she sits shorter than all of my other daylily so she works really well on the edge of a border. Today, I would recommend 'Stella' as a wonderful addition to any garden.

Just mowed!

 

We had a running lawn mower that didn't need any obsolete parts we couldn't find - and no rain. Look at the result! The back is all finished. From the top of the drive to the secret garden is all done. Miles rocked the mower. The dogs are enjoying it as much as we are and it looks like rain might be moving in overnight. That should green it all up :)

Saskatchewan Lady Slipper

 

Linda's Lady Slipper were blooming quite a bit before mine but mine have showed up now and what a show! Mine look more like a slipper and less like a lung. I love the little burgundy twisty laces. Of course, if I could figure a way to get Linda's growing here, I would have them both!

The Maid of Orange

This iris is Maid of Orange, and what a pretty maid she is with that bright orange beard. She sits beside my Mandarin Orange azalea. The plan is to have purple blooming here with them next year.

Shared Iris

Iris come in such different colours and forms - I love their variety! These two iris both came from Danielle's garden in Saskatchewan. The last time she came to visit, far too long ago, she brought a suitcase full of plants with her!

Bloomin' Trees and Shrubs

 

The Hawthorn and the Lilac were both blooming last week. I noticed this morning that the Hawthorn was done but it put on the prettiest show this year of the two.

 

 

All of my Lilac need more sun. Every year, I think about it and find more pressing issues. One of these years, I will actually do something about it. Until then, I enjoy the Lilac blooms that do show up.

 

The Ridge

Take a few minutes walk through the woods at the back of our house and you'll arrive at the top of a hill overlooking an old quarry. Kelly started his own quarry - that man never seems to have enough dirt... or rocks. Last year he started constructing this garden. It's not complete (he has to quarry some more dirt) but it is filling up nicely. There's lilies in here and the lily beetles haven't found them yet.

New Growth

dwarf hemlock 'Jervis'

We went on a collecting spree during the summer of 2007 and bought several dwarf trees for the front rock garden. That makes it almost 6 years in our garden and this hemlock has grown, maybe, 6 inches in height. Now that it's established, perhaps we'll see it take off and grow a couple of inches this year. It's one of my favourites and is planted in the rock garden right beside the steps in the front walk.

German Purple Iris

These iris were originally a handful of rhisomes that I got from Judy. Over the years, they have multiplied into huge patches that I have everywhere! I love the colour and I love the fact that they are the first of my iris to bloom.

 

 They are almost done now and only one of the other iris has even started to bloom. These extend my iris season by a lot and they allow me to have iris blooming with other early plants that normally would not bloom with an iris. I just discovered this year that these bloom at the same time as the 'Thalia' daffodil in my garden. That seems like a great reason to divide a patch and move some this year.

 

Allium

I think this drumstick allium came from Linda's Garden. Last year it was tall with several big, round blooms. This year, they are short with small, round blooms of which, there are only two. This happens in my garden a lot. A plant will do really well and then put on barely a show the following year. What I have discovered is that to completely avoid this, I have to read more. Since that isn't likely to happen, I bungle along instead. Trying this and that to get a better show the following year.

 

The good news? It never lasts more than a season. My bet is these will be tall, big and round again next year and the one after that too.

 

 

 

 

Got bugs?

I wouldn't be able to call myself a gardener if I didn't have a few conversations about bugs every season. Linda and I actually spend more time talking about bugs than I like. I am sure she feels the same.

I am lucky. I don't have the variety of bugs in my garden that Linda has. And I have bush that the bugs prefer to live in so many never show up in my garden. Although I still get my share!

More often than not, we are talking about the bad side of bugs. This perfect little hive start is the good side of bugs. I love finding this kind of thing. Nests, hives and any other little bits they leave around for us. I am not sure what caused them to abandon this before completion or how it ended up on our firepit patio (might have had something to do with the lawn mower!) but I am glad I found it before it got squished. It is tiny, light, delicate, paper thin and perfect. It will make an excellent decorative addition to any of my plant pots... provided a dog doesn't snap it up.

