growing a forest in the city

My little Emerald Ash Borer, Madge, and I attended the first class of the Citizen Pruner Program last night. By rare luck Rohan also happened to be in town (in fact his plane landed less than an hour before the start of class and I was there waiting with my boots on as he pulled into the driveway), so he also joined for the evening.

I am SO HAPPY I chose to do this. When I signed up I was literally sitting on my bathroom floor after long cry, sniffling and flipping through The Key when I saw the ad for this year's course. April seemed a long way away at the time, and I really wasn't sure if I would be up to being involved in ...anything...
I decided to sign up, on the off chance I'd feel like doing something by April.

Since that time...

....I've found myself back at work,

involved in other projects,

considering more..

So here I am in April, still crying, but back in it..., and loving this class. 

I've been wanting to learn more about trees. My knowledge of them is very book based and photography driven, but identification often escapes me and I didn't even realize how little I knew about their care until last night.

Many of the urban trees I've admired for years, photographed in seasons, are actually trees at risk, trees who haven't been properly pruned for life in the city. What we need to be striving for is to:

"grow a forest tree in the city." ~ Vince Rutter

Rutter Urban Forestry

Which means assisting trees to grow as they would in their natural forest setting, but in an urban jungle of concrete rivers and competitors for height. Trees in the forest grow tall, reaching their canopies to beyond one another. Urban trees don't compete for that sort of growth, height isn't their main concern.

Survival is really their only real motivation - sort of like grieving parents. Reach for the sky and reach for everything around you, hope for the best. 

The irony being that shortly before the class Madge and I admired some trees in famous Canadian paintings to get ourselves in "tree-mode".. 

Madge doesn't damage trees
she admires them in famous Canadian paintings

Very much in the theme of an earlier post about my desire for a "droopy spruce" for Finn's garden, in my mind I saw a White Pine in a forest - my favourite (with Tamaracks) ~ or something similar from a Tom Thomson painting when Vince spoke of those forest trees in the city. A tree as it should look, and what we admire as fine art. 

We don't have those kinds of trees in urban settings. Our city trees (with the exception of a few) are allowed to reach further than they grow tall. They find themselves developing extra limbs and unnatural growth - things that our human species would baulk at and insist on fixing immediately ... plastic surgeons make more $money$ than radiologists. Just sayin'. 

This class is going to help us take better care of all the trees in our new yard, and any new ones to be added. It has already taught me so much, and changed my perspective. I see trees with new eyes thanks to a few hours of an entertaining lecture ~ what can happen in another couple classes and some field work? A lot, I think. 

Madge, my rather incredible little bug, was hand crafted in clay by artist Heidi Hunter. Her creations are something intriguing, quirky, hilarious, sometimes a little grotesque (but I like that). I've been following her on Instagram, Twitter, and Etsy and enjoyed immensely the "construction" of the Emerald Ash Borers as she made them. She posted photos of their ceramic class anatomy being built from books of bugs - so gross but so interesting. Madge has all her little bug parts, she's a real EAB, just turned to stone and glazed ...so pretty with sparkly eyes. 

Find Heidi by searching @elfguts

links to good stuff:

Thunder Bay Urban Forestry

Why we don't like the Ermerald Ash Borer (the real bug)

More on the Emerald Ash Borer

Vince asked us all to draw a tree at the beginning of class - what we thought what a "perfect tree"...my first drawing was similar to this, but without the roots. (and I added a bird's nest in my first tree) (can't find that drawing).. anyway, he suggested we try drawing another tree at the end of the class, and notice the differences.
In yoga, and during acupuncture I often visualise a tree - specifically the Oak in our front yard. I breathe through the roots, up the truck, through the branches, into the leaves reaching into the sky then back down through it all into the roots and into the earth. Why I left roots off my first drawing ...bothers me.. .My branches weren't as well "pruned" either - more like a city tree than a forest tree. These on my after-class tree may not be much better, it could be taller - with a better canopy.
I wonder what kind of tree I'll draw in a few months...

Dear Garden Diary

I could go on without a computer, and I could even lose my camera, but I could never let go of a sharp pencil and a notebook. Long before digital photography and garden blogs I had my garden journals, and they are still where I do my best thinking. Drawing the landscape and doodling gardens is the best way to visualise plans...

