Gardening in Summer

This is the Allium against the lime green low growing oregano.  I love this combination.  There is a peony tree with its feet in this patch of oregano.  The peony tree has not bloomed yet.  Next year I hope.

Looking the opposite direction this is the alliums against the smoke bush, with blue globalaria, blue columbines, and the silver sedum.  The Alluims are now finished blooming and the seed head remain for decoration.

This lovely little flower is in front of the hedge next to the sun dial circle.  It has waxy, serrated leaves and the little mauve flowers in sprays.  Ita a very tough plant to survive where it is.  It is one of the original plants in this area.

This is the little rockery at the front, where I replaced the half barrel tub.  The white clump of perennial snap dragons are covered with flowers -- and this was taken on May 18... they are even more full of flowers now.  More on this little rockery later, as a few days ago I did a bit of rearranging things, so that I would have only low growing sedums and sempveriums in the front.

The bronze smoke bush with its under planting of silver saxifragia.. I seem to be calling this a sedum at times.. I believe its a saxifragia.

My best lady slipper was in bloom for a month on the light garden. 

Valerine next to the cedar hedge at the front, on May 18th.

The valerine and the blue california lilac on June 18th.  This valerine is an excellent plant with a long bloom period and interesting leaves.  It is seeding itself around and is quite welcome to do so. 
All of the photos except the last one are from May 18th.
  

Gardening in Summer

The last tulip of the season.  Photo from May 19 -- inside the tulip

The whole tulip

Some tulip petal art

Perennial bachelor button.  This spreads around the garden a bit, but is easy to take out.  It gets floppy and quite messy when finished blooming, so I usually just cut them down.  They regrow and bloom again.

I let the perennial bachelor buttons grow amount the greenery of the heathers and the clipped spruce.

This plant, I think, arrived with the bird seed.  I don't know what it is.  It gets fluffy seed heads that the finches seem to love.  These seeds fly around the garden and are quite hard to pull out if I let them get big.  Right now I have lots of them growing along the strip between our driveways.  They are growing quite thickly and are quite tall.  The flowers only last a day and the seed heads not much longer.  They never seem to catch on across the road. 

a red rock rose..  A low growing plant.  I have finally got these plants to survive. I believe they can grow into a mounding small woody perennial that will need trimming.  Right now this plant is sprawling and might get a good pruning when finished blooming.

The pink rock rose.  Very delicate in appearance.  I will search the nurseries for another color so that I have 3 of these plants in the area by the cement vase in front of the magnolia tree.
All these photos from May 19th.  The rock roses are in bloom, the bachelor buttons have been cut down and the heather trimmed.  The tulip, of course, is hardened off and leaves cut back. 

I watered with the sprinkler and the other shooting sprinkler at the back  today.  The woodland looks really good... somewhat overgrown, but I like it.    The pond looks good, the Japanese area needs weeding, the potatoes are the only thing that is doing ok in the vegetable garden.  The spinach has bolted.  We had a few strawberries for our dinner tonight.  Full of flavor.   It was a lovely 21 degree day.

Gardening in Summer

This is the Welsh Poppy.  They seed themselves around and are a very lovely little plant in the shade.  I have some growing under the deck by the dry stream and a big clump of them beside the garage in the woodland area.

This is an icelandic poppy.  These poppies come in various colors.  I have not had much luck growing these in my garden, as yet.  I have a few California poppies seeding themselves in the garden now.  They are heavier, waxy flowers than this one, but in orange also.

This is my best Oriental poppy.  It is a hot pink color.  The others are bright red and orange.  These poppies are almost finished blooming now.  The foliage dies down and looks quite messy in the garden.  I need to clean them up.

These are two "petal art" photos I have made from the poppy.  I might use both of them in the Petal Art community on Megashot.

The perennial geraniums grow along the driveway in a about a 12 foot length of this long strip.  These plants are very tough and are perfect in this spot.  They are carefree and easy, evergreen with flowers in summer.  They come in a number of different varieties.  I have a magenta one that spreads and is in a few corners here and there in the garden.  I have some with lovely dark green leaves and blue flowers.  I have two minature ones that cover the spots where they grow in a well behaved spreding clumps. 

