Morden Roses

One of the most prairie hardy series of roses were the ones developed in Morden, Manitoba. They are hardy to Zone 3. Can't say that for very many other tea roses.

Morden ruby roses

Morden ruby bush- 2nd summer

Although I am an experienced gardener, I did not have much opportunity to grow roses since most of my gardening years were in the north. I am thrilled to have these gorgeous roses in my garden here in central Alberta.  They require a minimum of fuss, just water them well and plant them where they will get a minimum of 6 hours of sunshine per day. In the spring I add a couple handfuls of blood and bone meal to the soil around them and again about this time of the summer (mid July.)

Morden Blush roses

Morden blush

 Morden Blush blooms the most profusely of my 6 rose bushes, all summer long.  Love this rose! :)
In order to encourage lots of blooms, I deadhead the old rose blooms regularly, so  the rose bush doesn't waste energy producing seeds.

Morden centennial rose

Morden centennial has the most beautiful pink color...

Morden sunrise rose- 1st summer

Sunrise blossom

Morden sunrise has the most beautiful combination of yellow and pale orange flowers. All Morden roses are disease and fungus resistant. Remember to water the soil and not the shrubs themselves if possible and watering earlier in the day is better than late evening to avoid fungus problems.

"Love" tea rose

Red and white blossoms- Love tea rose

 'Love' is only hardy to Zone 4, so it will require a very sheltered spot to grow and a lot of mulching to over-winter it successfully. I am more then willing to give it a try!   :D

Seeds and Storms

Coreopsis 'tickseed' 

Have been busy deadheading daisies which are going to seed at a speed that any astronaut would admire, Lol!  Have also had to trim back some of my overgrown perennials. Wow, hard to believe that that could possibly be a problem, but in some cases it is tis year!  Who would have thought that an innocent sounding plant like a Baby's Breath could be so aggressive, but it has grown huge and is falling over on top of gazanias and snowdrops. I hated to chop some of the growth off before it even got the chance to bloom, but...

Mother Nature's nasty wind/ rain storms have something to do with that problem. Many of my tall perennials were lying flat after the last severe thunderstorm we had. And they had just been looking so tall and stately and beautiful the day before... Thankfully most of my delphiniums had hoops around them holding them up, but many of the maltese crosses, which are usually self standing, had been knocked over flat. My helpful husband and I put extra stakes at the edges of my long perennial bed, then ran a string along both sides to try and prop up the columbines, maltese crosses and the odd stray delphinium stem.

Before the storm knocked the plants flat...

We weren't even finished when he looked up at the sky and said, "We have about 6 minutes left before the rain gets here."
Sure enough, the dark clouds were racing towards us and we finished tying everything up just in time for the next storm!

Hollyhocks

The next morning the sun was sparkling on the rain drops on all the greenery in the yard. Everything looked so fresh. My hollyhocks are tall and busting open their blossoms now and my clematises, particularly the General Sikorska, are opening more and more dark blue blossoms every day. So far the Jackmanii hasn't opened any, but they look like they're ready! :)

Early morning, clematises- General Sikorska on left, Jackmanii on right

My roses are looking more fabulous that ever before! I am so pleased with them. They are breath-takingly beautiful; real 'eye-candy'. :)

I had to trim back some of the white potentilla branches which were shadowing my Morden Blush rose. I hate to trim anything off that's blooming and looking good, but it was necessary for the sake of the rose which begged me to do it.

Trimmed back the wild rose bush near the side of the bed, too, to make some light for my poor Lambs Ears. The Lambs Ears looked so great last year, actually bloomed for a change, but this year they have barely grown at all. Too much shade due to everything around it growing so big.  Maybe that wasn't the wisest spot to plant a new ligularia.

New triangular stone bed

After that I cleaned up my new triangular flower bed. One of my tall yellow rocket mix snapdragons had been snapped all right! It had been flowering and full of more buds unfortunately. Had to do a bit of weeding there, too.

