Back in the gardens...

May and June 2019

Front corner spireas

Front garden... new address rock

Back of pollinator garden

More hostas

Hops trellis 

New berm in pollinator garden

More hostas in shade of maple

Pollinator garden is becoming more shaded

Bird feeder was moved to pollinators garden

Garden edging layed down in pollinators garden

Suniest spot with native flowers

New sitting area

Filling in the gardens

The back 40 with new berms and hosta and a path to Narnia...

Pollinators garden

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul." - Alfred Austin

June 2018

Secret garden

My return to nature...

"When man will return to nature, nature will return to him."  

     Grigoris Deoudis

Despite no updates to this blog in several years, due to little or no free time and the stress of keeping this thing going after the fact, life did go on in my gardens...

It's time to stop procrastinating, and instead of worrying about getting the last 3 years happenings up to date, I'm going to just start posting again here in 2016.

Anyways, I have some garden projects coming this year, after very little change last year. I am adding a native shade garden to the previously unused low/wet corner, and I am trying to make more comfortable seating within the gardens to relax in. I am also adding more gardens here and there to help soften the harsh lines of fences etc.

In the last couple years a lot of garden/lawn has been allocated to wood structures including a woodshed, a children's play structure and a playhouse. The yard seems a lot more full, and that means the chance of it feeling cluttered may be a problem.

A pondless water fountain with a bubbling rock added in 2013, will be be transformed into a marginal plant bog, with species of taro, cyperus etc...

Beside these projects, I will continue to divide and move established native plants to maximize habitat for insects and birds...

It's good to be back...

Trilliums as far as the eye could see...

at the property of the Acorus Restoration Native Plant Nursery, the trilliums (trillium grandiflorum) growing in the greatest numbers I have ever seen... we walked for what seem like forever under the leafless hardwoods and amongst the mayapples (podophyllum peltatum)...

Meanwhile, in my garden...

one of the first plants to sprout in my garden is the many hosta species...

but the hostas in this location were given too much sun last year so they shall be moved...

some holes were dug in a shaded location under the black walnut tree, Diabolo Ninebark (physocarpus opulifolius 'Monlo') and various other shrubs...

planted, mulched and watered...

First signs of spring...

"Wake," said the sunshine,

"And creep to the light."

"Wake," said the voice

Of the raindrops bright.

The little plant heard

And it rose to see,

What the wonderful,

Outside world might be.

in a local forest, new life is beginning to spring forth... Hepatica (hepatica americana), is one of the first wild flowers to sprout from the cold earth...

Native flowers by way of seed...

This is my garden, I'll plant it with care,

Here are the seeds I'll plant in there,

The sun will shine,

The rain will fall,

The seeds will sprout and grow up tall...

- unknown

I have decided to grow a bunch of native flowers by seed, but this time outside in small pots...

a mixture of potting soil and cow manure should get the ball rolling but also maintain water retention in these small pots...

fill the pots, drop the seed and wait...

it feels weird planting seeds this early in the year, but maybe the cool air and frosty nights will stimulate these native seeds to sprout...

Winter wonders...

if I look hard enough, there's beauty even in the winter...

on a cold and bitter winter day, ice crystals cling to the sugar maples high in the sky...

a wonderful contrast of azure blue and the whitest white...

Fall is upon us...

"Sweet summer is gone; they have laid her away, 

The last sad hours that were touched with her grace,

In the hush where the ghosts of the dead flowers play;

The sleep that is sweet of her slumbering space..."

 - Archibald Lampman

after a long dry growing season the last bits of colour fade away...

the first leaves from the sugar maples begin to carpet the garden...

the crimson tones of the virginia creeper (parthenocissus quinquefolia), the sedum 'Autumn Joy', and the staghorn sumac (rhus typhina) herald the coming winter with a final blast of colour... 

beautiful colours abound, yet I can't help but feel sad... the winter has become a cold and desolate concept to me since I began gardening... the long wait until spring always seems unbearable to endure...

The Apogee of Bloom...

September is often the peak of a garden, and despite this years low rainfall, my garden has not disappointed me...

the obedient plant (physostegia virginiana 'white crown') blooms under the tallest staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) in the memorial garden...

the scarlet runner beans (phaseolus coccineus) have been profusely blooming since late June .. each flower turns into an edible bean pod best eaten young... 

scarlet runner beans are ornamental vines that are not native to Ontario, but are treated as annuals for their easy growing, and edible nature... mine are clambering up hemp string tied to a bird feeder pole...

the new stiff goldenrod (solidago rigida) has done very well here... the leaves are a lot different than the typical goldenrod (solidago canadensis)...

while the flower clusters are similar in size, the flowers themselves are much bigger...

the brown eyed susan (rudbeckia hirta) grown from seed is a spectacular addition to my garden!

each flower shows a variation in shape... 

the hops have done much better here then in years past despite doughty conditions... 

indian grass (sorghastrum nutans) 

flowering indian grass...

a pleasing mix of indian grass and goldenrod...

the black eyed susan vine (thumbergia alata) that i grew from seed had covered the dead oak sapling...

I had to deadhead most of the purple coneflower (echinacea purpurea) flower heads early and disposed of them in the garbage... they were infested by what I think is the Sunflower moth (homoeosoma electellum)... the central cone became blackened and rotten and inside there is a 1/4" larvae .. the front xeriscape garden was hit last year with this pest, but this year they attacked both gardens...

a couple coneflowers were spared...

despite the drought, most of these native species are as lush as ever...

the flower of the rose of sharon (hibiscus syriacus)...

despite it's resistance to clematis wilt, native virgins bower (clematis virginiana) has partially succumbed to it... it also seems like its being attacked by powdery mildew, and I am thinking that the neighbours are accidentally over water it from their side of the fence...

the transplanted hostas are not doing well... far too much sun and I will have to move them next year...

the ever cheerful black eyed susans (rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’)

a spider awaits its prey...

tall tickseed (Coreopsis tripteris)

the transplanted staghorn sumacs (Rhus typhina) are taking to their new home and task of pushing out the invasive buckthorns behind them... the virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is finally clambering up the chinese honeysuckle...