What's Blooming!

May 4, 2010 - The first of the tulips to come out! These are called 'Apricot Beauties' and were a house-warming gift from our former neighbour, Michelle. This is the third spring for them. I understand that some people pull the tulips out after they bloom and start with fresh ones in the fall. I just leave mine in the ground and let them rebloom each year.

The muscari is in full bloom this week. I cut some and made a little mini-bouquet for the house. I just love this flower!

I was quite pleased to see the little fringes along the edges of these petals. These tulips are appropriately named 'Fringed Elegance.'

These 'Yellow Emperor' tulips are a little brighter shade of yellow and a bit taller.

Except for the 'Apricot Beauties', I ordered all the tulips from Breck's. I've forgotten what they all look like, so it's fun to watch them open.

Finished Planting the Front Beds

May 2, 2010 - I added the dwarf burning bush and mock orange to the front today. Not that you can really see it in the picture. I'm hoping I didn't plant too much in here, but I'm told that I can prune everything to the size I want.

I know nothing about shrubs so this will be a learning experience for me! I can't wait to see what this will look like in a few months.

This is the other side of our front steps, and the limestone path that we put in last fall. I planted some ground covers in between the rocks, which are meant to be able to withstand some foot traffic - wooley thyme and Irish moss.

I'm hoping to have hostas all along the right side of the walk, and maybe some ferns to break it up. I'm hoping it will be a nice contrast tot he bleeding hearts and monkshood on the left side of the path. So far I have about seven hostas there, a 'Lancifloria', a 'Longissimo', two 'First Frosts', two 'Wide Brims' and an unknown variety that my friend, Karen, gave me.

Pasque Flower

April 30, 2010 - The pasque flowers are in lovely shape today. I hadn't seen one of these plants before, but the former owners of our home left two of them on the property. They are also known as 'pulsatilla vulgaris' which seems a kind of ugly name for such a lovely flower!

My brother, who lives in Manitoba, told me they are called 'Prairie Crocuses' there and are actually the provincial flower of Manitoba.

I really look forward to these every spring. I love their fuzzy little parts, just beneath the flowers.

Saving Perennials from the Contractors

Saturday, April 24, 2010 - My great friend, Brenda, and I went to see what perennials we could save from the renovations going on at her new home. She and her husband are having an addition put on their home and some of the existing gardens may be trampled or worse.

We located a bed that a former owner had, at one time lovingly cared for, but that had become neglected and badly overgrown with weeds, during a rentors tenure. We found many old iris rhizomes, many of which were growing into each other for lack of space, with the roots of periwinkle vines tangling through and wrapping themselves around. We were able to save young rhizomes and good sections of the periwinkle. We also found some wonderful lungwort and muscari growing. We moved some of the plants to a safe place in her grass and others to my garden, where I will tend to it until Brenda is ready for it. Great mounds of large yellow daffodils were transplated, in their clumps, were also transplated.

The best part is I get to keep some for my own garden. (Thanks Brenda!)

Bluebells, Daffodils and Other Spring Delights (April 2010)

April 4, 2010 - These little scillas (also called bluebells or squills - I never know which is the common name) came up in the clumps of larger perennials given to me by my friend, Rita. They are sweet and delightful little things. I see more of them coming up everyday.

I only have one of these, and I identified it from my perennial book as a puschkinia (or striped squill). According to my book it's a 'close relative of the bluebell and it's strange that it's so rarely seen'. It sprung up in a clump of fall asters, given to me by my friend. I'm curious to see if it will multiply for next spring. It's about four inches tall, about the same as the scillas.

At first I thought this was a scilla, until I noticed that there was only one flower on each stalk, as opposed to several, as the scillas have.

April 14, 2010 - My daffodils came up today. I don't know what variety they are - I bought them through mail order in a bulk pack. They are gorgeous and seem invisible to the squirrels and rabbits. They bloom for a very long time.

On April 20 I noticed that there is a white scilla hiding among the blue ones! These two came up (again as a surprize) in a little clump of daylilies that was a gift from Rita last fall.

Crocuses (March/April 2010)

March 25, 2010 - The first blooms of 2010. They are my 'Delft Blue' crocuses. We had a very early spring (three weeks earlier than last year).

The slightly paler, 'Remembrance' crocus, came into bloom just a fews days later.

April 15, 2010 - These pint-sized beauties, 'Prince Klaus', were quite a surprize to me, as I didn't realize they would be miniature crocuses when I ordered the bulbs. They look great in little clumps with their white centres and a touch of purple on their outer leaves.

2009 - Garden Pictures

My pride and joy - the back border in July of 2009. It's meant to be as much of a 'cottage garden' garden as I can make it, and for me, that means large clumps of colour and kind of messy but organized at the same time. It still needs to fill in the empty spaces, but it's getting there. In here I have shasta daisies, phlox, daylilies, irises, peonies, coneflowers, evening primrose, sweet Williams and many others. I'll post all the things as they come out in the 2010 part of my blog.

The pool border at the end of July. Sweet Williams, evening primrose, lavander, purple coneflower and fall asters live here.

The little backstep garden, near the end of the summer. 'Catherine Woodbury' and 'Pandora's Box' daylilies, scabiosa, and 'rose campion' lychnis.

The front bed, planted up with hostas, delphinium, bleeding heart and monkshood. This garden is mostly in the shade.

2008 - First Summer: Getting Started

Removing the river stone and a couple of the cedars.

Planted up with some hostas.

Wonderful gift of perennials given to me by my wonderful friend, Rita.

Expanding the garden, with Rita's gifts and a trunkload of perennials from good friends, the Bells (no photo of them before planting).

Back perennial border finished for 2008.

Border built around the outside of the pool.

Little back-step garden, after the deck was rebuilt. Many of the perennials left by the former owners were returned to this bed. Others moved to better places elsewhere on the property.

2007 - When We Moved In

When we moved into our home in the late summer of 2007, this was the only garden with perennials on the property. There were some lovely plants in here (bugle flower, scabiosa, pearl everlasting, and a pair of gorgeous pasque flowers). We rebuilt this deck in 2008 and most of these plants have been moved elsewhere on the property into new beds.

This is the bed at the front of the house when we moved in.

The beginning of my back border:  That first fall, I started making a perennial bed along the back of the yard. I planted a climbing hardy rose (the Explorer series 'John Cabot', a peony, and a couple of 'Neon Blaze' spireas.  My plan was to increase it bit by bit over the next five years, so that eventually it would go across the width of the backyard.   As you can see, if you check the photos from 2009, it only took two years, thanks to friends who gave me many perennials.