Amy's Garden

Tuesday, May 15, 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 :)

Being Backyardovich 15 May 2012

The backyard's east garden is coming up nicely this year. Feeling a lot more organized now with the dedicated vegetable garden, I'm thinking about containers for contrast and annual additions.

Asiatic Lilies

Baby Millar's Lady's Mantle

Irises under the Lilac

Monarda, Bee Balm

Rhododendron and Mugo Pine

Sedum Autumn Fire

Weigela 'Red Prince'

hot yoga

Seeking shade at the back under the shade cloth.

Greenhouse work is kind like doing hot yoga all day.

Rhodochiton (Lophospermum)
in the front porch
reaching toward the Green Man.

I'm not sure if I'm going to plant this vigorous climber in the ground along the east fence - the middle trellis is empty, and I haven't yet decided on a permanent perennial climber for the space, so I might just leave it to play with interesting annuals.

Maybe I'll plant a number of them and just watch them grow.

Inter & Companion Planting the Edible Garden

Trending now is a new generation of back-to-the-land gardeners reviving and reinventing a very old concept in gardening: interplanting home-grown vegetables and herbs with flowers to make the most of urban spaces. Area gardeners are creating spaces where families can retreat, eat, educate, and entertain. Thunder Bay is becoming a city where back lanes are grazing grounds, where neighbours plant seeds, ideas grow, and biodiversity is the aesthetic consideration of our backyard gardens.

Filled with healthy plants that provide both beauty and abundance, there is an ever increasing interest in edible gardens, whether in a backyard, a community plot, or on a balcony. No matter the size – edibles are everywhere. People are growing tomatoes and peppers upside down from balconies, or on them: herbs and peas in pots combined with favourite annual petunias, calibrachoa, edible pansies and marigolds. This is inspiring; the possibilities are endless.

Companion planting in the eco-friendly garden understands the symbiotic relationships between the plant species, and with pollinators. The ways in which opposites attract in the garden can be used to establish beneficial habitats: sun lovers provide shade for those who require it, nitrogen fixing plants can be paired with heavy feeders to balance soil nutrient, and deep rooted plants together with those with shallow roots can work together in the same space.

Attracting pollinators and beneficial insects by planting their favourites, which in the Thunder Bay area include beautiful, hardy deciduous shrubs such as hydrangeas or weigela, perennial cornflowers (bachelor buttons) and coneflowers (echinacea ), monarda (bee balm), sedum, and veronica – these and other plants with high nectar concentrations will draw in helpful hummingbirds , bees, and bats. Herb plants, such as coriander, dill, and parsley not only complete a kitchen garden, but are all the preference of beneficial bugs.

The same works for deterring unwanted visitors; if you want to keep aphids from your roses or lupins try interplanting garlic, which also helps to prevent fungal diseases. Hardy area roses such as those in the Explorer Series, Mordens, or Rugosas attract pollinating bees and butterflies to vegetable crops while their intoxicating scent fills a backyard with home grown aromatherapy.

Prevention as pest control can be easily achieved both in containers or garden beds. Interplanted sage, calendula (pot marigold), mint, and geraniums repel pests through summer, while migratory birds are lured by late fruit bearing shrubs and trees. Here, a pesky mosquito problem can be taken care of with the inclusion of a bat house in the garden. Bats are active members of the garden ecosystem and also work to pollinate fruits trees, tender annuals, and disperse seeds.

Understanding soil composition is a good preventative step, and helps to simplify the process of soil building. By topping up and amending we improve soil nutritional quality; plants grow strong, more resistant to harmful insects, and produce more flowers and fruit. Supplements such as bone and blood meal, NPK compounds (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium), and by replenishing mulch will provide the balanced nutrients for plants to bloom profusely, and produce large yields. Choosing appropriate plant type fertilizers saves valuable energy and improves the efficiency of the garden.