...Photoshop works too. 

It's been hard for me to draw beds that I don't remember very well. I took some photos last year, but not enough - and not while I was thinking 'garden'. Not knowing how much space I have doesn't really matter right now..., they'e big enough beds and I think I can fill 'em (of course I can fill them)

Moving from Pearl (divided or taken whole): ligularia, all adopted daylilies (red, peach, yellow - unknown), geranium *Wargraves Pink, John Davis Explorer Rose, Therese Bugnet rose, Morden Blush rose, Morden Sunrise rose, rudbeckia, stronecrop *Autumn Fire, hostas (of course), tiarella, pulmonaria, irises, peonies x 2, ...um, ..more...

To be added: roses (already mentioned), joe-pye weed, liatris x a few, cone flowers, heliopsis, annual butterfly weed & evening primrose (if they survive a few seasons hooray), heath aster (small white, various other asters, various stone crop, lemon trillium :), ...and who knows what else...

A bird's eye view of this bed is really what is needed to display the haphazardness of shrubs and marigolds - oh and some individually planted cosmos completely frail in the wind.. It's pretty much all going to go. The Oak tree (my favourite) deserves better company. 

Photoshop doodling, imagining those Hansa roses building a (maintained) hedgeline, a mix of sun a shade plants tolerating the changing light from morning to night, ....there are still bare spots in this doodle which are easy enough to fill..., I just wish I had a better sense of space right now.

I'd like to find a Double River Wye daylily (my favourite), which I had years ago, but for some reason never took with me..., or lost along the way.

All of this reminds me of the front garden transformation at Pearl. :)

The south facing side of the house is..., um, ...crazy. The Virginia Creeper has swallowed the house, and though it needs a good haircut it is also a giant birds' nest condominium. This needs to be done carefully. I have no idea how.

I don't want to lose the creeper, I like it..., I even like it swallowing the house. Maintenance is all that's needed. 

As for the two shrubs with a red x mark, ...sorry... they don't even understand what they're doing there. Random round green balls. 

The star marks line the new path we're considering putting in. It became apparent right away that people will always being walking around back to find us - in the shack or otherwise, especially in summer. Having a path added to the existing lockstone will al so enable us (Rohan) to clear it in winter. (Aussie man loves his snowblower...). I've given myself a few extra inches of garden bed against the path to allow for low growing perennials - oooo, and maybe some creeping thyme and smelly things to walk on. 

The first step, as with any garden..., is the soil.., and good grief the soil in these beds is horrible.

This is a view of the little kidney shaped bed outside the shack. Rocks, dandelions, marigold bundles, and a clump of cosmos. For all the efforts in renovating the house, this took me by surprise. Sigh. This garden needed me. 

I know I can't physically do the work, so I'm counting on Bill and the team to turn this over and top it up with some compost and manure mixes. Once the soil is taken care of in these beds (front under the Oak, along the south fence, front east-south face of the house, the weird kidney bed by the shack, ...and the small areas on the north side of the house... That - is what I'm going to tackle this year. That and planting a tree or two in the back (one bare spot)..

...should keep me busy..

a garden fence

photo by Rohan M.

Rohan built a garden fence. 

It's quite incredible, curving around the existing pathway between the small kitchen garden and the new, larger kitchen garden bed. Cedar pickets, each cut by R himself. Notice the perfectly aligned screws. OCD anyone? Two gates, one near the barbecue patio, the other halfway to the dog run - both with self closing hinges. It just might be the most beautiful garden fence in the world.

I doodled on his photo of the fence in progress; imagining the last of the grass away and our fire-pit in place. It's going to be lovely. Recycled brick will make take the place of the grass - and though we'll have a lot going on in a small space path-wise, that is what makes an adopted garden. 

