Babies to Nurture

 

I completely forgot about the little broken leaf with a root string attached that I stuck in the lower level of the boardwalk garden until this baby 'Wolverine' showed up. It is actually a good spot for him so I am going to just leave him alone to do his thing right where he is.

 

The Agastache volunteers in that same bed are another story. I know where they all are. There are 3 of them this year. Every year I move the babies out into the sun and every year nothing comes back in the sun but new babies arrive in the boardwalk garden. I am moving these three again this year. Keeping my fingers crossed for Agastache in the sun garden next year.

 

Things that move...

 

I should be moving this rose. It survives and keeps coming back, blooms every year and looks generally great for most of the season. Then it craps out and several of the long stalks will break off, the leaves will fade and it will look generally sick for the rest of the season. But I am stubborn and not ready to move it. I am going to leave it one more year. Maybe.

Some of the things I am moving for sure this year are: pink sedum at orange poppy (to be replaced with yellow sedum),  delphinium in lower level fern garden, complete orange lily garden (relocate to allow raspberry to spread), red daylily in sun garden at 'Stella D'Oro', and I am sure many more that I will think of later!

Front Garden

Being an avid gardener, I hate to admit that my front garden is a mess... and I really mean a mess! I have done nothing with it since we moved in except for going on a rampage last fall and chopping down all of the bush that was off the front deck along the path. We never spend time in the front yard so the back was always my first priority. Turns out, after 8 summers, it has been my only priority. Since I had dug up so many plants for our planned move, that now have to go back in, I decided that this year I will get some control over the front gardens. I have put in three new plantings in the last few days and I have the rest roughly planned out. I am hopeful that next year there will be beautiful garden photographs to post that are all taken in the front yard. Wish me luck because I have decided that next year is going to be the season that I don't move anything. So much has been moved over the last 2 years that nothing has had a chance to reach its' mature size. Next year, nothing moves unless it is way overgrown or dying. With luck, that will mean nothing moves once I am done this fall.

Animals, wild and otherwise...

I came upon Hannah sleeping in the bird sanctuary the other day and as I snapped a picture, she got up for this halloween stretch. The top of the ladder has always been her afternoon napping spot. In fact, that is why the ladder is still in the garden. It was right in this spot when we moved in and she used it every day so we have never moved it. Hannah can always be found napping in the garden. I had a more unusual occurance the other night when Gordon and I went into the city mid-evening. The road was full of frogs! It was awful. Impossible to miss them and they were even jumping up and making "thud" sounds as they hit the car when we went by. They were all over the valley bottom on the roads. The grids and the highway. They were gone by the time we came back from the city and I hope it doesn't happen again. It was no fun at all. On a better note, the 'Alexander McKenzie' rose I transplanted last week is doing great and the colour looks awesome with the speedwell purple that it is planted next to. Now I am just waiting to find out what colour the liatris planted with them is. Any day now it should open.

2011 Sun Garden Dahlia

Plant together: 'Ferncliff Midnight', 'Wine & Roses' and 'Kari Fruit Salad'

2011 Bird Sanctuary Dahlia

Dahlia for the Bird Sanctuary 2011 in pinks: 'Ferncliff Cameo', 'Gerrie Hoek', 'Preference', 'Yvonne' and 'April Heather'.

2011 Front House Garden Dahlia

Dahlia for 2011 in Front House Garden in oranges and yellows: 'Raeann's Torch', 'Ferncliff Fuego' and 'Baron Katie'.

Another Disappointment

It is my own fault for buying a bare root zone 5 plant knowing full well that it would not likely do well as an annual in my zone 3 garden. Sometimes, in the heart of winter, I can convince myself that I can do the impossible in my garden and that tends to be when I am placing orders but bare root perennials do not have enough time in one season to display their best show. If they are to be grown as out of zone annuals, it is best to start with a good sized plant rather than a root. Couple that with the fact that we have had so much rain and almost no sun this year and this Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln' becomes the least showy fountain-type grass I have ever grown. It was described as being a good choice for short season gardeners because the plumes appear early but they clearly meant short season, zone 5. In zone 3 this year, it is just developing plumes now and their sad display is not worth the space they are taking up at the firepit. I absolutely blame my own unrealistic expectations when this kind of thing happens in my garden. The catalogue was pretty clear it was zone 5 and bare root. I just chose to ignore them. I can be stubborn like that.

New View

The front bushline is gone and has it ever opened up the view! I love it already and the stumps are not gone yet. I can see the new garden here though. The Front House Garden, in oranges above, will stay all oranges and yellows. I am going to move the pink peony from there into the new border on the other side of the sidewalk. From the sidewalk around to the fence, all through the Bird Sanctuary will be exclusively pink and white with a small amount of pale yellow because I can't resist putting 'Ferncliff Cameo' up at the house with its' soft, delicate colour blend.

