December in the Garden

 the white floribunda rose, Iceberg, that is next to our front door, still has some blossoms hanging on. 

 The last of the Autumn leaves have left the trees.  I have not been out for about 3 weeks.  But it won't take long to clean things up when I do get out there.  We have been having quite a lot of rain.  Our river is not over full, so we obviously needed all this rain.

This is an old photo of buffalo that I have been playing with and trying to make it into the 'Impressionist Painting' kind of a photo.  If you see it large and stand well back from the photo it looks suitably sharp.  I doubt that the impressionist painters ever had buffalo in their paintings though.  Monet would astounded, to say the least.

The apocalypse is upon us -- be sure you have some clean underwear on hand.

November in the Kitchen

This fennel grows in the back garden with the fig tree.  Swallowtail butterflies like this plant.  I wanted to try some seeds or leaves of this plant in the meatloaf to get that anise flavour... but I did not really get that taste from this fennel plant.  I might need to get the Florence Fennel that grows bulbs and has that flavour.  It is said to grow easily from seed, and is treated as an annual.  This will have to go on my wish list for plants next year. 
I made some scrumptious cornmeal muffins.  So good hot out of the oven with too much butter, of course.  And then I had to find a recipe for cornmeal bread or muffins with fennel.  .  . and found one for cornmeal muffins with bacon and fennel seeds.  I can't wait to try this one too.  Both of these recipes use buttermilk.  There goes my weight loss program.  But it is using 'less' wheat!
I managed to finally finish my June album for the gardening page, of my old web site.  It has 16 pages with 10 photos per page.  I seem to be getting more and more albums to do, that I do not seem to have time to get done.  Especially on the travel page. 
A couple of days ago I found another garden center using one of my rose photos on their website.
I complained on my FaceBook page, and on their facebook page.  I sent them a contact form from on their website, emailing them to forward $250 to my PayPal account.  They deleted the photo from their website, and deleted my comments off of their FaceBook page.  And what a co-incidence!  The same day they deleted the photo off their website, I received a PHISHING email regarding my PayPal account.  This garden center is in England, Rhinegold Garden Center.  They were using my photo of a rose that was grown in Canada to advertise their roses.  Not only are they thieves, but liars too.  I guess I shouldn't expect any compensation for the use of my photo... the one they stole off of this blog, from people with such shoddy businesses practices. 

November Gardening

This decorative kale is in a pot on the deck.  I can see it from my computer desk.  I added it and a couple other Fall transplants last month.  I have a Mum, and a Viola, in pots that are doing fine.

 This is the golden delicious apple tree before we picked the apples.  We have 36+ lbs of applees stored in a couple of bins in the lower level.  I have moved my frozen soups, etc., from the gridge down there into my new deepfreeze that I keep in my computer room.  I need a cover for this appliance as it is glaring white.  Something in green would be nice.  I made a heaping apple pie 2 days ago.  It is pretty good.  I also have a few packages (593 ml) of apple sauce made and frozen.  We are eating the apples fresh every day and they are very good.

 One of the many pumpkins that have a second life as they appear along Cordova Bay Road where it goes through Mount Doug. park, all along the roadside.  Some of the designs are truly intricate.

A row of the jack o'lanterns on display along Cordova Bay Road in Mount Doug Park.

November gardening has been all about preserving the fruit from the plum and apple trees; and making and freezing soups.  We are trying to stay away from the salty store bought versions of soup.  I use mushroom soup and tomatoe soup in casseroles.  Otherwise, our soups are now homemade using chicken stock , beef stock, or fish stock..all homemade too.  The soups are so very tasty and nutritious made from fresh vegetables, dried beans, peas, grains and other good things to eat.

Have your children teach you well

 This is a photo from Sept.  As you can see the view is from on the Model T on our Can-Am meet in September.  I am still processing these photos for upload to my account at Megashot, where I will link the Can-Am participants when finished the album.  Still have lots of photos to process.

 This is the 'foxy' frame that I learned how to take from any one I saw on the net, and so, make it my own frame to add to photos that I could process through Paintshop Pro.  There is also a way to create your own frames for PSP.  Tutorials are available on the internet.  Choose any one you like.  This matter of frames came up in a discussion on a photo on Megashot.  I could make the frame on that photo my own, if I had the time.  It is not a very exciting frame, so I did not play with it.