I clipped off what was left of the old peony blossoms which is necessary so the plant puts its energy into producing next years buds instead of into making seeds.  My other peonies in my wild bed are growing, but not doing great in the flower department. The daisies have taken over around them, blocking the light and stealing the nutrients.  Only 3 buds are ready to bloom back there, but I look forward to that nevertheless since they are a beautiful dark rose color...  Just like the anticipation of waiting to open your presents under the tree at Christmas! :)

General Sikorska clematis blossom

Garden Beauties

Yellow begonias , white & blue lobelia, German ivy and orange diascia

Yellow tuberous begonias started from  over-wintered tubers in March

I can hardly believe it is already the middle of July!  Things are looking so beautiful in my garden beds right now. (I don't want to brag about it too much and risk antagonizing the 'hail gods', though :)

Tall yellow day lilies are popping open like mad in my lower rock garden bed, more and more every day!  They look spectacular with the red Maltese Cross and the white daisies blooming right behind.

My clematises were growing taller and taller and the buds were getting big and more numerous by the day.  They are leaning over now, since they have gone over the top of the trellis already and have nothing to hang on to. Their blossoms started popping open last week (finally) and they are quite beautiful.

My first hollyhock opened it's pink ad white flowers today. The first one is always a thrill! Oops, no photo yet...

Other plants are shutting down their flower production now. My big pink and white peony flowers by the pond are pretty much finished now, but they still smell wonderfully even if they don't look good anymore.
I clipped off many of my campanula cluster bell flowers today in the bed at the side of the house. More than half of them are done blooming and I definitely don't want them to go to seed. They are invasive enough by their roots alone.

Campanula bellflowers- noninvasive type

I also deadheaded many of my white daisies which are starting to go to seed now. They LOVE to try and take over their flower bed, given half a chance.  Still have a lot more daisies left to clip off. My blue sage has pretty much finished blooming too. it began in late May so I am pleased with it's long bloom time. If I clip just the flower stems off, and not too many leaves, they will have a second bloom in late August, although not as profusely. The daisies will do the same.

I am thrilled to see that my pond lily has 2 buds on it!  They are such beautiful flowers, but only bloom when the conditions are perfect; enough sunshine and when the pond water is a warm enough temperature. We did a major water change in our pond last Friday, pumped out much of the algae water and added fresh water from the well.  I hope that didn't set back the grow or blooming of my pond lily. They are pretty finicky and also very susceptible to frost in late summer.

Blue delphiniums

Just for the record, now that all my delphiniums are blooming, I see that they are NOT all purple, there are 2 that are blue delphiniums, one a light blue and one a medium blue with white centres.

Purple Delphiniums, red Maltese Cross, columbines (pink and yellow), pink Mallow flowers on right

7 foot Delphiniums in centre

In centre: 7 foot delphiniums,  helianthus perennial sunflower and red Maltese Cross.

Blue cluster bellflowers on left, Raspberry Parfait dianthus and gazanias along edge. 

The gallardias are not blooming yet and neither are the Ozark Snowdrops but it shouldn't be too much longer.  

The Portulaca is just starting to bloom now. Wasn't sure it would amount to anything because so much of it rotted off at soil level in the greenhouse pots before I even planted it out. They were given too much water.

Morning glory vine with one open purple blossom, white daisies in front, Morden Blush rose to left, white potentilla behind

It was a hot and sunny +28C day on Monday; Too hot to be outside for long unless you were in the shade. I spent most of the morning watering all the flower beds. My thoughtful husband had put the sprinkler on the veggie garden this morning at 8 am to start off the watering.  Of course we had a thunderstorm a while ago, with a huge downpour of rain!  The weather forecast did say there was a 60% chance of thunderstorm over night...

Murphy's Law... If you don't water, it won't rain... if you DO water, it likely WILL rain.  That's exactly what did happen.  

Roses and lilies

Winnipeg Parks Rose

Roses and lilies, two of my very favourite flowers are blooming now! And of course we can't forget the peonies! My beautiful pink and white peony continues to bloom although it looks very heavy and droopy in the rain. Their smell is so heavenly, I wish I could catch it and bottle it to smell when the dreary days of winter are here! :)

The first rose bush to bloom was the Morden Sunrise but that's because the greenhouse gave it its perfect conditions to develop blossoms.  My first over-wintering rose to bloom was actually my little Winnipeg Parks rose bush which I had dug up and moved about 2 feet forward in the bed this spring! It got more sun and seemed to appreciate that in spite of the stress of the move.