Half Done Earlier Today

This is at the point that the half on the house side of the bushline is removed and was taken earlier today. By dusk, this was all gone too. I finished cutting all the Caragana down and have a clear view to the lawn. On to step two: stump removal. That won't happen until the Knautia, Lamb's Ear and Calgary Purple Iris are in though. No rain and a little sun today means that I can probably dig tomorrow.

Other Side of the Front Path

The sun showed up today! It wasn't until the afternoon and it rained again all night so it never did dry up enough to dig but it was dry enough to cut down bush. This is the bushline on the other side of the path from the front deck. I see this out of my dining room window every day. It is 98% Caragana which is not even close to attractive for a shrub. Even as a hedge it is ugly. The only thing it has going for it is the popping sound it makes as it drops seed but I have a lot of Caragana in other places that I can listen to. These are taking up too much prime garden space that is full sun and right in my view. This bushline runs from the front sidewalk in a U shape along the top level of the bird sanctuary and down through to the bottom level in that same garden. There is lawn on the other side of it. For the last two days, I have been cutting it down. About half of this is gone already. I can already see at least one rose here and I haven't even started to dig up root. My view to the lawn is opening right up and a further result will be that the bird sanctuary will be opened up to the morning sun now. It will give me a new sun border without changing the conditions in the already completed part of that garden. This will mean I don't have to move any of my shade plants and can add sun plants in front of the house in the new area created on both levels. It is only half done but I am excited already. I probably won't feel this way on the day we dig out the roots but that will pass when the tulips come up next year. The 'Angelique' from the Nursery are going here once it is done.

Things Blooming Now

One of the great things about so many blooms in the garden now is all the activity those blooms bring. I can't seem to go anywhere without running into bees on everything. Unfortunately, they brought a couple of friends that are less popular. Still, I will put up with some grasshoppers for all these blooms. Aside from several varieties of Dahlia, the Zinnia, Glads, Viola, Roses, Daylily, Sunflower, Stargazer Lily, Hollyhock, Geranium, Yarrow, Bouncing Bet, Nigella, Begonia, Catmint, Honeysuckle, Sweet Pea, Phlox, Agastache and Marigolds in two spots are all blooming. This is the time my garden is usally getting ready to sleep for the winter but with all the late planting this year, I feel like it is just waking up! Frost could change all that rather dramatically so I am enjoying every day. Even with the rain we had today. I put a raincoat on and planted Iris until it really started to pour. Linda's Burgundy Iris are back in the ground and I started the day by replanting all the Calgary Purple Iris from yesterday that the dogs dug up. Not sure which. Likely Wile E. or Tuk. That, coupled with the rain, meant that the Calgary Purple Iris for the Front House Garden is still in bags in the sideyard. I did get more Caragana cleared at the front sidewalk though. I am starting to think it will all go. Then we can lift the landscape fabric and put in a couple of more decorative shrubs. It will also open up a whole new sun spot in both the upper and lower levels of the Bird Sanctuary. It has been raining since early evening and it is supposed to continue for the week. It is a good thing the Daylily got finished because rain for a week means no digging for possibly two.

Daylily Divided

I finished dividing Daylily today. There are no Stella D'Oro left in the Orange Lily Garden and no Combine Garden Daylily in the Nursery. I have Stella D'Oro in three spots in the Sun Gardens now and the orange is in three spots in that same garden as well as two spots in the Front House Garden. Tomorrow I will start dividing Iris. We are having company in the morning so I won't likely finish Iris until Sunday. I found the Dahlia above, 'Taratahi Ruby', blooming along the ground. She seems much happier since I lifted her up and another of her buds has opened in the last couple of days. The Sunflower 'Double Dandy' I seeded in the Combine Garden is blooming now. It is a dwarf Sunflower and could have been another layer closer to the front of the bed. Somehow, I was not able to imagine a two foot Sunflower when I was seeding. The darker hollyhock colours are starting to show up as well. I hadn't noticed last year that the lighter ones were early and the darker ones were late but that is definitely the way it was this year. I should try and remember to notice again next year. The perfect weather is still holding here and I am making the most of it in the garden.