Here is a Scaboisia flower, from June.  I am currently working on the June album of the Gardening page on my old web page.  I have 4 more pages to code and then I can upload the album to the page.  Slowly getting the Gardening page finished... but getting more and more behind in the Travel page.  

 With regard to the Travel page... This is a photo of the Parrot  in the Nazca lines in Peru.  We flew over these ancient displays when on our trip to Ecuador and Peru a few years ago.  I was looking over some of the photos and discovered that I had this Parrot depiction photographed, after all.  I have the Hands and the also the Whale.  I was so pleased to find that I had these three.  I thought I only had the Hands previously.

 The Whale from our fly over the Nazca lines.   Apparently, these ancient lines and graphics are now in danger of being destroyed by feral pigs.   Any wind would be equally destructive.  I am so glad I had the opportunity to get the photos I have.  They will eventually be appearing on my old web page on the Travel page.

I received this cute .jpeg in email recently.  It is about how I feel, too.  With all the changes and constant updates, I get just a little bit disgusted with my desktop PC and its updates and logins, etc.  My Ipad does not seem to give me this bother, but I cannot accesses things I may want to, on the Ipad, either... like ABE books... at least, I have not found their AP yet.   And on and on it goes...

YOUR CHILDREN SHOULD TEACH YOU WELL...

Can I borrow your 12 year old grand child to help me out with my computer?

The Heron is back

 While making the salad and looking out the kitchen window, I saw this very big heron land on the deck railing.  It noticed me while I was backing away and going for my camera.  It flew to the garage roof where I managed to get a quick shot of it.  It then flew down to the edge of the pond, and as I was trying to sneak up to take a shot over the deck railing, it saw me and ran to the neighbors yard, where it has room to spread its wings and fly away.  It is a huge heron.

 This is the tomatoe that grew from the plant on the deck.  There are 2 more.  The one that grew on the garden tomato was full of flavour.  I really must try to keep them watered next year.

These are some of the ingredients that go into the mulligatawny soup.  Basically, it is a chicken, rice and vegetable soup.  I made a double recipe and have 10 of the 590 ml containers to add to my frozen soups.  I have made minestrone soup, and a squash with quinoa soup, also.  I have about 18 pints of the purple plums preserved and frozen.  I will be making a few more soups to freeze, for the convenience of having prepared lunch items.  We are trying to stay away from the high sodium canned soups available at the stores.  In this regard, Campbells Soups are shutting down several of their plants, due to the slowing down of their soup sales.  This is probably partly due to the economy and perhaps partly due to people wanting to eat more 'healthy'. I must say, the soups I have made so far are delicious.  I make my own chicken stock, and have now started to make my own beef stock, also.  I have made fish stock, also, but have none on hand right now.  These stocks add so much flavour and goodness to the soups.  I use them when I prepare rice or quinoa, also. 
Oh yes, we had a fig from our tree for dessert this evening also.  The green apples you see in the photo are from our backyard tree.  They are golden delicious, but not yet ripe.  The recipe called for green apples. 

September in my garden

 This is one of the photos of the Panda bear at the zoo in Bejingfrom our trip this spring.  These bears scarf down a lot of bamboo.  Maybe I should have just a tiny one to keep my black bamboo in check.  Actually, it does not run too fast.  Just enough to dig out and give to friends.  Derek  picked up his sprouts yesterday, along with some crocosmia.  I removed the crocosmia from the area by the roses at the front, as they were flopping over the path and being quite annoying. They multiply like crazy.  I had divided them into 4 bags and put them out at the street for Free pickups by anyone who wanted them.  3 bags were taken and I had the one left to add to the ones I gave to Derek in his bamboo pots.  Hope they grow for him.  I think Ray and Nancy's is growing.  I am going to plant the Japanese quince in the spot where I took out the crocosmia.  The leaf mulch from the trees keep the weeds down here.  I might have room for a few more pinks along the edge of the border of the stone path.