A neighbourhood cat
strolling through the photo
:)

Stick Amy is in the garden replanting the spinach - as most of the leaves have been nibbled away. I'm counting on some established roots, but along with washed away carrots some new seeds need to be added. 

garden plan 2011
change of plans, no more grass: brick patio instead
things are coming along

Dear Garden Diary,

With three times the garden, I'm trying to carefully plan some perennial edibles - like asparagus, some herbs, - and pre-plan some rotating crops to make the most out of our small space. This year I also want to take advantage of time, with early crops and late ones, so we don't miss out on so much while we're away.

I'm going a little crazy. So many options, so many ways to do this..., and in our over zealous way we have already bought more seeds than we could ever plant & tend. I'll have to share some seeds once I have this year's "plan" in mind.

I have never followed "the plan"...

Working in a greenhouse never helps either, without fail I come home with something, every day.. R already understands this is not an income, more a loss really. Luckily he's not bothered by it. Also, with his "give me plans and I'll build it" ability, we will have a succulent wall by summer's end.

Most of the time spent with my new iPad has been setting up apps for writing and gardening, greenhouses, and note taking. I've already set my iEye on more apps I can't yet afford (the expensive ones are always so clever, damn).
I don't think the iPad is going to take the place of my doodle pad and pencil in the garden, but I don't think it'll be far from reach.

Gah, remember all those days I lugged garden books and notebooks in my backpack, on my bike, to the greenhouse, the university, everywhere. Insane. Books are great home companions, always will be best - but for travel I'm digging this new technology.

yellow brick road

4 October 2011

While enjoying my morning mug of coffee on the back balcony this morning, a new plan for the garden came to me. Rethinking the proximity of the dog run to the vegetables, as well as sun exposure, I simplified the plan by bringing the new vegetable garden toward the house, next to the current kitchen garden. My previous plan seems ridiculous to me now, and complicated. I don't know why this didn't come to me in the first place.

In the new plan the fence is simplified - the whole east side of the garden, deck & Barbecue Central included, will be fenced off with two gates: one to the path to the vegetable gardens, deck and barbecues, the other to the clean, dog-free grass. When the dogs are being well behaved (ha ha) they will be able to join us on the grass, or R at the barbecues, maybe even nibble on a cherry tomato or two...but otherwise will have nowhere to go but through their forest and to the dog run at the back of the yard.

A little bit of mulch around the edge of the path to keep from overcrowding the walkway, and along the fence, to keep it neat (perhaps a few dainty sweet peas along the fence each year, keep it simple). To separate the vegetable garden from the grass and the sunny perennials: a brick path. I've always loved the look of a reclaimed brick path in the garden. Why not in yellow brick... ?

Years ago, before satellite radio at the greenhouse, there was a CD player. Every CD I created for us to listen to had a recording of Somewhere Over the Rainbow; it became expected. From Mary Lou Williams in Montreal, to Art Tatum, Dick Hyman, Stanley Jordan, to Chucho Valdez - I still have them all in an SOTR folder. How fitting that I meet a man who takes a yellow brick road home to Oz each year, and together we aim to reconcile our love for dogs and gardens in a small downtown plot. I'm sure we can find some yellow brick at the ReStore.

If we do that, I'm definitely going to have to find some Narcissus 'Lemon Drops' for the garden.

Garden Spaces Big and Small

our garden, June 2011

For a small yard we manage to pack in a lot of plants, trees, and edible things. I've always felt somewhat loose with some of the rules of planting; wanting to utilize as much of the space that I have, not wasting any.