Another Perfect Weather Day

I was digging all day. Dividing Daylily which is now all the way through the Sun Gardens. I have a little bit left to put in along the Front House Garden. I am really enjoying the orange out the front windows so I am going to add the Orange Daylily there tomorrow. I have a plan for finishing the Front House Garden this year but it doesn't quite include the pink Peony in the middle of it all. Somehow I will have to work that in with yellow but I have not exactly figured out how. I am sure it will come to me by the time I have planted out that far. I am so excited to be getting things done outside finally. The weather has really taken a turn for the better for me here. Tomorrow, I will be planting all the new Iris and dividing some as well. I also got the 'Kabitan' moved into the concrete block and the wilted division beside it is the Lamium from Calgary. It is already standing up and looking great now as is the white blooming I put next to the block with 'Fire & Ice' planted in it. The last garden chore on my list for tomorrow is to spread more of the groundcovers through the Sun Gardens and Front House Garden. I am spreading the less invasive ones into spots throughout now that all of the patches I have are big enough to divide. I decided to leave the Orange Daylily in the Combine Garden and am only moving the patches out of the Nursery. The Combine Garden Daylily are in full bloom and since I waited so long to see that, I don't want to dig it up. I was moving it from there into more sun so it would bloom, seems like I don't need to move it now. I will plan the other plants in that garden around the two patches of Daylily.

Virginia Creeper

We have Virginia Creeper growing all around the front deck and some underneath. It was here before we got here and I haven't made any changes to its' location other than ripping it out when it comes up between the deck boards or when it gets too close to other plants in the garden. This particular one is growing to the lawn side of the Pine off the front deck. I cut it back completely every year and every year it grows again, out of control. I like it here because nothing else will grow to the house side of that tree except for the Dropmore Honeysuckle that is now established. I have some tulips here in Spring but they never do really well. I leave them because it is nice to have colour off that deck which is in my view when I am sitting at the dining table. Every year at this time, I wish I had taken the time the year before to dig this out and put one of the other Virginia Creeper I have in this spot. Although this is lovely, it is green all year. The other variety turns red in the Fall and is just starting that now out by the 'William Baffin' rose. This is another of those things that will probably remain a passing thought in Spring turning into a fleeting regret in Fall and be forgotten in between. Lost between the space I am gardening and the time I am willing to spend. That is OK, though. It is hard to complain about something this reliable and one Spring, I may have that thought with a shovel in my hand. You never know.

The Gravel Strip

The Boardwalk Garden was given its' name because it runs along the wood walkway from the drive to the house. It is a two level garden to the house side of the walk that leads up into Benedict's Garden if you follow the weeding path. To the drive side of the walk there is a gravel strip that runs along the top of a retaining wall leading down to the deck drive. Although the wall was not designed to be a stairway, all of the animals use it like it was so there is no fighting their constant movement through the strip. An added problem for plants is that nutrient stealing mature trees run all the way down the strip providing only very dappled shade. In my desire to add colour, texture or both to this space, I have tried many strategies. The strategy that has worked the best to date is planting climbing plants on the deck drive below that will grow up the wall and over the gravel. At the front of the Boardwalk Garden, I have 'William Baffin' rose and Red Virginia Creeper that are doing this nicely. Further back, it becomes harder for this to be successful because the same trees begin to shade the deck drive edge heavily. Only Goutweed will grow there. When cleaning out the garden tool shed, we found three of these hollow centre concrete blocks and they have become my latest strategy for the gravel strip. I have planted 'Fire and Ice' at the base of one tree and am going to plant 'Kabitan' under another in the second block. The soil in the blocks keeps the Hosta roots out of the same ground as the tree roots and makes it as easy as a container to look after while still protecting the Hosta root from the winter cold. The concrete block is more than thick enough to do that and keep the dogs from stepping on the Hosta. Dogs always take the easiest route. Next, I am going to root various low but spreading groundcovers along the bottom edge to soften all the grey. Probably sedums of different varieties since they grow well in gravel and shade. Things that will spread slowly and stay low enough for the dogs to step on without doing too much damage. Not pink Lamium. 

The Unappreciated

Meet my 'Stella D'Oro'. She is certainly pretty enough and now that she has some sun, she is blooming quite reliably. So I simply can't explain why I don't find her particularly compelling. In fact, this is the sixth or seventh bloom and I have been telling myself every day to go get a photo of her for my plant catalogue, yet, this is the first time I actually remembered and was able to capture her. She came with me from my city garden where she did not bloom because I was told she would grow well in shade and if she does, it isn't in this zone. She never did bloom in the city shade so perhaps that is where my distain started. She is currently in the Orange Lily Garden which, if you are not a tall lily, means you don't really get seen often because you live behind a screen of Raspberry bushes in most viewpoints through the yard. An added problem for her is that right now, she is the only plant blooming in that garden. Today she had me feeling sorry for her isolated and unappreciated self so I have resolved to move her into the Sun Garden where next year, she will get regular visits and have a better chance of growing on me finally.