June hostas

hosta 'Sieboldiana Elegans'
& Tiarella, Foam Flower

hostas in the west side garden

hosta 'Striptease'

west side garden

10 June 2012

growing ideas & filling gaps

The ferns in the front garden enjoyed the rain and are uncurling more & more fronds. My plan is to get my builder, R, to install the rain barrel beside the front porch buried in the ferns behind our Annabelle Hydrangea. I'll attach a soaker hose to it, and make everyone in the front garden as happy as they are now all the time.

The Dwarf Globe Blue Spruce (Picea pungens 'Globosa') who lived in a pot for two years, moved three times, and is now in his third year in this location - is still small, and a little wonky in growth.., lost a few lower branches. Again I think more water is the key to a happier spruce. That and less goutweed surrounding it - gawd I hate that stuff. I ripped it to shreds the day I tore it out, and will continue to rip every root I see. Almost as amazing as it being sold in greenhouses, is that Neil was able to kill a bunch of it. I've never known anyone able to do that. I'll have to get him to stare down the weed smothering the spruce...

When I started excavating, rearranging, reinventing, establishing, removing, adding, and editing this garden in 2010 I had an idea, more than a plan, of what I wanted to eventually see. It's developed into a green-lime-red garden with lots of purple, blue, and pink flowers. Some later yellow blooms will arrive, orange geum, whites of Annabelle and hostas....

As everyone matures into their spaces, I think about their placement - move some around, shuffle the scene, and am now thinking about gaps and holes. There's a big hole front & centre now, where I removed an excavated hosta transplanting it deeper into the garden, for some low, bright light near a nice looking rock who's getting buried by the ferns. 

Next spring some tulips will fill the early gaps; now that I know how the garden is growing I feel more comfortable planting some permanent bulbs. I had always imagined daffodils, and it may still go that way, or a mix...who knows. Either way, dotted with bulbs is the way it's growing...

1 June 2012
Front  & Centre I've added a 'Brookside' Cranesbill Geranium
next year that will be spectacular
studying gaps, imagining bulbs

near the steps
1 June 2012
St. John's Wort gone mad
hostas arrving
heuchera, coral bells nearly blooming

new hostas
whose name I can't remember
he's going to be HUGE

cornflowers from Heather
excavated Ligularia

excavated hosta

Dear Garden Diary,

Campanula persicifolia Blue
'Peach Leaf Bellflower'
and that rolling stone grass...
mark the end of the brick and stone
of the old house,
and the beginning
of the west side succulent garden
bordering the new back porch.

The gaps further down...
still undecided,
which is so exciting
for a gardener.
I've imagined a number of different
scapes...

I know I don't want to hide the beautiful stone and brick.

Through the kitchen window
during the days of rain 2012

In the backyard, in the east garden full of sunny perennials, our little magical one Alchemilla mollis 'Lady's Mantle' is crowding into it's neighbour, Knautia macedonica. Plenty of room for the monarda to spread it's pretty pinkness.
Another rolling stone container.
A weed.
My spade.
Some of those irises I transplanted last year.

Niobe, clematis
planted in the summer of 2011
in her first real year
vining along fine

hostas, lobelia in the tulip pot, Morden Blush, Wargrave's Pink
west side garden
30 May 2012

striptease oooh la laa

hosta 'Striptease'
living in a pot
on our deck

West Side Garden 15 May 2012

Along the west side of the house (once home to horrible little pebbles) is coming up with colourful perennials planted late last summer. Everybody is returning as imagined, healthy but small. In addition to Campanula (Bell Flowers) and Sweet Woodruff are: 

Astilbe x arendsii
False Spirea
'Fanal'

Aruncus aethusifolius
Dwarf Goat's Beard

foam flower 'Black Snowflake'

Tiarella

Saxifragaceae

transplanted divided irises
hardy geranium endressii
'Wargrave's Pink'
hosta

hosta May 15

Morden Blush
Parkland  Rose
still so small :)

Dear Garden Diary,

Today is a foggy, autumn day in Thunder Bay.
All the leaves that were on the trees last week are now blanketing our garden, the streets, and sidewalks - I hear people crunching by as I type with mittens up above on this lovely balcony.

Below me, the front garden is on fire with colour. The cotoneaster is a rainbow of reds, oranges, and green - with little black berries speckled all over.
The elder is a popping shade of lime with other greens of hostas and lungwort - even the yellowed, hostas add some flare to the canvas.

In the backyard, the sumac is also wildly aglow.

a tree in the churchyard below
across the street

This year it seems Autumn has been particularly vibrant and long lasting. The colours everywhere are incredible - I'm happy I've enjoyed so much, soaking it all in from my balcony perches, trail rides, Sunday drives, and tree farms.

a Sunday drive on the Sleeping Giant
to Silver Islet in September

hosta garden I

 hostas in the front garden, 9 June 2011

Aquilegia vulgaris Purple & White
Common  Columbine, Granny's Nightcap

In the front garden...

New additions include 'Fairytale Pink' Daylily, 'Foxy Dwarf' Foxglove, Yellow Foxglove, a couple of Japanese Anemone's (Anemone bupehensis), 'Electric Lime' Heuchera x 2, and on the west side of the steps, replacing the Rudbeckia which didn't come back: 'Paul's Glory' hosta - huge, mature, and lush. :)

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