This morning I was lucky - exceptionally lucky to be able to visit a beautiful, mature garden in a yard on Farrand Street backing on to McVicar Creek. A huge, huge space with a rolling hill down toward the creek surrounded in tall city trees.
I was there to photograph the garden for the Walleye. As I entered the garden through the gate on the south side of the house I was greeted with pots and containers of nursery plants, some perennials and some annuals - all just waiting to be added somewhere to this oasis. Obviously a never ending work in progress. I was excited, and had to take a deep breath before continuing along the bricked path. There was a succulent garden near the patio, and three different ponds: two developed in barrels and one built of rocks under a mass of ferns, and other big leafed perennials I can't even name. The Solomon's Seal is the most mature plant I've ever seen outside books.
A brick and flagstone path along the south side of the garden lead me past clematis after clematis climbing trellises and trees, with a spread of blue, white, and pink forget-me-nots beneath. Garden beds on either side of the path were willed with cultivars of columbine and hardy geraniums, Lady's Mantle grew everywhere, spreading out between other plants: peonies, allium (in both deep and pale shades of purple), bleeding hearts, and even more clematis.
As I came near the end of the path I though the garden would be coming to an end, but as the hill rolled down toward the creek the garden beds continued, on either side of aged concrete steps built into the ground.
I could hear both the sound of the creek, and the subtle sound of traffic behind the trees; but with the wind this morning and the June leaves it sounded more like the middle of nowhere as I stood there somewhere so special. At the top of the steps, a landing and an old garden bench looking on to the garden beds to the east, and the hill to the creek to the southwest. Beside it was a Japanese Lilac bursting with budding blooms - only one or two looked like they were ready to open today, ...I'm sure by tomorrow or the day after the whole shrub will be a mass of pale purple flowers.
The brick path continued curving through garden beds and along the north side of the yard, surrounded with plants draping their foliage across it. More alliums, foam flowers, geraniums, and bleeding hearts bubbled over one another through a pergola into a grass lawn, within which was more rounded garden beds bursting with colour.
So much of the garden was naturalized, with wild Lady's Mantle and forget-me-nots every where. It was so beautiful, and such a treat to photograph. Red leafed shrubs broke up the shades of green and lime, with tall trees towering over garden specimens and cedars lining the yard.  

I met the master gardener behind the creation while I was halfway down the steps to the creek, photographing upward through a fern. She wore a t-shirt that said "PERENNIAL OPTIMIST" and was about my mother's age. We talked for a while about her journey to this space, and about it's development over the years, then I got back to my camera while she pulled out her wheel barrow and continued her work. It was an absolute pleasure to meet her, see what she's done, and learn.

I won't post the photographs here - not of the garden, though I may use some of the closer photos of plants for descriptive purposes from time to time. I'll save the photos of the garden for the gardener herself (and of course for the Walleye). It's just nice to know there are hidden special spaces like this in our own downtown backyards.

"Sometimes plants don't survive - which I see only as another opportunity." 

~ S. Master Gardener.

Dear Garden Diary,

It's raining right on cue. I just came in from the balcony, where I've been leaning against the railing drawing this:

It's been threatening to rain all morning, and I want it to settle all the earth I've been moving around.

The empty space left after removing the two enormous and overgrown irises is a little larger than before. The leaves which had branched over the grass had killed it off, and by the time I weeded the space this morning it all just seemed to blend together. The bed rolls out into the yard a bit further than it used to but I don't mind, I like the extra space.

A good number of irises are going back in, but this time in a few rows around the facing side of the Wegeila (Red Prince) shrub. I like them, there were just too, too many of them. Somewhere near there should the the Asiatic Lilies ~ but I'm beginning to fear for them. Why am I not seeing them return yet? Alos near them is another Liatris which hasn't shown it's greens. This worries me. Dogs. (dogs + gardening = another post)

I love that R is as keen as I am about squeezing more vegetables between the perennials. We've now filled the empty spaces (where things either died, were moved, or were empty to begin with,  ...or, as in the case of the irises, where spaced was made by downsizing). A couple of yellow tomato plants (tag is downstairs, I will update in more detail), and a zucchini crop sure to cause some chaos along the fence.

And up the fence, thanks to R attaching three trellises along the east fence. The facing fence receives sun all afternoon and evening, perfect for warming veg vines. I'm actually hoping the noon hour sun will attract the vines upward, and let the evening sun slow it down to rest for the night - if that makes any sense (I just think the position is perfect and look forward to watching how it grows). Beside the zucchini are a couple of new hollyhocks. 

We have three new Clematis plants (those tags are also downstairs, which I will update later). I saw a photo once of two boldly coloured  Clematises climbing twined together along a fence like ours. I'm going to recreate that, with the plants in the grown beneath the Caragana and behind the Peonies - the first being 'The President' and the other still unknown but will be a deep cherry/raspberry colour. 

I'm really happy to have again my blue/purple Delphiniums. To me, they're one of the defining flowers in an English cottage garden. They're just babies this year, but I've promised R that next year they'll be impressive. 

