Foliage Followers Flock : ) Thanks Jodi !

I had to join in with Jodi The Blooming Writer .. on the assets of foliage in your garden .. well heck ! in your pots as well really : )
I am a foliage fan fanatic .. flowers are nice but they pass along fairly quickly .. foliage on the other hand sticks by you until the bitter end of the season .. most times .. and you have to respect that don't you ?
Here you see a monster Bittersweet vine that has eaten its arbor up .. but wow .. talk about green on green and the scent it had this year was totally amazing : )
Yes .. there are some flowers there .. bulbs .. Alliums of the larger kind coming to an end with the Bulb Circle .. it was gorgeous but now the work horse of the garden "FOLIAGE" has taken over !
I have indulged my cravings with acquiring different brunnera, heuchera and heucherella all soft spots for me .. plus my first ever pulmonaria "Moonshine" ..

Yes Korean Yellow Wax Bells .. meadowsweet, campanula, hosta, heuchera, tiarella, lily .. it is one heck of a mix and I love the utter foliage chaos !

Now for something completely different ?

Echeveria 'Perle Von Nurnberg' .. how "foliage" can you get ? it is too beautiful to believe isn't it ?

Provence lavender (not in bloom .. see ? .. but still lovely) paired with hosta-in-a-pot !

Fennel and dwarf dill .. parsley flat leaf and curly ... Pineapple sage with that magical scent of pineapple !! not seen is the chocolate mint which smells exactly like chocolate MINT !

OK .. a euphorbia .. maybe Diamond Frost .. it wasn't on the tag .. but it edged its way in ;-)

Here we have the mix and match and mismatched and what ever !

I love the jumble with NO rules !

Hopefully I have left room for growth and they will smile at me next year even larger than life !

Bittersweet to the end ?

OOPS !!! ... Niobe was just so beautiful I had to sneak her in for the finale ? : )

Foliage does it for me .. with a dotting of flowers .. but it is the way of the foliage that is the backbone of my garden no question about that !

Jodi .. I will let you know about my Colourflash astilbe !!

Shadow Shot Sunday

This is truly in the "shadows" folks. My shady garden has been getting shadier even as I type here. The morning sun that it gets is magical and so appreciated : ) The shade is even more appreciated lately because of the record high temperatures and humidity that we are famous for here in Ontario by the lakes. The birds have great use of our meager birdbath and wonderful use of the drop in temperature in the shade .. it can be astounding !

Tracy from Hey Harriet is the upside down ? hostess : ) of this meme .. I say upside down because being so south of us she is in the opposite season and I'm thinking that is a "good" place to be right now ?? wink wink

The Shadier Side

I am using the shadier side of the "force" to which I am totally drawn to.
A large Crimson King Maple shelters the front garden from harsh sunlight .. he is a generous tree and we love him for that kindness .. as do the wee plants underneath.
The mix of colours follows NO colour chart.
Two things I ignore .. colour charts for planting and trying to make an outdoor space like an indoor one.
I blows my cork when I see pictures of "living room" type furniture along with fireplaces and gigantic BBQ units .. why do you bother going outside ? why mask what should be a beautiful and NATURAL setting ?
OK . I just stepped down from my soap box .. I think .. for now ?
Greens .. lots of different greens not only look lush but so cool and fresh : )

Do you remember "Colour Flash" Astilbe that turned amazing shades of red last Autumn ? Well here it is in soothing green still, making friends with that BIG hosta in the above picture ..

Then I have to push the button .. the STOP button and fire in some "in your face" bright colour to shake you

up and stop that snoring ? wink wink with the below picture .. Stoplight heucherella makes you look twice ? .. and with that blue and rippled texture .. well it is DIFFERENT ;-)

My Monet weigela is very fond of this hosta .. it just has to reach out and touch it .. I think it has a crush on it actually .. I wonder what kind of a cross breeding plant that would make ?

Now here is the other side with dwarf goatsbeard .. Korean Dwarf Goatsbeard .. and this little guy turns amazing colours in the Autumn too .. am I obsessed with Autumn do you think ? ;-)

This is just plain gorgeous and cool to look at .. take a five minute break staring at hosta Guacamole .. she is a gorgeous creature that exudes COOL vibrations ?