This is the view from the edge of the vegetable garden, shooting over the Irish heather and Iberis towards the woodland.  This view changes with the seasons.  This photo is from May 19th, as are all of the photos in the last three posts.

The last of the tulips and the first of the oriental poppies growing beside the back garage.

Gardening in June

This Dames Rocket (Hesperis) is a very good plant in my garden. It seeds itself around and pops up in the Spring adding fragrance and color where ever it is.  It is quite tall - up to 5 - 7 feet.  These photos were taken on May 19 of the plants that are among the rhodos.  The colors look good together and they bloom about the same time.  Right now there is a very big purple one in full bloom in the woodland next to a rhodo.  This rhodo behind the garage finally bloomed this year.  I  had moved it years ago and I think it was not planted deep enough and has been sulking all these years.  It is a corner that does not get much watering or other attention.  This year it has had compost mulch  and more water.  It should continue to improve.

The columbines are  equally easy plants to have in the garden. They also seed themselves around and are easy to control.  The red one is still in bloom and these photos are from May 19th.  I don't think the red one is able to produce viable seed, but the plant has been very long lived  and hardy.  It is in the woodland.  The other blue and purple ones pop up all over the garden.  The purple ones are now finished blooming.   I have been dead heading them this year. 
I find that the lupines have been seeding themselves around a bit too.  I have rescued two little ones and transplanted them to spots by the hedge where I want them to be.  Right now the two lupines - one red and one purple/white are in full bloom.  There are a couple of foxgloves in the front garden area with them.   I could add dames rocket to this mix, and get some lupines into the woodland area.    The monkshood are coming into bloom now.  This makes me think that I really should have some delphiniums for at the front with the hollyhocks  and with the lupines.  They are more grand tall plants that would look good together. 
I have red valerine seeding itself around a bit too.  Its a nice plant, but its red runs to the orange colors.  I could get some of it into the back bed next to the yellow yarrow which is in bloom now and those colors would look good together I think.  The red looks good next to the blue of the california lilac which is in bloom now too.  I am not having much luck with my tall bearded german irises and I am not sure why.  Perhaps they need to be divided and given better soil.
I have cut back the daisies that were near the laverta and it is full of buds this year.  It should look good next week.  At the back the lovely lace cap hydrangea with the fuzzy big leaves is looking superb.  There is a low growing orange helenium next to the yellow yarrow and the combination is great for summer 'hot' colors.   This is on the new area at the back where there are now stepping stones and the stone path goes across the top next to the small bit of grass around the apple tree.  I have the edging done on this grass, compost put down on some of the new area, and the path weeded.  Yesterday, I moved some soil over top of the potatoes along with the lawn clippings.  I will need to get more compost out of my old compost bin to hill them up some more.  I watered the area yesterday and today, also.  The strawberries are looking pretty good with a small crop that should be ready soon.  Yesterday I took a couple more branches off my english oak tree.  They were getting close to Parmars clothes line.
I have been weeding at the front and have the daisies cut back, the grass pulled out of the siberian irises and the violets pulled out.  I have the rock path weeded up to the smoke bush with the little beds and the thyme circle weeded also.  The little rockery is doing fine.  I  have just one little area left to weed and clean up, at the front,  and then I will be looking at the area in front of the hedge... the two rectangles.  They are actually not as bad as I thought.  But the peonies do need attention.   I watered a bit at the front tonight, as I had transplanted some of the perennials and 3 dahlias out there a week or so ago and these plants were not getting enough water with the bits of rain we have had recently.  We could use a good downpour. 
Our photo upload site has been growing and getting more and more active, with the Flowers contest for prizes going on this month. Cyrus is doing reviews of photos from Facebook groups.  The reviews appear on Megashot and are linked to the Facebook Megashot groups.  This is bringing lots of hits and quite a few new members.  The contest engine and the explore engine are being tweaked to make them smarter all the time.  Cyrus has more and more photography information added to each community that the information pertains to.  I have no idea how he manages to get all this stuff done!