 This is one of the last of the figs from this year.  There were 10 big ripe ones.  We had the last of them last nite after we got home from the Greek Festival.  Good lamb and spanakopta.    We have small green figs left on the tree yet.  The stepping stone path around the fig is covered with the wonderful little Corsican mint.  There is a bit of grass trying to grow in it.  I must keep after this grass to get rid of it.  I shall try to get the mint to grow in the stone path at the front too.  I had to weed those little orange flowers out of this year.  I think they might come with the sand I buy and apply to the paths. 

 The germander is in bloom for a long time!  The bees love it.  It is nicely spreading and keeping down the weeds where it grows too.  This is in keeping with my present plans of making my garden lower maintenance.  This is along the back fence, in front of 3 hedging cedars and a yew.  Next to the germander is where the tall bearded iris bed starts and extends to the water tub.  Next to the tub is where the woodland officially begins.  Across the old sidewalk from these plants is the gorgeous big lacecap hydrangea underplanted with sweet woodruff, and a few other voluntieers, as well as daylilies.  I think I will get rid of them, as the orange colors clash with all my colors in the garden. Like the name... the flower lasts for a day, only so it is no good for bouquets.  There is a huge evergreen fern and a lovely lily of the valley shrub at the end of this bed, and officially in the woodland.  :-) These two plants hid the old compost bin very effectively. 

 The purple plums are almost ready for harvesting.  The yellow ones are just about finished, so that works out nicely.  I do not know what has happened to some of the purple plums but they seem to be scarred .. at least the skins seem scarred.  It appears to be only skin deep.  I am happy to see that the tree is producing this year.  It seems to have some kind of fungus or something that causes these lumps that look like burls, but at the end of a fruiting shoot.  I must try to look it up with Google and find out how to treat it.

 This Autumn Joy sedum is a lovely easy care plant.  This one grows along between our driveway and Shawna's.  The one I started along in front of the new cedars along Mrs. P's driveway, does not seem to be doing as well.  Needs better soil perhaps. 

 Last week I had hoards of these little skippers in the garden.  The day I went out to shoot them, it was windy, of course, so it was not a very successful shoot.  I need to entice more butterflies to the garden, somehow.  The butterfly plants on the deck do not seem to be working, at all.  I never saw a butterfly on them this year.   This is the second year for the butterfly plants container, so I will probably take it off the deck, divide the plants and put them where ever I can find space in the garden.  At the moment, this space might be where I am not very successful at growing vegetables, as there are too many tree roots and not enough sun.  The little rockery is on one side of this area, so this will become the cutting garden, or to be more realistic... the catch all spot. 

This is the last of the yellow plums, photo taken a few days ago.  I have 4 jars of these plums made into a preserve and frozen.  The plums are very juice.  I boil them for a minute or two with a bit of sugar to help preserve them, and then freeze them in the glass jars.  It works well for me.  Leave space at the top of the jar because when the liquid freezes it expands a bit.

I imagine that serious vegetable gardeners have had their winter vegetables planted about a month ago.  It is time to get bulbs to plant.  My crocus field at the front is doing fine. I don't really have space for any more tulips, or bulbs of any kind, so I can just look at whet is for sale.  And then go home with a pail of bonemeal to feed the bulbs I already have planted. 

Water Iris in July

 This is the gorgeous water Iris.  I spent a few hours playing in photoshop to learn how to make black backgrounds.  Using the layer mask method produced the best one.  It took time to get the edges nicely finished. 

 Here is the same iris before I messed with it in photoshop. 

 This is the white water iris.  It photographed it with the dark background.  I only darkened the background a bit and tried to make the white pop more by using a selection and inverse selection with adjustments ... all on layers.
These water irises do not have a very long bloom period, but they are lovely.  After blooming the leaves add a nice vertical aspect to the pond.

This photo is taken while sitting on my newly positioned bench and shooting towards the top of the garden over the cleaned up thyme circle.  oops.. left a few bamboo leaves on the thyme.  Its kinda strange that I am not seeing many bees on the thyme right now.  There were quite a few earlier.  That golden oregano is more yellow than the picture shows.  I should have adjusted that spot in photoshop.

