Garden update

It was dry enough to dig today so I managed to get some planting done. Lily 'Tiny Padhye' was planted in the lower level bird sanctuary to the lawn side of 'Navona'; Lily 'Tiny Icon' was planted to the bridge/house side of 'Tiny Bell' at the front (to house side of large stump); Lily 'Northern Star' (2) and 'Easter Morn' (3) were planted on either side of the speedwell in the sun gardens. I got a huge amount of weeding done the last two days and have built several actual mountains of weeds on the drive. It is starting to look like a garden again. The added bonus has been all the different viola I have found and I get through the weeding. Blooming today; roses, speedwell, bouncing bet, lamium, madrid, acapulco, navona, spiderwort, prairie coneflower, babys breath, sedum, phlox, daisy, sunflower, painted daisy and delphinium.

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.

Lift in Fall is Lifted!

Easy record notes today... it's done! Whoo Hoo!! Everything lift in fall is inside. All that is left is a few Iris and Lily to get in and a couple things to move if I don't run out of time. Then, of course, general clean up and the garden is put to bed for the Winter.

More Fall Garden Record Notes

Another busy day in my garden. Fall chores seem endless but it was a beautiful day for gardening again and forecast is for a few more of those yet. Good thing too because despite getting a ton of work done today out there, I probably have twice as much to go before I can say the garden is put to bed for the winter.

Lifted Dahlia 'Parkland Glory', 'Ferncliff Cameo', 'Hy Cutter', 'Taratahi Ruby', 'Yvonne' and 'Wine & Roses'. My Spring map was good but not quite good enough. I have two Dahlia tubers of which, one is 'Taratahi Ruby' and one is 'Hy Cutter' but I don't know which is which. Good thing 'Hy Cutter' is white so it will go with anything and I will figure it out next year when they bloom.

Lifted Gladiolus 'Passos', Border Gladiolus, Calla 'Picasso' and all the Freesia. Potted up two more Geranium cuttings. Planted Speedwell from Judy which is different than the one I have here already. I put the Speedwell beside the two patches of German Purple Iris at the rock edge towards the Knautia. Planted Bouncing Bet in two spots: beside the Stargazer Lily in the Bird Sanctuary (to the house side) and right off the front deck beside the trellis where the Euphorbia was planted this year. Planted Monkshood beside (lawn side), the Knautia that went in the Bird Sanctuary. Moved the 'Angelique' Tulips marked in Summer to two places: in front of the furthest Delphinium in the Front House Garden and immediately right of the sidewalk where the bushline was taken down. Dark came too soon today. I was on a roll.

Garden Record Notes

It would seem that between my notebook, my maps and my blog journals, I have once again lost complete track of my garden. No time to figure it out now though. Still things to lift and plant. Was a busy day in my garden despite the cool weather and wind today. I planted the Knautia 'Mars Midget' in the Bird Sanctuary at the start of the rock edge behind the chiminea. Planted another patch of German Purple Iris beside the first that went in that same garden next to the new 'Henry Hudson' Rose. Planted the last patch of German Purple Iris left to go in at the Saxifraga 'Purple Robe' in the Sun Gardens. Put four of the Geranium cuttings into pots to root. Lifted 'Kari Fruit Salad', 'Babylon Purple', 'Baron Katie' (all dahlia), the yellow Calla 'Flame' and several of the Calla 'Crystal Blush'. I would have got them all but it appears I have lost track of a couple for the moment. Time to read my notebook. Planted my new Explorer Shrub Rose 'J.P. Connell' which is a yellow climber from Judy, in the Bird Sanctuary top level towards the house from the yellow/purple Columbine. It needs something to climb. I need to remember that.

Ranunculus and more

I lifted the Ranunculus today. It needs lifting as soon as it dies back or the claws will rot. Not sure I like that. Seemed like asking Fall to show up when I was lifting them. Although the flowers were pretty, there were only two of them. I will store them now and hope to get them in earlier next year. If that happens and the sun shows up next Summer in a way it didn't this Summer, maybe I will get a few more flowers from them. I also planted a seedling of the silver-leaf white blooming lamium and a division of the variegated sedum at the 'Fire & Ice' concrete block. Still have not got the Kabitan planted in the other block but I did find some Bouncing Bet which I had thought was lost. It showed up at the bushline along the back of the Orange Lily Garden. I am going to move it out into the Sun Gardens. Was a cool day in the garden and a little wet. Perfect day to weed though and I did plenty of that!