Morden Sunrise Rose bush

The next was my Morden Centennial rose, but my Morden Blush had a number of pale pink rosebuds on it at about the same time. My Morden ruby is ready to pop any time now. I can see the red petals peeping through the green buds! I must remember to trim back my white potentilla shrub. It is crowding my Blush rose bush.

Morden Centennial rose, shasta daisies, pink gauras/ butterfly flowers

My little tiger lily 'freeby' was the first lily to bloom although it only developed 2 flowers and a few more stems that were duds... The perennials close by it got so huge and lush this year because of all our rain , it shaded the tiger lilies too much. Next spring I will have to dig some of them back.

Red lilies, the first to bloom along with 2 tiger lilies

I missed my first 2 Morning Glory blossoms what with all the weekend company and weekend rain... The 2 flowers were pink but the next 2 are dark purple and quite beautiful. I had bought a 6 pack of morning glory annuals but their vines were so tangled together, I just planted them all in one spot. I had no idea that they are different colors, so it will be interesting to what it bloom up the trellis. I also bought a ruby Loftus this year. It is a climber and gets red trumpet flowers. It was blooming when I first planted it, but then it stopped after a white... I saw today, during my wet garden tour, that it has more red blossoms ready to open. :)

The "Bobbex" seems to be doing the trick to keep the deer from lunching on my flowers. It works better that the bars of "Irsh Spring" soap I used to hang by nylon on the delphinium and lily hoops.

I also checked my tall clematises in the bed on the east side of the house, which are full of fat buds now, too.  I look forward to seeing them bloom as they add so much deep blue/ purple color !

The Hollyhocks are getting very tall and look like they will have a lot of flowers this year as well. Most of my hollyhocks are 4 years old now and that's usually the life span of a hollyhock plant. Then it dies and you need to plant a new one the following year and start over. The new ones usually don't bloom the first year, but I started 2 'spares' in a pot on the deck.  Not sure where I will put them to over winter, though.  I wonder if I could just sink the pot into the ground and then transplant them next spring....

Purple delphiniums

My purple delphiniums are popping open by the minute! The flowers are a dark purple with white centres. The ones in my round 'angel' bed are over 6 feet tall and still growing! (One good thing to be said about all this rain we have been getting again in July...  2 inches this past few days alone...)

Delphinium flowers

The first 2 day lilies have opened their spectacular yellow blooms at the bottom of my rock garden bed.
I LOVE this time of the year! Always some new beauty to admire in the garden. :D

Pink and yellow columbines, shasta daisies, purple delphinium spikes

Peony Planting Curse

Campion Maltese Cross attracts the hummingbirds and butterflies

The first maltese cross flowers (campion) opened a few days ago, the ones at the bottom rock garden bed. The hummingbirds have already found them!  The little ruby-throated male that was there yesterday was almost as big as  the house wren which my husband was holding in his hand...  (The wren flew into the window at the side of the house and was lying on the grass stunned. He was afraid that one of our cats would find it so he picked it up. It looked completely baffled sitting there in the palm of his big hand as he gently stroked it with his thumb. Then he put it up by the bird feeder where it would be out of harm's way and soon it flew off safely.

The Maltese crosses in the other flower beds have started to blossom now as well.

Blue Sage "May Night"

The bees are still busy in huge numbers around my two large blue sages 'May Night" variety. I would recommend this variety to anyone. It grows quickly and well, and is not fussy about soil, water or most growing conditions. Of course in their present location these 2 get oodles of sunshine. I did plant a seedling from there into my long perennial bed and it is not as big , I admit. It gets shaded from some of the surrounding perennials for part of the day and that particular bed is one of the last ones to lose the snow in spring so it IS behind in growth.
I also have a pink variety of sage and it is the same age as the blue ones but barely half the size. It also is slower to bloom, but again , it could be the location it's in.

Blue clustered bellflower

The blue campanula (clustered bellflowers) are strong stemmed this year, very tall and upright. I guess it appreciates all the rain we have had this spring and summer.  It's a beautiful deep blue color, but this variety spreads readily by roots so I had to be pretty ruthless in digging much of it out this spring. It doesn't like to be dry and it also takes a couple years for it to really grow and bloom, but once you have it it likes to try and take over.