Our Boreal climate, with its many shifts in temperature, allows us optimal chances to observe seasonal blooms: through our long (often confusing) spring time weather, tolerating the heat of July becoming lush in August lasting through October. By designing environments which are diverse, stable, and have the resilience of natural ecosystems, our garden spaces will thrive and require less intervention.

printed in:

May 2012 Home & Garden flyer

distributed by the Chronicle Journal

Sunday, 13 May 2012

Friday, May 11, 2012

Good Morning Glory

Ipomoea

I. tricolor

Heavenly Blue

Morning Glory

My grandmother, Frances Mulcahy, grew morning glories - my mother remembers them. I'll plant them on the middle trellis this year - while I decide a more permanent resident for the spot (or, keep it for annual vines?)

Red Admiral

Red Admiral
butterfly
VANESSA ATLANTA

A beneficial garden (in this case, greenhouse) bug, Red Admiral feasts on the sweet nectar of fruit trees and plants. Migratory, and common in the northern hemisphere, these pretty little pollinators are making news all over Ontario this spring, arriving earlier than recent years, and in great numbers. A sign that summer is right around the corner.

Red Admiral
on Giant Bacopa
at Bill Martin's Garden Centre

take a deep breath and hold

A woman recently commented on my photography, telling me I needed to stand still while I take photos - too much blur I guess, many errors in stitching...
I gave her the side eye as she walked away, thinking:

I've wondered ever since how often she's held her breath until she nearly faints, holding a weighty DSLR focused on a bloom while standing on one awkward foot waiting for that bumble bee to return to the lens. I should let it go. Ignorance is a funny thing..., I really try not to judge people, make assumptions - we all do it, human nature, but really...Where's the respect?

I guess not considered is that all of these greenhouse panos taken this year have been 'on the job' - while I work, becoming overwhelmed by the sight of the greenhouse (no different than most customers) - I stop, and take a photograph...mostly so that I can 'breath it all in' later (Honda Wanda), but also to share and show off what a beautiful thing I've helped create.
I often have a hose in one hand while I take these, quickly shooting before someone walks though the scene. I've dared to go up on ladders (as my fear of heights causes hand sweats and feet aches).. I think I've done pretty damn good (getting better) at the process involved in taking the right photos at the right angles with the right exposure in order to stretch the greenhouse properly, with as little warping, errors, and blur. Not an easy photographic task..., but fun, challenging, and fulfilling for my creative junkie self.

It's true. I've nearly fainted in the garden doing some sort of Karate Kid yoga on a rock, holding my breath to keep my camera still - many times. Some things just can't be done with a tripod - food photography for instance...lots of breath holding there.

I understand that some people just don't understand. What. ever.

This, this is what was going through my head the whole time she spoke to me about standing still. Then I picked up my hose and flipflopped back to where I had left off watering.

frontyardovich morning 11 May 2012

Pulmonaria officinalis
Lungwort

It dazzles me every year. One of the first to bloom, it starts every garden season with fantastic camera fodder. I probably have more photos of this plant than any other.

Also returning happily are cornflowers

astilbes

and St. John's Wort

The ferns too, of course - which R wants to thin and give away (Gerry's garden?) which will allow some space for me to add some wackydoodle plants I've been eyeing at the greenhouse, high maintenance things like Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' (Red Banana), & Colocasia esculenta (Elephant Ear) ('Black Magic' and another baby leaf one)...so interesting.. :)

They'll have to be lifted before the frost returns and stored in the cellar for the winter. I've been generally lazy about this sort of gardening in the past, but I'm ready to commit.

Colocasia esculenta 'Black Beauty' & Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Rhodochiton "Purple Bells"

I think I love you...

interesting information:
Horticultural & Botanical History, Rhodochiton atrosanguineum

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Lemony

Lemon verbena, double lemon calibrachoa, "Pink Lemonade" petunias, "Lemon Symphony" osteospermum..., there are more lemony plants, and I'm going to collect them all for a while I think. Most of this year's containers seem to be coming up lemon.

Some people come into the greenhouse so organized: with lists & tags, and knowing exactly what they want. I can't say I don't have lists (in my head mostly) or tags (in bags on my desk), or any plan....
The possibilities are endless though, and until I run out of pots and space the deciding and planning continues. I know that I develop spontaneous relationships with blooms I never expected to even like (especially petunias, and zonal geraniums); and though I like to think I'm not a theme type of gardener, I do it all the time - fairytales and literary influences, fruit flavoured Daylilies, colours, and now lemons.