Gardening in June

The bench and the thyme circle.  This area is ok.  The thyme needs a bit of weeding.  The edging is good from last year. 

This is the boxwood hedge along the top of the front garden.  It was so much easier to do this year with my cordless, rechargeable hedge trimmer.  I only need to do a bit of trimming by hand.

This is the small honeysuckle pilea hedge along Parmar's 5 ft strip of grass beside their driveway.  Behind the little hedge I have started a cedar hedge that goes from the top of this 'inner garden down to the California lilac near the bottom of the 'inner' garden.

 A few of the rock plants in the little rockery of the 'inner garden' at the front.  This little area was expanded a bit after I removed the half barrel and the tub.  I now have pleiones, a couple of lilies, and a few other choice plants in the new little rockery area.  The flat rocks between these two little rockeries needs to be weeded, as the clover seems to be back.   Today I removed a small variegated leaf plant from here, as this plant was going to be too big for the area.  The daphne that I got at the VIRAGS show and sale this spring is doing fine here, and so is the blue poppy.    I have a wonderful little perennial snapdaagon in white and about 8 inches high that is spreading and is covered with flowers.  .. Pictures of this little rockery area tomorrow maybe.

These daisies are the big show at the front right now.  There is the street, the 8 - 10 ft grass border (with the crocuses)  and then there is a 4 ft wide strip with a shrub that is covered with white just after the crocuses are finished, a laverta (pink) that is going to get big, the purple plum tree, a lavender, lemon balm, some dutch iris, with thyme and pussy toes under the larger plants.   When the daisies are finished blooming I will cut them down to ground level, being careful not the cut the Michaelmas daisies or the achellia.  The lemon balm will also get cut down to ground level and a lot of it dug out.  Next to this strip is a small ratty honeysuckle pilea hedge that I should just remove.. and maybe replace with boxwood cuttings.  Next to this small hedge is the big cedar hedge.  The cedar hedge is made so that it has 2 rectangular beds towards the street side and the middle rectangle is on the inner garden and is where the bench sits.  The two rectangles on the outside have peonies, montebretia, hollyhocks and a few other plants in them.  The rectangle by Parmar's side is infested with blue bells and its peonies need to be dug up and replanted in improved soil.. the whole rectangle needs to be cleaned up.  The rectangle by our driveway is doing better as it gets more attention.  I transplanted  a gailardia and a helenium into there a couple of days ago.  Now it should be full and have blooms from summer through to the Fall.  The peonies here are doing better but still need more care.  They are quite tall this year.  I put compost on the bed last year and the plants are thriving on it.

This is the little dry stream that goes from the lantern by the pond towards the deck and under the deck. The stream is made with newspaper layers covered with pea gravel..  I have a nice little moss garden started along this dry stream.  Actually, the moss started by itself.  It is quite lush along behind the steps up to the deck.  There are ferns growing under the steps and I keep the ferns cut back off the moss along the dry stream. I let the lovely welsh poppies grow through the moss and bloom with their delicate yellow flowers.  I am trying to encourage the moss to grow into the little Japanese garden area.  I have a few violets that need to be dug out, but its quite clean from the work of last year.  Today, I clipped back the little variegated shrub and cleaned the ferns off the moss, cleaned up the hellebores a bit, and weeded under the rhodos that border the steps up to the deck, and border the moss / fern garden under the steps.  The plant you see at the top of the photo is a solomon's seal, and is excellent in shade, under the deck. 

This is the small rockery that is along the side of the vegetable garden at the back.  I reset the edging stones and edged the grass. I have several little rockery plants from the VIRAGS show and sale that are doing wonderful well this year.  Last year, the plants I had out there dried and died in the heat wave we had while we were away.  With the volcano ash in the air, I think these little plants should be ok this summer.  They all seem to be well rooted and growing.    There is a small daphne, two little evergreens, a cyclamen for before, and several tiny mounding rock plants.  The lewisias and a lovely little evergreen campanula are there from before, as well.  I spread compost over the pea gravel and shall top up the pea gravel again.  I have only one bag of pea gravel left and will go to Cannor for more, soon.  I have used up the top soil  as well and should get a bag or two more.  Its always good to have some around when you need it.  I have shall need more mushroom manure too.  I have one bag of compost left from my community compost bin guys.  I used two bags of it up on the back gardens and one on the front. 