I've missed these flowers. :)

They'll tower over the Peonies and begin to bloom as they finish. Behind the blue stalks the deep purple and raspberry coloured Clematis will cling to the fence - a wall of blooms. 

I've rescued the two red Daylilies from the west side of the garden, the ones on either side of the dwarf Alberta Spruce:

and I'm going to plant them in the void left by the irises...along with something else (there's still more room to share). Maybe a pumpkin? Or some other perennial, or tomato.

Not only were they becoming overwhelmed by the spruce, but they were getting trampled by dogs.

Reconciling gardens and dogs doesn't have to be difficult, even in our small space. By allowing the west garden bed, mostly comprised of evergreens and trees (and that massive Rhubarb), go to the dogs they can have their space and we can have ours. The dogs love to trod through there, as if it's the Tree Farm, their own backyard forest. Why take that away from them? They just need to be trained to know that some spaces are okay for them, others are not. They've been pretty good with the kitchen garden - so far, and I've used more of our little fencing to create a barricade between the lawn and the east garden (which is off-limits to dogs).

The lawn is a mess, but oh well. I am not going to worry too much, it is repairable.


I've been reading the Gin & Tonic Gardener and enjoying it immensely. Around the evergreens in the west garden is a spreading colony of weeds. It really bothers R, but for some reason - as overwhelmed as I am over the task ahead to remove them - I'm not bothered. It will get tidied up, it will get done. There was a time when I would have gone on endlessly until it was done, but I'm not into killing myself over a few weeds anymore.

I am coming at it from a few angles, as I continue to make my way down the east garden to the dog-run fence, where I will plant two more Clematis plants, this time in pale shades of purple and pink with flecks of white to climb behind the lilac.
I've also started to fill and create the new gardens along the west side of the house.

We thought a few bags would help us get by until we could sort out a truckload of fill for both these gardens and the dog-run repair, but I've already used most in just a small area, with three bags going to the iris void, and four to the front garden. I was hoping to at least cover the space so that no dogs swallow any more rocks but no such luck. Poor R had no idea what he was getting himself into when he asked me: "Are you sure you can fill the space?"
First to be planted along the west side, under the Tamarack will be a new "Twilight Times" hosta, for our teenage Vampire enthusiast...who rolled her eyes, and two small lime leafed hosta (tag downstairs) - along with another rescue from dog friendly gardens, from under the Dogwood a hosta with great round lime and deep green leaves. It's been overshadowed for long enough.

Purple Salvia appears in the kitchen garden, planted a little to tightly beside the Chamomile, some Cosmos, and the herb garden. John Davis continues to thrive in the corner behind. We've replaced the Basil (again) and added two Swiss Chard plants near the Roma tomato.

The Van Gogh sunflowers are beginning to speed up their growth, enjoying these rainy nights and hot, sunny afternoons. (Well, except for this afternoon.) Also the beans, peas and carrots are all picking up the pace.
The two Early Girl tomatoes are doubling in size every time I look at them while the plant produces even more. Hannah and Gromit's strawberry plants have fruit.

The peppers are all covered in blooms and small fruit.
I can't wait for soup and salsa, pizzas on the barbecue...

Buttercream Nasturtiums are popping up all over the kitchen garden, sprinkled there by me. They're fun, and numerous underneath Early Girl ...which should be interesting later on.

Nasturtium,  Buttercream

In the Key of Catching Up

I used to curl up to my computer on a Sunday morning and listen to In the Key of Charles on CBC Radio with a pot of coffee and some garden dreams, often in the same theme as Charles's to write in this blog. I miss that show. I don't know what's held me back from posting, other than life..time, and dogs. This is the first season in years that I have a garden ready and waiting for me, prepared. This time I can just start planting. Minimal digging, minimal amending, it's as if I stepped back in time and have my mature garden back. Mature but never finished, that is. I can express in words how happy this makes me feel.

