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Tuesday, 21 February 2023

So what's the plan ?

 I say to myself every winter not to go overboard on ordering a few plants ! why don't I listen to myself ? It has to be a mixture of things that drives me to distraction, and my mind's eye, my garden brain THINKS it sees how beautiful it could be with these additions. It doesn't really plan how to handle spacing, it never does, but especially when I am not literally in the garden to see that I must be crazy to keep doing what I do EVERY winter. So for the record this is the some what nebulous plan ?

Botantus : "Snowy Morning" Martagon lily   This is not my own photo but wow it is gorgeous !

I have a thing for hits of white in the gardens, also I think this is the first pure white Martagon I have seen offered. I know it will take years for it to really come into it's own. Fingers crossed I will see it happen.

Desert Icicle day lily .. This one I already have experience with and loved it so much I needed to multiply it as soon as possible .. I am greedy with this plant or is that need for instant satisfaction ? This is my own photo, this plant is so photogenic it probably made me love it even more.


Helenium "Sahin's Early"  I absolutely fell in love with this plant years ago. It was everything I thought Autumn was about with the colours the flowers displayed. They brightened up the garden so much for late summer early Fall. Plus .. again so photogenic ! This is my own photo (I forgot to water mark it) from years ago nd yet every time I look it is fascinating to me . 

So far it doesn't seem like much right ? ...

Vesey :
I'm trying one more time with "Millenium Allium" I tried last summer when they were on sale .. out of the 5 ? not one worked .. so I was totally disappointed. Vesey was great though .. they gave me credit.
But I really want to grow these (I have loads of other allium ) I need to know I can grow this cutey !
Not my photo .. Proven Winners 
Crocosmia "Saffron Fire" I have never grown this plant before but this range of colours really grabbed my attention for the late summer early Fall season . I love the Fall, so these colours are a favorite .
This is a Vesey photo

Sunny Days mix Cosmos is following the same colour palette .. direct sow can be tricky but most Cosmos are fairly hardy ..  This is a Vesey photo.
I'm going to try and do a large pot with tepee type poles, to grow some sweet peas, the flowers are so pretty and what can beat that scent ? It will be on the deck so we can appreciate the colours and scent.Maybe it can attract a few hummingbirds and butterflies hopefully ?
Royal Family mix  ... Vesey photo
I know most of these are rather humdrum and register a few yawns no doubt , but I already have done years of chasing down "special" plants, now I'm just picking what appeals to me for this year.

Brecks
"Cool It" Reblooming daylily .. another hit of white again to calm things down against other colours.
Brecks photo
So there is my part of a plan ? ... I almost ... sort of ? .. have an idea where they would go .. almost.
Another new addition are new garden boots .. these are kind of special because it is a brand I didn't think I would ever get any because the prices are  .. NUTS !

However .. while strolling through Zulily one day ... I found these for around $37 compared to $95
joules.com
The snaps on the back are great .. keeps the top from flapping around .. the bee theme is perfect and having a bee on my toe just makes me grin big time.
A proper pair of "wellies" for gardening !







 


Monday, 7 November 2022

Last colour parade .. I think ?

Upper photo "Waterfall"
Bottom photo is "Fothergilla gardenii"
Hydrangea "Berry White"

This bottom photo is "Deft Lace" astilbe hybrid , I have never seen it transition to these colours before.

Neighbor's tree
Neighbor's tree
My Pacific Sunset Maple


The weather has been unusually good so the girls get to sniff out door air for a while longer.


Wednesday, 19 October 2022

Autumn Flashes

Autumn is just about my favorite time of year .. I have to give leeway to Spring when the garden wakes up .. but the garden going to sleep is a beautiful event as well. You watch for specific plants .. such as Kirengeshoma palmata  aka Korean Yellow Wax Bell . Asters , the ones I have shock me with that impossible vivid blue. Sadly ? it is in the wrong spot, not enough sun but it stubbornly hangs on to life where it is and I don't have the heart to try and transplant it because I worry it will die on me.

Foliage coloring right now is slow but sure .. 

Anemone ... tall and wild looking.
Goldenrod that I keep in check ... I have pinched back a number of times so that it will bloom with a wide, multi-head, much later than normal. It gives the pollinators that needed jolt at the end of the season. Funny enough I would never have thought of this plant in my garden years ago, when it was all about collecting cultivars of groomed plants. I now am committed to giving what I can to the pollinators. 
Who would not think of sedum in the Fall ?
Tricyrtis formosana aka Toad Lily. I have two types in the garden .They look like a type of orchid to me, yet survive our Canadian winters, you have to love that !
The top plant takes a cluster form, as it flowers . While the bottom one flowers up the spine of the foliage.
I randomly was picking up leaves and kept going with some rose hips, a rose, and rosemary.
A little "branchling" ? with at least four stages of leaves in flux with coloring and seed heads. It comes from "The Mother of All Trees"  aka Pacific Sunset maple, in our back garden. She is a beauty but is battling "Black Tar Spot" ... you don't see it until the Autumn .. it doesn't harm the tree, but it is ugly. So I try to capture unmarked leaves to save.
The light in early morning or late afternoon can be so exquisite against leaves. This is Autumn Brilliance serviceberry that has beautiful white flowers in Spring then followed by berries, which the birds feast on.
I can't seem to get to the bottom of this photo to post any more ... I guess there is a first time for everything ?