The pond.  The mermaid is now on top of the waterfall.  The fish survive.  I am not losing water since I slowed down the pump feed to the waterfall.  The lovely purple water iris have buds and the water hawthorn is still blooming.  The water weeds and duckweed seem to keep the water much more clear this year.  We have had rain over the past 10 days so I have only topped up the pond when I was out there transplanting the tomatoes and dahlias and lobelia.    There are 2 tomatoes in the ground next to the strawberries and 3 dahlias in big black pots.  Today, I reseeded the lettuce.  The tomatoes are up, at last.  There is a bit of dill and some spinach and swiss chard.   No room for anything more, as the tomatoes took up quite a lot of space.  They are Yukon Gold and should be good eating.  There are going to be a few strawberries. There are about half a dozen large figs on the tree... so it looks like we might have figs this year.  BUT, I cannot see any yellow plums.  I think the blossoms froze this year.  There are little apples on the tree.  The grape is forming a few clusters also.

This is the old sidewalk that runs partway along behind the garage.  The whole area behind the garage and beside the garage is woodland.  We took out a sumac that was leaning badly in the high winds we had.  Now the rhodo that was near it should do better.  I covered the root area of the rhodo with half a bag of compost and watered it.  I have moved the water tub from the half barrel back here and set it on the stump from the big gum tree that Davey tree took out last year.  I have yellow water iris, some duck weed and under water plant in the tub.  I thought I might like the dragon flies to use this water feature and so have not added fish.  But I might have to add fish, as there are mosquito larvae in there already.  I have begun to clean up the woodland garden with clipping back the germander and I have half of the german irises cleaned up.  The thorn shrub is clipped down and is going to covered with berries.  So pruning is good for this bush.  The woodland is a bit wild.  But this year the dames rocked looked really good with the blue bells.  Both of them running wild over the woodland area.  The Saskatoon berry trees have lots of berries this year.  I see old weird Sheila has broken one of the trees trunks off.  It was hanging over her property, I suppose.  Nasty old baggage.
The compost bin back here is full.  Its been there since the year before we got the community composting service.  I have been adding anything with dirt attached to it, to this bin, rather than put it in the big green bin and have them take away the dirt.  I checked the bottom of my compost bin and there appears to be some nice black compost in there.  I shall need to shovel it out,  when I get time, to make room for more on top.  I would like to empty the garbage bin /compost barrel that I have on the vegetable garden, into this bin so that it composts down.  I will need to empty some out of the bottom to make room for it.
I have finished weeding the violets out of the front garden in the magnolia tree area.  I  transplanted 3 dahlias here.  Removed the daisies also, as there are enough of them out in the front bed.  I added a bag of compost to this area. It did not seem to go very far. I could use at least 2 more bags full here.  The little area is looking better, but still not super.  The design was changed when the round cedars got too big and were mangled when the snow shovellers dumped heaps of snow on them.  I need to rethink this area of plants. I need a taller shrub next to the black bamboo to balance it, maybe. 

Gardening in June

This is the view of my pond from the stepping stones along the primrose bed at the back.

This clematis climbs up the corner of the deck.  This year it is spreading into the plum tree above it.

The clematis on the deck decorating the water tub feature.

  This clematis is climbing up the grape bush.  Beneath it are the very bright pink oriental poppies for a good color combination. 

This rhodo is along by the deck steps with the primula bed in front of it and the stepping stones in front of that.  The dames rocket has self seeded itself in with the two rhodos that grow here for another nice color combination.

A close up of the two toned pink rhodo that grows along beside the pond.

More of the two toned pink rhodo

This is the white rhodo that grows along the 5 ft strip by Parmar's sidewalk at what I consider the back of my house.  Its a very tall rhodo and very full of flowers.

The white rhodo and the fuschia azalyea, which is also spreading and is full of flowers.

Another view of the white rhodo and the fuschia azalyia.