I have the front garden weeded and watered.  The lupines are mostly planted out in the front garden, this year.  I must be diligent in keeping the daisies, grass and violets out of everything.  I love my black bamboo but its getting to be a bully with its shoots popping up everywhere.  I cut them off, now, as digging them up creates havoc in the garden beds.  Dead heading is an ongoing process, too, of course.  The lupines are all doing nicely and have grown considerably after getting out of their training pots.  The blue grass that I moved is surviving nicely too.  I used up a bag of the compost on these transplants, around the front.  I put a lupine in the clay pot Tara left behind.  This pot has a white achillea growing in it.  I added compost and top soil to the pot and put this out in the front garden by the boxwood hedge.  I also moved the little blue hosta back by the bench.  I managed to get a transplant for each side of the bench.  This transplant seems to be doing well, too.  I did a bit of rock work to make a couple of stepping stones to get to the bench from the sundial circle rock surround.  The thyme really does not like to be walked upon very much, so this will be another way to get to the bench.
I have chopped down the big plants in the woodland area and cleaned it up, watered it.  There were thistles, bindweed, and that huge herb (angelica - maybe--it has lovely ferny leaves and smells rather like licorice).  I transplanted Andy's Dougie tree out of its pot back there in the woodland.  I took out a sumac tree that was hanging over the fence.  I may not keep that Douglas Fir tree... although I could cut off the lower branches as it grows and just let it grow.   So, I have a start on cleaning up the woodland.  I refilled the pot that Dougie was in and transplanted an annual, Leptospernum.  The plant is quite big and was a bargain at the Mr. Grocer store a few days ago.  I moved this pot beside the door of the suite, so will have to be careful of watering it in this out of the way spot.  The other big plastic pot has a borage in bloom and I have added a lupine to it.  It lives on the back patio by the garage door.  My big green compost bin is heaping full.  They will come to empty it next week.

We had thunder and lightning storms the last couple of nights, but very little rain.

Butterflies and things

 this is the Lorquin's Admiral Butterfly that was puddling in my garden, as I watered.  This butterfly must be desperate for a place to drink in our recent warm weather.  So, I am watering more often, especially in the spot where it was puddling.  It was by today, as I watered.  But it just did a fly by; at least, I did not see it stop.  There were also two whites flying around too.  I loaded this to Megashot for our Butterflies are Free Community.  We are getting quite a collection.

 This is a photo from our China trip.  I played with it in photoshop to give it that infrared look.  What do you think?  Does it look IR?  I loaded it to my JB account on Megashot.  JB is Just Bearly, one of my teddy bears.  Have a look at it on Megashot.  This is my referral code.  If you use it I will see when you join Megashot.  Its free at the moment, and will be very competitive rates if we ever get our fee schedule and Version 2 on line.  ..  communities, contests, critiques, comments, ratings, and much more... all settings at your own discretion.  Oh yeah, customization of your own page where you upload to your photos and create galleries to sort them. Oh, and megamail for keeping in touch with your contacts, friends and family.    See you there.

This is rim lighting, with the newest teddy bear, the fruit bowl and the rum pot.  The teddy bear was at the museum shop, calling my name, when I bought the Butterfly Book.  I had to go back and get the bear.  The rum pot?  yes, I have started one, this year.  I have 500 g of strawberries, a cup of sugar and about the same for brandy, covered and waiting for the next addition of fruit, sugar and brandy.  I think I will want to use cherries.  Our B.C. cherries are now in the stores and I should get some, and pit them and add to the pot. 

Exploring leaf forms and shapes

 I liked how mother nature arranged these 3 little leaves on the bark of the Liquid Amber tree.  This tree gets some spectacular color in its leaves in the Autumn.  More on these leaves, then.

 This is one of my hostas.  The broad leaves of the hosta and the thin leaves of the ferns make a nice combination in the shade garden. 

 This swiss chard is rather pathetic, but it has its own built in contrasts.