Now for some brighter light and colours .. and Halcyon hosta plays foil to Lime Ricky .. I think they have a "thing" for each other in fact ! .. again my thoughts are .. cross breeding and what would these plant kids look like ? wink wink

Lamium ... Ostrich fern leaf ? and Marmalade heuchera make a great trio in the shared space between houses.

Now look at how this astilbe horned in on this photo op .. a little of the Gold Creeping Jenny thought to do the same as well .. plants .. they do have egos don't they ?

Then another creeping ground cover said to itself "why are they having all the fun .. let me in too!"

Ornamental Kiwi vine .. do you think I could find another one this year ? NOPE !! Darn it all !!

This one was moved from the back garden to the shared space on my arbor gate and it is looking awesome this year with great splashes of silver white on its leaves and ...

... and ... that part is coming ... but in the mean time another shot of that brilliant silver WHITE !

A secret world lays underneath those leaves .... something that most people of the non gardening nature might miss ?

Tiny gorgeous flowers in its own shady world under the shielding leaves .. I stood under the arbor and was amazed how cool and beautiful it was and those little flowers were awesome !

Back into the stark BRIGHT light and Chardonnay Pearls Duetzia has opened those pearls to become star like flowers : )

OK .. I had to do one last sneak peak into the shadier side .. rather ironic to have a lantern there isn't it ?

More ironic that it is a solar light that isn't really getting to charge .. but .. it looks nice with the others there.

Why shake up a good thing ? : )

Soft Flowing Garden .. before the HEAT

These pictures are from May 23rd .. I have to play catch up because I have been working so hard in the garden trying to maintain a semblance of order ? HA ! .. it is more like a war on those horrid creatures called aphids .. and jungle heat/humidity that has broken records in Ontario .. Therefore even without rain .. the garden is leaping forward so much and so quickly it is hard to rein it in even with a whip and chair !
There hasn't been dramatic morning skies .. although the clouds have been a bit interesting ?
... and I did catch this sea gull .. ironic eh ? .. we are on a lake and we have sea gulls ?
It does make a beautiful line in the sky though .. you can almost feel that soar he/she? is riding.

Simple scene with low flowing, almost behaving, plant kids .. and my favorite antique looking ? bird bath that really isn't a bird bath .. a wanna' be bird bath perhaps ?

There is an assortment of heuchera, brunnera, ferns, astilbe, and so on .. I love the mix of it all.

The variegated Solomon's Seal has taken a few years to look this good and I love it to bits ..

I think my Meditation Buddah appreciates the "calm" plantings around him ?

The spiky grass is actually Northern Lights .. I am hoping to see beautiful colours from it this Autumn. I have another Jack frost in this area .. I can't get enough of him ? ;-)

Dale's Strain heuchera is also happy , so far in this group .. along with Japanese forest grass of course !

My Bittersweet vine is amazing .. it takes hard work to keep it in order .. but when I was trimming it a couple of days ago .. well the fragrance was awesome ! .. and .. by some stroke of luck with all of the bees around, I did NOT get stung .. for which I am truly grateful : )

The Cotoneaster close to it, is also loaded with opening blooms and anxious bees with other insects .. you have to admit I have a smorgasbord here for them all ?

Yes .. the mystery ball is there ;-)

This is Lady in Red fern .. it is held upright by way of a peony hoop .. it gets so large that it will form a waterfall affect and has lovely red stems .. one of my favorite ferns along with the different Japanese Painted ones.

My cat is hidden in the Lady's Mantle .. and again with the Jack Frost .. a beautiful Spirea, a Geum, some baby heuchera .. I finally had to spilt Silver Scrolls but I don't know how well it is coming back .. it was my first love in the heuchera family ..

Then just a simple setting of Provence lavender in the long planter and this lovely hosta.

I don't know why I haven't used more perennials on the deck or step .. they are beautiful and you certainly can plant them in the garden come Autumn .. I wonder how my brain manages to work some days ?

My beloved Halloween Tree aka Stag Horn Sumac is branching out beautifully .. I can almost see those amazing colours in my mind's eye even now ? .. it is only about 156 days until HALLOWEEN !!!