Last year there was still a construction zone over our vegetable garden when spring arrived. Early planting wasn't possible. I think it was July when things finally got underway...
We were also heartbroken and unmotivated at first. I was challenged trying to convince myself that 'gardening is therapeutic', and 'gardening heals' ~ things I've said and written about for years, but wasn't put to the test until last year. I didn't believe it could, or would heal or make our pain go away. I still don't. Some hurts can't be healed by my garden spade. But, the garden spade can certainly be a distraction, and it eventually was (along with my camera).

Gromit guarding his garden, July 17, 2010

Once we had the little vegetable bed prepared, planting all our quick kitchen favourites: zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, and herbs we cook with most importantly basil, (and R's new lavender plant) came together nicely.

There's a new John Davis Explorer Rose in the corner by the door with my tallest trellis anticipating a glorious year ahead. Hats off to my former J.D. rose, who lived to be placed in this spot - sort of. He was one of the first plants in my first garden, surviving every move we made, but just didn't want to bounce back this time.



The new John Davis will entertain me with me with it's red-rosy buds and precious pink petals, and will be neighbours to some (just some) of the garlic we're going to plant. There's chamomile to one side, which I'm hoping will return this year, and peppers caspsicum (of various kinds/degrees of heat) to the other.
This year we hope to grow more capsicum, more heat, for more salsa, and roasted red pepper soup. There will also have to be more cucumbers for the dogs, more basil (perhaps more pots), and better management of the zucchini vine. Spending three prime weeks of the growing season in Australia (in winter) doesn't jive well with training vines, so I may try pleading with our dog-sitter (who "doesn't eat vegetables") to give it a hand.

I've been making my lists, gathered from 2011 seed catalogs which have been arriving since the autumn of 2010. Every journal has scattered lists, some organized with page numbers and others with doodles mixed up in garden plans.

I wonder if R will catch on to the theme(s) of some of my choices...

Beets also included will be Touchstone Gold and Merlin. Eight Ball summer squash, and Vervain Verbena officinalis, Barbeque Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis (in a pot, to move indoors), and Cupid Grape Tomatoes. Themes are the easiest way to weed though the bazillion choices available.

I prepared myself for the task of tackling the front yard which was, um.. "over-grown" by drinking wine on the balcony looking down on it. We spend a lot of time on the front balcony in summer, catching the breeze sweeping up the street from Lake Superior five blocks away. The view below matters.
I remember having one large bottle of water and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc on the steps while I worked to weed through the neglected garden. It took three days, and then some. By the end of summer it looked like this:

Someone in a previous post commented asking why I didn't bring the garden right to the edge of the sidewalk. I've been wanting to answer that. The reason is that this is a fairly busy sidewalk. It's not so much a busy street (for being downtown) but has a lot of foot traffic year round, and is ploughed in the winter. With all that comes damage. I suspect plants would suffer near the edge, not that the garden edge couldn't be something else. It would be much nicer with a Common/Woolly Thyme cover, maybe with some Ajuga and seasonal Periwinkle, but for the time being it's grass.

2010 Garden ~ New Beginnings

---

My new journals, gifts from my mother - one from Stockholm (the purse/camera bag sized blue one) and another beautifully crafted sketchbook by Alison Kendall. The dragonfly is not the kind of sketchbook I would throw in my garden bag and bring to the plot or greenhouse, so will be reserved for couch and backyard doodles.

The blue pocket journal has been useful for doodling ideas on the go. Our community garden plot will be used for big root things like potatoes, beets, carrots, and some brussel sprouts for Hannah, chard for soup and red cabbage for apples.

We didn't take a community plot last year, which I regret, but I'm not going to get lost in what didn't happen and look ahead to a well organized season. I've already talked to Scott about my plans (thank goodness for the coffee shop run-ins). I'm sure plans will change from time to time when I'm in the greenhouse.

I can not wait to start planting - in the ground, but in the greenhouse more. I can't wait to breath that air. There's a big part of me that is terrified of the months ahead, not knowing if I can physically do it. I've been trying to focus on this being it's own greenhouse experience, and not compare it to years past. My spine won't stand up to what I used to do. I simply have to adjust what it is that I do, and I'm okay with that.

