The Season of Mud and Molt

 

Letting Suzy, Sandy and Mikaela free roam in the house is a big chore. Actually, the free roaming is fine. It is the getting ready to let them free roam that is the work. They all attack cats. Suzy and Sandy to play with them but they are so big, the can hurt a cat really easy. Mikaela attacks to kill. Anything furry and small is for hunting. This is the season, though, that they are free roaming a lot. They need regular brushing, cleaning and nail trimming. Normally, the molt hair is impossible to keep up with no matter how hard we try. About a week into the thaw, we usually throw our hands up and get ready for a few weeks of mud and molt. This year, our winter season has been extremely mild. There is not much molt for us to deal with. None of the dogs developed their full winter coat. Not even Summer. The mud, on the other hand, has arrived with its' usual reliability. Our yard is the only one with snow left and there is not much of it. It is a bit unique in our yard because we have so many trees. It means the snow lasts a few extra days here. With most of it melted, the girls lower pen is a swamp. Time to close that pen until the spring run off is finished and the ground is able to dry. As much work as the next few weeks will be in terms of the dogs, it does mean that the garden will be blooming soon. That is always a plus.

Fall Colours in the Yard

The yard is showing signs of fall everywhere. I came around the corner to find the sun hitting these willows seemingly to remind me that winter is coming. The boardwalk Dogwood is also turning and everywhere you look in the Valley there are reds, golds and oranges. 

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.

More Roses

It is definitely the season for roses and both Judy and I have many blooming in our gardens now. I have 5 rose shrubs that need to be replanted so I have decided to start a new rose garden in the unplanted circle at the end of the house at the front. Right now the circle contains two peony; one light pink and one dark, both double. Since all the roses I have to plant are pink or yellow, I am going to add them to that spot and have a new rose garden. It should solve the yearly weed problems there too. Today I finished the fence side of the path in the bird sanctuary and I also did about half the weeding in the Combine Garden before it was too sunny to keep working and I abandoned it until tomorrow morning. While I was weeding there, I came upon an empty hummingbird nest. It was just like the one from last year... full of Suzy and Sandy's molt hair forming a fuzzy, downy bed inside. Too cool. I found a mutant hollyhock in that garden too but did not get a picture before I lost the light. I will try to remember that for tomorrow when I am over that way.

Muskrat Sam

The lake that used to be our back field has shrunk to become a very large pond and Sam has moved in. I have no idea how Sam pulled this move off with Tuk in our yard and his famous hatred of anything Muskrat. Yet, here is Sam, happily munching away and no Tuk to be seen. I have noticed that Sam does not tend to show himself in the early morning or mid-afternoon which is when Tuk is typically doing yard patrol rounds. However, once Tuk goes inside to nap, Sam can be seen swimming all over the pond. Still no ducks nesting and we have been actively discouraging that. We have been chasing the ducks away and as much as I hate doing that it is better than the alternative which would be baby ducks in the yard when the water does go down. The last time we had baby ducks in the yard, Summer brought me one a day until they were all gone. It took seven days. My heart broke for the Momma duck but there was really no stopping Summer despite our best efforts. That, along with the barn swallow couple that lost their nest (including babies) to Jake the same year, convinced us to chase away birds trying to nest right in the yard... before the babies arrived. So far, so good this year. 

Weird Weather Year

Well, now that the gardening season is over, I can officially say... what a weird weather year! In fact, we have mushrooms, large mushrooms, in our front lawn. I can never remember a time when we had mushrooms in our lawn in Saskatchewan. Same with so many slugs in the garden. Normally, we are far too dry to grow mushrooms anywhere but under trees and slugs, if a problem at all, are usually a small problem. Not this year. Slugs and mushrooms but no need to worry about watering. I think I'd rather go back to watering more often next year and have no mushrooms with few slugs. If I am given a choice, that is my vote.

Preparing

Overnight forecast is for -4 which means frost tonight if they are right. I went out and cut all of the Dahlia flowers that were worth taking and made arrangements for the house. It is full of flowers in bowls, vases and even a juice glass! I also cut buds in various stages to test at what point they will not open but die in the vase. I don't normally cut buds unless I am going for a specific look and they are well into starting to open. Better they are in the house with a chance to open than outside tonight and dead in the morning. Looks like digging Dahlia tubers is on the agenda for early next week along with bringing in the Calla this weekend. Oddly, I found a fully open Lupin flower and two buds by the 'Therese Bugnet' roses. Obviously, it is confused so I cut the flower and left the buds just in case the forecast is wrong. It has been a very strange weather year and although the rain was mostly appreciated, we had far too much of it and not nearly enough sun. This year was closer to gardening at Linda's than home. Wet, wet, wet. Maybe that will mean late snowfall. Let's hope.