OK .. I have calmed down .. and we can have a chat about garden art now .. well .. about this piece of gorgeous metal .. I found it a few years ago at my favorite garden art store known as Home Sense .. but .. since we are actually getting a LOWES store here in Kingston .. I think there will be more competition for my garden art lust ? wink wink

"Pudder" insisted that he should be seen a little more often to reach the status for which the Boys in the Hood and Dave hold (poor Dave .. he is in dire need of plastering his crack .. cross your fingers that he doesn't collapse before I can get to that duty !!)

A calm easy post ... that was then .. the 23rd of May .... but a few days later ? .....eeeeekkkkk !

Shadow Shot Sunday & Plant Time ?

I am cheating here a little bit.
I do Shadow Shot Sunday on Saturday because we all know North America is behind a day from our friends down under.
That isn't the cheating part so much .. it is that I am showing off a gorgeous garden plant of mine while still illustrating shadows. I just had to get my garden in here some how !
This is Golden Spirit Smokebush .. even the name exudes a special quality .. almost mystical ?
This is the first year my baby is going to put out those amazing airy aka "smoke" flowers and I am so excited about it .. so I want to share that part.
The shadow part is beautiful to me as well .. its own leaves reflecting itself .. how perfect is that ?
Shadow Shot Sunday is hosted by a very funny gal .. I talking humorous people !
Tracy from Hey Harriet .. go on over and see all of us shadow people : )

Three unsuitable plants that get along ..some how ?

Sometimes buying a plant at an end of season sale is a gamble.
You can't resist the price and surely there is some space in your garden that is crying out for company .. thus the double edged sword of temptation .. you just have to buy the plant and figure out the rest when you get back home and stand looking at your garden with a totally blank expression , thinking where oh where are you going to live dear on sale plant of mine ?
That is what happened with "Polemonium reptans" Stairway to Heaven" .. Jacob's Ladder ;-)
I thought the variegation would be perfect in the shadier part of the garden and I didn't even think of the flowers at the time .. just the foliage was enough to nudge me into buying it.

So .. what happens when you combine it with Black Lace Sambucus and ....

Artemisia ludoviciana "Valerie Finnis" .. now isn't that a mouthful ? and she isn't even supposed to be in the shade .. I have trapped her there and I am sure she will have a temper tantrum some day and hold her breath until .. I can't even think about it !

They are gorgeous together .. whether they are right for each other is another story but in the mean time .. I will admire them happily : )

Now for something completely different ?

I bought an "earth globe" a gazing ball that has a special coating to absorb light and "glow" for a few hours at night .. snail liked the deep brilliant blue of it all and decided to keep it company ..

I love that sapphire ? like blue and it really perks up the interest factor when faced with so many pots to water ? .. You need some inspiration or is it motivation to water all of the kids on the deck .. that you were supposed to cut back on this year ? Go figure .. I do even more ? DUH ??

The Chronicles of Ms. Flame Amur Maple

This morning's sunrise was not exceptional but I had to take a picture because sometimes you need the unexceptional to compare the truly exceptional ?
I just gave myself a headache with such deep and perplexing thoughts ?
Shall we continue ?
Yes .. surprise, surprise a frog has entered the picture .. shocking , right ?
I'm really not a frog person .. right ?
Have you noticed his ball ? .. the one he is jumping from .. get your mind above the topsoil !

I think he has a crush on Ms. Flame .. he seems to want to jump up and kiss her ?
A switch in that old story finally ?

A quick inventory of what lays at her foot .. feet ?

Tiki Torch echinacea .. my heart did beat a little faster when I finally found that sucker !

Lucky Star echinacea .. I just plain never heard of that one before I spotted it !

.. drum roll for a fantastic looking annual grass .. variegated purple fountain grass !

Is that not a fantastic colour ?

To the left I have my huge purple flame miscanthus that is finally set free from the old lilac and I can't wait to see her in full unbound glory : ) after all .. I am an Autumn type of gal : )

Ms. Amur Maple Flame .. aka "Ms. Flame" is out doing herself in growth and finally blocking out my neighbor's house which sits right against our fence, I almost said face .. is that Freudian ? .. at least visually I will soon have some privacy .. I can't do anything about "that voice" aka "nails on chalkboard" type thing.

How gorgeous is that leaf structure ? .. I love her I love her I love her !!! .. yes .. I know .. that sounds rather odd .. again with the mind above topsoil please !!

The light filtering through the leaves show off beautiful red stems ..

The sun sparkles through her arms .. life is good : )