One for the 'Not Sure' Column

I love Solomon's Seal. At least I do when it is up this close. When it is twisted stems leaning on the garden ladder, I am not so sure. I actually think that while beautiful up close, Solomon's Seal is not very attractive from a distance.

Perhaps that will change as it grows into patches. Patches might be nice. I am not sure how long it will take for these spindly plants to turn into patches and for now, I am grateful that they return every year. Really, they shouldn't.

I started with two small divisions from Linda's garden and in just a few years, I have 4 stalks. It will likely take less time for them to turn into patches than it will for me to decide to dig them so we shall see how I feel about patches... in about 20 years!

Spring Pink and Blue

I have a little garden on the west side of my front yard. It doesn't get much sun but at this time of year it's in bloom and at its best.

The pink bleeding heart mixed with the delicate cornflower blue brunnera flowers is so pretty. The alpine columbine just started blooming to add some purple to the mix.

bleeding heart

alpine columbine

'Thalia'

One of the best things about a garden is that just when you feel disappointment, something else pops up that makes the feeling fleeting.

The tulips may not have been their best but the narcissus more than made up for them. I normally have a lot of trouble with narcissus and there are at least 2 years that I gave up completely.

Their delicate beauty always draws me back and I eventually find myself planting them again.

I can't claim trouble this year. All the daffodil came up in large patches full of flowers. None of the other spring bulbs could compare this year - daffodil was the star of the show!

Nova Scotia Lady Slippers

We were delighted a few years ago to find pink lady slipper orchids growing in the forest behind our property. They're quite scattered under the trees and we keep finding new patches. The leaves are a little hard to spot among the other new growth and dead leaves until they get a few inches tall.

Last year we also discovered trillium undulatum growing throughout the woods too. This year I missed photos because it rained for 10 days. Last year Kelly transplanted some trillium into the garden and they came up this year - I guess we'll have to wait 7 years to see blooms!

What's in a Name?

Funny how things change. When I first started gardening, I knew the name of everything I planted. In fact, I turned plants away because they were unknown. Mostly because early experiments with 'unknowns' had gone horribly wrong and were not easy to correct!

Now, names don't matter. Last year, my sister was building a deck which meant removing a garden. I went and dug what she described as red-orange-yellow mixed tulips. I am so glad I did because look what showed up! I love this nameless tulip.

Tulips 2013

It was a bad year in my garden for tulips. Although I did have a few that put on a beautiful show, most of them came up all leaves or tiny flowers. I think a lot of it had to do with moving them all last year.

My 'Zurel' patch was, as always, reliable. This patch sits in its original spot in my sun gardens. I have dug and divided them several times but the original patch remains huge.

I am going to leave the tulips alone this year. There are a couple of patches that I plan to move out from what is now shade but other than that, if they are in the sun, they are being left alone. Bonemeal in the fall and crossing my fingers for a bigger show next year. Already something to look forward to next year!

'Tarda'

Of all the mini-botanical tulips I have grown over the years, none hold a candle to 'tarda'. They are very reliable, multiply extremely quickly and always add a spot of sunshine to my spring garden.

When I lived in the city, 'tarda' were always the first blooms in my garden every spring. Always.

Here, there are a lot of things that show up before 'tarda'. I think part of it is that the 'tarda' are under trees and not in the sun gardens while the 'chopin', forsythia and early red triumph tulips are in the sunshine all day from very early on in the season.

This year, I was excited to see that the 'thalia' daffodil were blooming at the same time as the 'tarda'. I am going to move a patch of the 'tarda' (they make very nice patches) out to the sun garden beside the 'thalia'. Of course, being in the sun might make 'tarda' bloom earlier but I am going to cross my fingers and go for it.

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!

Blue Gentian

This is truly one of my favourite flowers and the best of the gentians. It took me 3 years to find it after seeing it in another garden and well worth the wait. I have this small patch in my rock garden - very slow growing. This shade of blue isn't very common in flowers.

gentiana acaulis

I also have one of its cousins, crested gentian, which doesn't bloom till September. While more prolific, it's not nearly as striking.