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.

The Birds

No rain today but it rained all night and it was cold and wet all day. No sun. No digging. Our yard was like The Birds today except a lot less dramatic. It was actually very cool because every time I went outside, all I could hear was wings. At first it was kind of creepy and then I realized what they were doing. Remember the fly swarm of the other day? Well, every bird in the area moved into our trees and started feeding on them. We had at least 50 gulls over the firepit for two hours, two days in a row now. There were at least twice as many smaller birds in a couple of varieties that moved into the tallest tree off the back deck for the whole evening. Even the short pine off the front deck was full of bug eating birds. Not only was it a bunch of fun to watch, the little flies are hardly noticeable out there now. Maybe the sun will show up tomorrow. 

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.

First Fire

Another thing it is very late in the season for... our first fire. Today was excellent gardening weather. No rain yesterday but it was cold and wet until afternoon when the sun came out for awhile. Then today, no rain again but it was cool rather than cold. I deadheaded everything and got a lot of digging done finally. The second Clematis went in, to the field side of the furthest 'John Davis' rose. When the sun went down, the geese were flying overhead and nobody wanted to come inside yet. Seemed the perfect opportunity to make use of the new chopping block and axe. Which we did.

Settling In

I arrived home from Calgary a couple of days ago and all the dogs were happy to see me, particularly Penny and Summer. My garden is full of blooms and I have been wandering around in it several times a day.  I had a great visit with family, met the hawks that have nested in the yard there and the smallest frog I have ever seen. I brought home divisions from my cousin's garden, some of which are already in the ground. The rest will be in by dark today. I am waiting for the heat to die down a bit before going back out. I have planted Chinese Lantern which were given a huge space they can go nuts in. Also, Clematis which broke into two pieces on the trip home and will now, hopefully, be in two places in my garden. There is white lamium that is pink blooming, sedum 'Autumn Joy', dark purple Iris and something that looks similar to Brunnera with a pointy leaf which my cousin tells me blooms yellow. I have no idea what it is or if it is even my zone but she had a huge patch and it never hurts to try.

Line Down

This morning on walkabout, I made the mistake of looking up when I turned to my right on Sleepy Hollow Road. I noticed the power line pole on the little house was slanted. I kept walking along the road and following the line through the bush until I came to this. That is one huge tree that brought down another, both landing right on the power line. Consequently, my Lamb's Ears and Jacob's Ladder from Judy are still in pots. We spent our day with a saw and an electrician.

Deck Views

Two views from the deck. Well, actually two angles of the same view. The one above is the view from my chair on the deck. There is a tree that blocks my view of the 'Hope For Humanity' rose in the second shot. The dahlia all got in very late this year due to the rainy season. They are short but starting to open now. Another week or ten days and everything to the left of the roses will be covered in blooms of almost every colour. I was feeling impatient today so I thought I'd take a 'before the dahlia' shot.

We can actually see the Little House now !

It has been busy days the last few. This yard at the guesthouse still needs some decisions on pruning made but it is much, much better than it was two days ago. Penny likes the new view. Miles has been mowing and Josh has been here running the weed whacker. There is real progress everywhere, especially on the private road that is once again useable. I have been planting still. Tomorrow is my last day and I am still not sure I will get through it all but I am off to visit Linda in her garden so what isn't done will be in Judy's garden or compost. I finally got all the Glads in. The weather has not cooperated at all with planting season and the storm two days ago hit us hard in the Shade Bridge Garden where it took out the lower trunk in that photo from the tree in the top right. Just missed crushing Sean's car. Didn't miss my orange Lily Garden or the raspberry patch. Both needed repair after the trunk was cut up and moved off of them. Better news is that the 'Winnipeg Parks' Rose, 'Morden Blush' Rose and Delphinium continue to open.

No Rain Today :)

My Siberian Iris are in bud along with the Lupin. All the Lupin came back which I was happy to see because it took forever to get them to turn into a patch. The 'Therese Bugnet' rose is blooming and the Cerastium looks fantastic. I wasn't able to dig today but I got a lot of weeding done and seeded Poppy, Marigolds, Rudbeckia and Calendula all along the front sidewalk around the bush edge to the Hydrangea.

Sunrays Arrive

They had forecast snow for today but they were wrong. It was mostly grey and still way too wet to dig but there were long periods where the sunrays fought to shine through. It was a great day for weeding and cleaning up winter debris in the yard. There is a lot more to do but it was a good start. It was nice to be out all day even if it did mean a jacket. Bring on the sunshine :)