Shrub Catalogue Addition

I was going through 2005 garden photographs and came across this one, which made me go looking for the Honeysuckle. Sure enough, it is in the Secret Garden, which we named the first year we were here but have not yet developed into a garden. When Tuk moved in, he dug this up and although I did replant it, it was in sorry shape by the time I found it uprooted and in a spot where it is completely ignored. It seems happy though and is definitely growing here. It is about twice the size it was on its' last picture day. I have added it to the previously closed Shrub Catalogue.

Ta Da !

I am finished planting all 110 divisions from Linda and Kelly's Garden! I will be keeping my eye on all of them for the rest of this season but it is already clear that the Meadowsweet, 'Looking Glass', Japanese Painted Fern, Artemesia, both Liatris and all of the Hosta are going to be fine. I am looking forward to this Spring and the surprise of which made it through the winter. I am expecting that all three Spirea as well as the 'Annabelle' Hydrangea will not make it. They look terrible and I think shrubs may require a little more tender care than any of these divisions got. Chicks are mostly lost but I did find two pulled up that I have replanted since that post so there are 3 surviving. Not sure if any of them are the same or if they are all different. The rest should come along. The purple Liatris opened white today. No change from the bud colour. That is the only really strange thing that happened with the big Nova Scotia plant exodus.

Lily Catalogue Complete

The Lily Catalogue is complete and posted to flickr. It includes Asiatic and Oriental. Daylily are not included. There were 21 Lily varieties blooming here this year. The catalogue is missing Asiatic 'Suncrest' and Oriental 'Opus One', both of which I think came up as stalks but did not bloom. I will add them next year as well as all of the Lily I brought from Linda's garden.

Oriental Lily Confusion

The bud I thought was 'Opus One' is definitely 'Acapulco'. If I look closer, I think the three stalks bunched up at the bud are 'Acapulco'. The taller stalk in the back and little short one right at the slide leg, I think, are 'Opus One'. There is a big difference in the leaf with 'Opus One' having a pointier and lighter leaf. This means the 'Opus One' is not going to bloom this year but since the 'Acapulco' did not bloom last year, I am not going to assume it is lost yet. Another surprise to save for next year. I think the two of them blooming together will look wonderful. I guess I might find out next year if they bloom together in my zone. 

Shrub Catalogue Complete

The Shrub Catalogue is complete on flickr for this year.

It is missing Weigela, French Hybrid Lilac and two peony; the burgundy single and pink single both together at the Shade Bridge Garden. I do not have photographs of any of them blooming this year. Not sure why. Since none of them are worth taking photographs of when they are not blooming, I will add them next year.

Iris Catalogue Complete

The Iris Catalogue is complete and posted on Flickr. There were seven Iris blooming here this season. I actually had eight different Iris but the maroon from Linda did not bloom this year and I have decided not to include any Iris that did not bloom here this year. I will add them next year. Of course, my Iris count has more than doubled since blooming season. I should be adding 10 next year! How exciting is that?

Note August 2, 2010 - Judy was here for coffee and we updated the names for the Iris that came from her. Princess Street German Purple were growing at Princess Street when Sharon moved in. Judy divided them. Ron Brooks Double Blue and Bessie`s Pale Yellow were divisions gifted to her. Rae Street Blue and White were divisions Bill got from a lady on Rae Street, who's garden was on his walking route. He admired them, she divided them. Finally, Dr. Charles Wattrall Dwarf Purple were left in Judy's office at the College while she was on vacation. When she returned, Sharon told her Dr. Wattrall had dropped off a bag of plants for her. Turned out to be a bag of the Dwarf Purple. Luckily, gardeners find each other! All updated on flickr.

Hosta Catalogue Complete

The Hosta Catalogue is complete and posted here. There are 34 varieties of Hosta growing in my garden today with the following notes: Mom's Green and Danielle's Tall may be the same plant. Currently the difference seems to be the size of the leaf but I think that could have something to do with one growing here this year and one growing in Nova Scotia. I will have to watch that for next year. 'So Sweet' and Aberdeen Variegated are the same situation. Leaf size and overall plant size seems to be the difference. Finally, it is also possible, but I don't think probable, that Mom's Green is the same as Aberdeen Solid if it is not Danielle's Tall. The differences in these three plants are minimal. Aberdeen Solid seems to have smaller leaves than either of the other two. Danielle's Tall grows up taller before the leaves fall than Aberdeen Solid. The leaves do not sit just above the ground on the Tall, they sit well above it. Mom's Green, because it is a transplant this year, looks very similar to both. On another note, I came across my tiny white lily blooming today in the Orange Lily Garden. This is the third year it has taken me by surprise. Don't know why I keep forgetting it but I have it recorded now. I knew the plant spreadsheet would come in handy even if it did sound crazy.