The Evil Twin...

After many hours of work pulling out the bell shaped flowers, I decided to research a little further found here: http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/07/26/campanula-rapunculoides-the-evil-twin/ that the flowers could also be something much worse... they could be the non-native and invasive creeping bellflower (campanula rapunculoides)... the Ontario Wildflowers database listed them as native, but I think that they are mistaken...

In order to ascertain the identity of these misbehaving flowers I needed to find a way to differentiate between the similar species so I found this:

http://www.examiner.com/article/adenophora-and-its-evil-twin-revisited

"gardeners can identify their plants by taking a flower and gently pulling off the petals, leaving the style standing in the center. You will be left holding the base of the flower with a bumpy appendage (the ovary) in the middle and the style sticking straight up out of the center. VERY CAREFULLY peel off the outside of the bumpy appendage, leaving the style standing. If underneath, all you see is a flat base to which the style is attached, then you have a Campanula. If, however, you see, after the peeling, another bulb-like appendage surrounding the style, then you have an Adenophora."

So I went to work dissecting some flowers:

dome shape at bottom of stamen...

dome removed...

is this flat or bulb like?

nature is beautify close up...

Lady Bells or what?...

I was starting to rethink the identification of this plant... I was told by some old people that it was a foxglove digitalis... so I have tried to pull it out over the years so the dogs or wandering babies don't eat it and die...

This year I decided not to care about dogs and babies and let it grow in... after seeing its true form, I didn't think it was in fact a digitalis species... 

I was going to call upon more minds to help identify it but I just decided to search the shape of the flower, a bell, and found this: http://ontariowildflowers.com/main/species.php?id=241

It a creeping bell flower and its an Ontario native wildflower! Woooooooo!

But then I realized nature is twisted! It could also be the almost identical, and aptly named Adenophora confusa or lady bells... Damn...

So without thinking I got drastic and I spent a couple hours pulling the lady bells out of the garden... digging up the rhizomes and network of tubers is very labour intensive... and I know I didn't get it all because I had to be carefull digging so close to all the other plants, especially the sugar maple sapling... if I wanted it gone it would be next to impossible as its quite pervasive, spreading mostly through theses rhizomes...

The Summer Solstice

It's the first Day of Summer 2012, and the birds are singing!!

"Great Spirit, Creator of All, we come to celebrate with our hearts, with our souls as we experience and inhale deeply this alignment of the Eternal Flame of Above with the souls of all.
We pray that as our Mother Earth aligns with Father Sun that our collective shift to change our worlds fill with the Eternal Flame of Love to grant us the gift of wisdom as we await the harvest of our working days."

the honey bees working their magic on the staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) pollen...

a lady bug hunts for aphids on the tall tickseed (Coreopsis tripteris)...

as the summer sun begins to shine,

the scarlet runner beans begin to take off for the sky...

Pests!

worms eating the sumacs!

aphids eating the wildflowers!

earwigs and slugs eating the veggies!!

BUGS BUGS EVERYWHERE!!

Progress all around...

western bleeding heart (dicentra formosa 'luxuriant') blooms in the memorial garden... unlike the common bleeding heart, this species blooms for the whole season...

the secret garden is lush and alive... next year I am going to try to add some flowers that bloom in may and june to complement the greenery of the later blooming flowers...

the dogs enjoy the greenery as they play in the yard...

the 2nd year of the front xeriscape garden has been successful thus far despite very low precipitation... 

newly planted smooth asters (symphyotrichum laeve) getting off to slow but steady start among the feather reed grass (calamagrostis x acutiflora 'karl foerster')

 more black eyed susan vines (thumbergia alata) to go up the front trellis...

the view from my bay window... lush and beautiful...

The Life force is strong...

the white flower clusters of the diabolo ninebark (physocarpus opulifolius 'Monlo')...

the native shrub eastern ninebark (physocarpus opulifolius) was planted amongst the Yarrow (achillea millefolium) and in front of the purple foliage 'diablo' variety...

wild bergamot (monarda fistulosa)...

this unknown shrub that came with the house puts on a spectacular display of flowers... the insects love them!

the eco-lawn and white clover pathways...

I was sold a misidentified native flower this year... what I thought was a sweet oxeye (heliopsis helianthoides), was in fact a late figwort (scrophularia marilandica), a interesting yet generally ugly and smelly plant... I was not impressed!

the transplanted hostas with the unnamed goldenrod species behind them... 

the black eyed susan vine (thumbergia alata) that I grew from seed has been planted at the base of the dead oak sapling...

several clumps of indian grass (sorghastrum nutans) were planted beside the goldenrod (solidago canadensis)

the purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) are just about ready to bloom...

the flower clusters of the staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) are just about to bloom as well...

I built a trellis along the porch for the dutchmans pipe (aristolochia macrophylla) to grow on...

the clematis 'MultiBlue' are still blooming...

Garden Sanctuary...

On garden path, in sheltering hedge,

In treetops dark and cloudless sky, 

The evening birds awake to life, 

To stir; to sing and upward fly.

And flowers, warm with summer heat, 

Expand to greet the softened light 

And shed, to show their gratitude, 

A fragrance in the summer night. 

Now all is peace...

-EDWIN W. PROCTOR

the square foot veggie garden is coming along... 

the carrots have sprouted!

every one of the scarlet runner beans planted has sprouted and is filling in the garden box very fast... 

the hops plant is growing much better with a little help from some hemp string...

the "secret garden" is really filling out... more staghorn sumacs (Rhus typhina) were planted along the fence to shade out the invasive buckthorns on my neighbour's property... purple coneflowers were transplanted to contrast the black eyed susans, day lilies, and foxglove...

the new eco-green grass path is coming along nicely... the transplanted hostas are already getting sunburned... i will most likely move them next year to a shadier spot...

a trellis was made to help the virgins bower (clematis virginiana), a native vine added under the black walnut tree...

this is an experiment this with the goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), as the plants to the left had been trimmed down, while the ones on the right had not... shorter and bushier!

the newly planted native stiff goldenrod (solidago rigida)...

the holes left behind by the transplanted coneflowers were filled with more black eyed susans so both sides of the birdbath will have a pleasing purple and yellow contrast...

so many growing days ahead... its just so nice to be in the garden...