Being Backyardovich in January 2010

Earlier today I was running around mad trying to find a collection of plant tags that I found in the back porch last summer. They were obviously Wayne's, from when he planted the garden, and identified most of the junipers. I still can't find them, but in my mind's eye I can see them in a few places, so I'm sure they'll turn up - which will give me something else to post about when I do.

Instead I doodled our garden using notes and photos I've collected since the summer. I took a photo this afternoon of the January garden to use as a guide because some of my notes are sketchy, and I wish I had more sketches - I remember best by those. As I reflected upon one (which I'd rather not post) I slipped into a daydream; sitting in one of my neglected Adirondack chairs in the backyard. I had brought the chair nearer to the fence to the dog run so that Claire, on the other side, wouldn't feel so apart from me. This tactic was a complete failure; Claire sulked on the other side of the fence, taunted me with rock chewing, paced until I felt uncomfortable. Few drawings were ever completed, though I can still see them in my imagination.

In one of my little green Journals I found a list of the garden's plants. I remember compiling that list. It was before I found the plant tags. Still stumped on the names of the Lilies, I'm only guessing. I'd like to believe the Daylily closest to the house is Mini Pearl. The Daylilies were what I was most curious about. I had wanted to talk to Wayne directly to ask what his inspiration was; what was his plan? The only time he was over I wasn't home. Rohan said he was thrilled with how the garden has grown, saying, "It is exactly what I had envisioned." I can completely understand his sentiment. I had that vision at Castlegreen. I only really saw it thrive in maturity one season, woe.

I was able to admire Wayne's design even more during the summer as I waited for and watched the daylilies bloom. The first question I had for Rohan regarding the garden was which daylilies were each. He didn't know. I don't think he realized how many different ones there are, or anticipated my attention to their names. I told him about my daylily circle of yummy things: 'Raspberry Parfait', 'Melon Balls', 'Vanilla Fluff', 'Strawberry Swirl'.... We still don't know the daylilies names, but I did document their colours and blooming periods, and have a vast collection of photographs (of course). What I found most spectacular about Wayne's plan was the timing. The whole garden was colour-timed throughout the seasons. In early spring it was the purples and lavenders who stole the show, then some yellows and peaches in the daylilies, and in late summer when things are lush and thoughts of autumn begin to surface, the red daylilies change the hue of the whole garden accordingly. The thick greens and reds almost brought thoughts of Christmas, and brought us to the end of the season.


By the drawing above one would think Rohan and I have no business going through seed catalogs, like we were last Saturday. Lying in bed on a January morning with coffee and dogs, newspapers and seed catalogs. We discussed the state of the world, the state of the locals, the Thumbs Up Thumbs Down section, and agreed upon enough seeds and plants to fill our yard twice over. How we will accomplish this is what we have to look forward to, and what this journal looks forward to recording.

Taken on August 13th, 2009 - I also used this photo to assist my memory in doodling today's drawing.

There are things missing from the drawing, names, and I'm sure I missed a plant or two. The dogs are each included 1.5 times. (Maybe because each dog, in his or her own way, often feels like one and a half dogs i.e. in poop scooped and household fur.)
Especially included is our glorious boulevard tree, who is currently the only one on the block to be holding on to some foliage. Also in front are a number of mystery plants and shrubbery. I had wanted to tackle the space in August, and add the hostas and other shade plants I have saved from amy's garden. I didn't. There's always this coming spring.

I have the best love. Rohan's careful maintenance, and enthusiasm for his own additions can be thanked for the garden's success. Appreciation

This summer will be an interesting challenge. With all our expectations for incorporate all our food plants, and establish them, while exploring/returning to Australia for most of August. (Oh just imagine what amy's garden will travel-blog about Australia!)
Being the cooking enthusiasts that we are most of our wishlist is comprised of things we most often eat: garlic, herbs - namely basil (and lots of it), thyme and rosemary, sage, dill, garlic chives (already thriving under the tamarack). Capsicum of many kinds from hot to sweet, tomatoes, and squash - if we can grow these at home, in pots and clever tucked in places, we'll be able to satisfy many meals. The Rhubarb will feed us for months. The onions will likely never stop.

The lack of space for both a goat and a small flock of backyard chickens is easily demonstrated through the drawing. This doesn't stop me from saying often how lovely both would be.