Speaking of rain, my poor little Lewisia "Little Plum" plant has rotted off at soil level because of all the rain! I had just planted it a few weeks ago and it started out looking so pretty and healthy, but now it is on its last legs. It is a rock garden drought resistant plant so it didn't appreciate all the moisture. I put what is left of it into a pot to leave on the deck (out of the rain), if it choses to live, that is.  I planted the lavendar there which I had dug out of it's first location where it was getting too much shade. This new spot gets a lot of sun so it should do well there, hopefully.

I weeded some of the vegetable garden particularly in the almost non-existent lettuce patch. (I guess there is something to be said for buying new seeds instead of using up the old ones. :)  I must remember to make a note in my garden journal to remember to buy new seeds next spring.

I should take all of my old veggie and flower seeds and throw them on my wild flower bed or better still on the bare patch in the long rock garden by the road where my diligent husband dug out a dead juniper. I did plant a few things in that spot, a healthy young Nineback "centre Glow" (which I paid too much for at Canadian Tire), a couple of white daisy diggings, a malva perennial and a few hens and chicks, but it still has lots of space for seeds which may be lucky enough to germinate....  Like a 'growing contest', LOL!

The 'chickweed/ creeping charlie' is huge and healthy- no surprise there! It seems to thrive no matter what the weather conditions are. I wish there was an easy way to get rid of it other than stooping in the garden for hors picking out every little piece of plant and root.  I despise it even more than dandelions!

I am so thrilled with my gorgeous peony blossoms! There are 8 on this shrub, which may not seem like much to people who have an older established peony bush but it is the most blossoms I have ever had on my own peony! :)   I must admit, I am "peony challenged", LOL! 

I had a peony planting curse on me which I broke this spring so I am very happy about that!  I have a terrible peony planting record. I know that it is very important not to plant a peony too deep, or it will only get leaves and no blossoms; you have to take care that the crown is just at soil level.  But up until this spring, none of the peonies I have planted over the last 30 odd years has ever bloomed! Now that's worse than the bad luck you get from breaking a mirror! I have no idea why I found that so challenging. I seem to have a green thumb when it comes to 98% of other types of plants.....  

 But the good news is that one of the peonies that I had transplanted from the very shaded part at the back of one flower bed last spring has a blossom on it! Pretty amazing considering that moving a peony can set it back 2 or 3 years.  But, OK, the other 2 which I planted/ transplanted still only have leaves so the curse is not totally lifted yet. :)  

Peonies need to be well watered during drought especially after the blossoms are finished because then they are setting the blossoms for next year. It's a good idea to add bone meal to your peonies twice a season to help produce more flowers. The great thing about peonies is that they can last up to 20 years in the same spot! 

Last but not least:

Sedum

I love this little varigated sedum plant. It gets the prettiest little flowers and is noninvasive, and undemanding as far as growing conditions go. What more can you ask for?

Empty Nest

Swallow perching near birdhouse waiting for fledglings to fly

Suffering from empty nest syndrome... The tree swallow babies all flew out of the nest on the same day one after the other, a few hours apart. And I guess it's 'Murphy's Law' that  it seems to happen whenever  you are not looking! LOL!  The fledglings were 20 days old (2 were only 19 days). They hatched on June 12 and June 13 (2011) and they left the nest at various times on July 2nd.

We actually only saw baby # 5 leave.  (The other four exits, we have on video from inside the nest.)
We were watching from the kitchen window and I got one last photo of baby #5's little head sticking out of the opening in the birdhouse. Just as I changed the camera setting to 'video', the little fledgling zoomed out! Rats, missed it!  It is so eerie now to look at the messy remains of the empty nest. I was hoping that maybe a late nesting bird might take over this prime real estate, since we had a few birds peeking in at
the premises before it was vacant, but so far nothing.

Peeking out at the wide world they are about to enter

We considered moving the nest camera to another birdhouse nearby,where there's another family of tree swallows to catch the last week or so of bird activity there, but it would be hard to install the camera at this stage without disturbing the occupants.