New oak leaves on the pin oak.  This tree has good color in the autumn also, so more on it later.
Today was a fine day.  In the morning, from about 10 to 2 I did more weeding and watering.  I have 11 of the 15 germinated lupines transplanted out to the front garden, so far.  I should have room for the other 4 in the front too.  I have a few more hours of weeding to get the front finished and looking good.  The tilth of the soil is getting quite good, with this care and attention.  Some people actually screen their garden soil.  What a great fuss!  But their gardens are show places!  My clay soil is getting fairly nice, at last.  And once plants get established in it, they really grow well, despite my neglect.    There were a couple of butterflies in the garden when I was watering, but no pictures as they did not seem to settle.

a few hours at the beach

 Yesterday, we picked up a deli lunch from Thrifty's (Grain salad is delicious) and took the Dodge Lodge (now known as the reading room) to a little known lovely beach at William Head Lagoon Regional Park.  There was no one else there, when we arrived, but within minutes there were several more picnicers with children and dogs.  But not enough of us to be a crowd.  It was a lovely few hours. 

 This is a mimic of a turtle.  It seems to be a burned driftwood that sits out in the shallow water. 

This nice arrangement of dead trees is also in the shallow water side.  The other side is the Bay where we could see the Coho, a cruise ship and beyond them some high rises of Esquimalt.  There are huge, picturesque driftwood logs, stressed trees, wild flowers and many photo opportunities.   Reminded me of  Ikebana.

This is a photo of the fern frond.. I have a number of 'leaf' photos that I want to add when and if I get the time.

Today was an overcast day, perfect for gardening.  Yesterday, after getting home from the Park, I went out to the garden for about an hour and a half.  It was just too hot and sunny... I felt as though I had sunstroke and I was only out for 1 1/2 hrs.  Today, was much cooler and no sun beating down.  I transplanted 10 of the little lupines of the 15 that have germinated.  Most of them are in the front strip where I cleaned out the daisies.  They are at the back of the garden bed  that is about 10 feet long and 5 wide.  There is thyme and a blue grass in the front.  I also left the achillea (Yarrow) in this bed.  It is suppose to rain tonite.  If it does not, I will be out watering in the new transplants tomorrow.  I added a bog of compost to the area before transplanting.    After the transplants, I had a bit of time to do more weeding along the stone path.  It is coming along and looks good cleaned up. 
The pinks are in bloom at the back, the roses at the front, the heliotrope on the deck, and so it smells very nice in my garden.  All the decorative thyme, orgegano, lavender and any other herbs add to the fragrance.  The South of France comes to mind when I am out in the garden when it smells so good. 

Some June flowers

 this is the magenta transcantia (spiderworte) as promised.  These plants are nearly finished blooming and will be deadheaded with hopes that they will bloom again.

 The first lovely purple water iris is in the tub on the deck.  This bloom is a bit pale.  Not sure why, except the ones in the pond get more shade and are quite crowded in their pot.  Nevertheless, it is still a good looking flower.  The white ones in the pond are finished blooming.

 The St. John's worte is just beginning to bloom.  It looks good this year.  A very photogenic flower.

I have quite a few white foxgloves this year.  I have not seen a peloric one yet.  These lovely flowers self seed all around my garden and are welcome where ever they show up. 

I have finished taking the daisies out of the front garden strip, and have been doing more weeding and deadheading of perennials, roses, and generally clipping things into their allotted space.  I need to finish weeding the stone path and then I should be able to start on the moss garden and the stone paths at the back. 
I was quite distressed to find a dead fish in the pond.  When I bought these fish at Cannor on June 2, they were quite small.  This one seems to be at least twice the size it was, so I think it must have been a healthy fish.  I cannot understand what is killing my fish.  There were 7 of them put into the pond, so I will wait to see how the rest of them fair.  They are definitely not smothered as the pump has been running the waterfall and there is plenty of open area on the surface. 
I got a few things finished on my old web page, and it really does not take as long as I thought it would, or as I have been dreading it would.  So, that went well.

European Wall lizards

I've had these little lizards in my garden for the past few years.  They look like chameleons or the geckos I saw in Hawaii.  The more mature ones are green.  I am happy to have them in my garden and multiplying.  I have very few slugs since they moved in.  Yesterday, I watched one... I thought... attacking another smaller one.  I wondered if they were cannibalistic and so googled this, of course.  I found a good informative site that informed me that I had shared a private second or seven while these lizards mated.  Sure didn't take them long... no time to get the camera.... papparatzi that I am. Further discussion over dinner lead to an informative email about the lizards in our area:  Quote:

DistributionWall Lizards are endemic to continental Europe and western Asia. They have been introduced to several locations in southern England and North America. In the early 1970s, a small group of Wall Lizards was released in west Saanich on Vancouver Island when a private zoo closed. Initially, the lizard population remained small, but once acclimated to our local climate and a breeding population established, the population grew enormously. They now number in the thousands. For the moment, Wall Lizards are restricted to the area of west Saanich, Triangle Mountain in Metchosin, and Victoria on southern Vancouver Island. Recent reports of individuals in the Gorge area of Victoria in 2007, and occasional reports - so far unsubstantiated - of individuals on some islands in the Strait of Georgia, suggest that the species is slowly dispersing. It probably is only a matter of time before Wall Lizards reach the British Columbia mainland or north-western United States, either intentionally or accidentally; southward dispersal is very likely on the mainland.

 

We have had none of the promised rain so I have been out watering in the garden.  There are a few vegetables sprouted and some of the flowers.  I have 13 lupines germinated in pots (out of 20 seeds, so far).  The watering makes it easier to pull the weeds.  I have weeded the thyme circle and edged it back to its 7 foot circumference edging rocks.  It is in bloom and there are more bees than last year, but still not an abundance as there were in years before.  The golden oregano beside it looks terrific.  I weeded some of the area around the thyme circle.  There is still lots of weeding to do.  

The next day, I cleaned up under the bench.  I liberated 4 flat cement blocks from the veggie garden path and added them under the feet of the bench.  I laid 3 layers of cardboard over this... that ought to keep the violets under control...watered the cardboard and put the bench back on its blocks.  It is a bit high and I hope it settles ... I may have to level it again, too.  But I do like it higher, as it had settled quite a lot over the years.  But it had no blocks under its feet... so we will see how this goes.  I moved the metal egg container thing beside it for a 'tea table'... all very rustic, in its nook in the cedar hedge.  I must get photos. The top of the table is a white plastic cutting board.  I must see if I can paint it turquoise to match the bench.  I think there is paint for plastic.  

Today, I used the hedge trimmer to trim down  the cedar hedge by the veggie garden, along the driveway a bit,  on the inside of the cedar hedge at the front, as well as the little hedge and shrubs around the water garden.  I was using muscles I never knew I had to do this and hope I am not too stiff from this.

Shade Garden

 this is a look at the dry stream and the moss growing along its edges.  I will be clipping the variegated shrub and weeding the moss, leaving only the Welsh poppies growing  I am encouraging the ferns and other deep shade plants to grow under the deck. 

 this is a view of under the deck that shows you where the neighbors have destroyed the screening of the cedars, over the years... kids had their hockey net set up in front of this hedge and were forever chasing their balls through the hedge.. and last year they deliberately butchered the cedars even further.  The guy sits out there and smokes, whatever it is he smokes, right next to the property line.  So, I am trying to think of something that will screen this area under the deck and still look good from my side as well.  You see where the chair sits... I would like to make an nice sitting area under my deck, and screened from their view.  Maybe tall evergreen ferns?  Like the one that grows by the back of the garage.  It is at least 4 feet tall.

This is a view of the Japanese lantern, on its new stand, the Japanese Maple the Kalmia, some ferns along the dry stream.

 This is a look at the Lantern from the opposite side as the photo above.  This looks out from under the deck where I want to make my new sitting area, out towards the veggie garden.  I can see that this vista needs to have the white bags of compost moved.  Otherwise it looks quite green and nice.  You can see the moss beneath the Mountain Laurel  in the left bottom corner. 

 A view of the waterfall.

the waterfall, again from under the deck.  I can see that this vista needs to be cleaned up a bit.  May need to remove the white plastic pots that I store on the veggie garden area. Those irises in the foreground will soon be in bloom with lovely purple/gold very showy blooms.

So, the plans go on for the improvement of my space and your perception of my world.  Meanwhile, I have typed my private journal to record my GAWD Ahmighty! venting about what is happening in the news and on our block, even . . . none of which bears repetition here.

James Island is for sale for $75 million... damn.. I only have $54 million      GAWD ahmighty!  You see?  The difference between the rich and the ... moderately comfortable  is incredible.  The difference between the moderately comfortable and the poor is even more incredible.  Do you suppose it has always been so?