And so this is a new backyardovich, the best backyardovich. It's just beautiful.

doodling from memory

Of course I'm planning all this having only seen it twice, briefly, by peeking through windows. I really have no spatial concept yet. There's a gate to the west side that will be the main entrance to amy's garden - I will concentrate on that side this year, and establishing the shady nook. The nook sits in view of the dining room window below the mature tree (maple?)(I haven't been close enough yet), and is sweetly protected and private.
The fence is tall. How much it adds to the shaded areas with its shadow is yet to be determined. Even with its southern exposure, I'm suspecting there's more room for shade plants than sun. Shady nook aside, the yard seems to receive a great deal of morning sun. I'm curious to learn the patterns of this new space; if my predictions turn true there are multitudes of opportunities here. I've got such a good feeling about this....the shady nook will be even better than at 606, and I can see it easily filled by my existing plants such as the hydrangea, goats beard, ferns, hostas...

The deck receives a great deal of sunshine, along with the space just below. I'm thinking about pots of things to eat. ~ but I have not got a clear enough idea of what the deck actually offers. I have to wait for the snow to melt.
Regardless, there will be plenty of space to grow vegetables and herbs. I've been in a sunflowery kind of mood lately also; and they could help me watch the sun.

On the north side of the house, the front steps offer two perfect rests for my 'window' boxes, finally. Both! They'll be in full, cool shade - which, to me, is great for containers - the planting opportunities are endless, and without worry of them drying out in a few short hours in hot dry sun; shady boxes will last and last.

I have such an incredible vision for our new home, both inside and out. The view out the dining room window will be divine. I'll be able to peer out on to my nook; I'm imagining it now on a rainy day - when I would long to sit out there. But from inside, by the fire, through that window...I think I'll feel quite content to gaze through the glass.

:)

Blazing Garden

I want to see reds, oranges and yellows consume the back lane fence. Currently the Red Prince (Weigela) stands alone.
Bee Balm, Clematis 'Niobe' *swoon*, red sunflowers, coneflowers (which one?), sneezeweed, flaming day lilies, oranges and yellows, red mums in pots, flicks of salvia in reds and purples...
To the west, climbing up the shed 'Mandarin' Honeysuckle.

I'll probably plant more than one 'Niobe', wanting it to be predominant along the fence. I mooned over it in the greenhouse last season.

Speculative Non-GardenFiction

So - during October things happened and did not happen in Amy's Garden. In brief: no new boulevard tree (because the TSP planters can't plant the tree where the Ash was, or a bit to the left or a bit to the right because of water and hydro underground stuff but only pretty much exactly not in front of 1421 but next door - and that just won't do.) I don't know what I will do, or decide. But, grin. That's what winter is for: reading in bathtubs, learning and planning - and by spring I will know what to do about a lofty tree in front of this lovely house.


There's also been a decision on the greenhouse idea in the backyardovich.
.dedicednu eb t'nac snoiosiced taht yas ot ton si sihT

I could think of a greenhouse as structural element in my garden, but not to much being used as a greenhouse, thinking practically - and realistically. A fancy-schmancy gardening storage shed for my tools and odd pots and things perhaps ...(and being glass, therefore see-through, this would have to be a very tidy gardening storage shed to not be an eyesore).
I don't know how I feel about that so I'm considering my options, sans small backyard greenhouse.

I can see it in my mind's eye, a tree, smallish, deciduous, bearing preferably edible (not necessarily tasty to humans, bonus if so). I think of the tree (I've forgotten what kind of tree it is), a tree Les grows - a beautiful specimen in the kitchen garden at the cottage. I've been meaning to call and ask....

New native plant gardeners to town, D & A, have been the first to round up the winter season's garden talk around the office. Ever since I've been focusing my research in native plant directories, keeping a watchful eye on the fine print of the invasive species reports. I'm discovering new things, each a post of it's own (yet to be written).

There are changes in my garden plan that have come from new influences and information. I'm glad I'm more aware of invasive species, and soil, and the trees than I was a year ago. go me.

*blink*

I must cut this short now, goodnight journal - I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

My Garden