Carola's Alberta Garden 2019: June 29 Jewels

Julia Rose Peony

I am so thrilled to see my beautiful peonies blooming. The first one was the Dominion Day red peony at the side of the deck steps. That little beauty was in a poor location for about 4 years and had stopped blooming, but it is much happier where it is now.

Julia Rose buds

The Julia Rose Peony is very hardy and relatively deer resistant. The deer no longer have a direct path past my flower beds in the spring and summer, now that so many trees have fallen over in the environmental reserve next to us.

This pale pink peony was struggling to grow underneath a canopy of trees.

A few years ago I dug this peony out of my wild bed at the end of the yard where it was struggling to survive and was not blooming. I moved it to my sunny triangle bed and it broke my peony curse. It was the first peony to bloom for me after being planted by me. So pleased with its 11 blossoms. :)

Rhubarb and Garden

This giant rhubarb plant has been here in this location for a long time. It has provided abundant fruit for numerous recipes every year for rhubarb jam, muffins, crisps, cakes and squares.

Bleeding Heart and columbine

My main bleeding heart plant did not survive the winter this small shoot finally made it's presence known about the time I was going to plant a new one. it is blooming quite late but I'm pleased it survived.

Our sweetheart Brandy age 2

Clematises

The pink Ville de Lyon on the left is new this year. (I lost patience with my Nelli Moser clematis which had only 1 flower last year and none the year before that. It ended up in the compost.) The Ville de Lyon flowers are relatively small, but I'm hoping that once it gets established, and with the addition of some more blood and bone meal in the soil, it will improve the size of the leaves and flowers.

On the right is the purple Integrifolia Durandi clematis which is growing really well and blossoming so beautifully. That clematis is about 3 years old.

Integrifolia Durandi Clematis

Roses

Hansa Rose

The first Hansa rose bud opened on June 29. This is such a hardy, no nonsense rose bush.

Morden Sunrise new to this flower bed

This is my third attempt at growing a Morden Sunrise rose. I don't seem to have any difficulty growing other Morden Rose bushes but I have had this variety die on my twice now. I recently read that the Sunrise is susceptible to winter kill in locations where the snow melts off in early spring.

Ah ha! The Stackstone bed where I had planted each of the other two are exactly that type of location, near the house and losing the snow cover early.

This time I plant Sunrise in my round bed down in the middle of the yard where the snow lasts a lot longer. Maybe the third time will be the charm!

My other Morden roses suffered a lot of winter kill and most had to start again from the root ball. Last year my Morden ruby was blooming on June 23 but this year it is several weeks behind that. (It has a ton of beautiful buds, though!)

My other new rose this year is my Explorer rose, JP Connel. JP has pretty yellow buds which turn into gorgeous white roses when they open. I dug out my Morden Belle rose (the most beautiful pink colour imaginable!) thinking it was dead and I planted my JP Connel white rose bush there (Stackstone bed).

Turns out the Belle roots were not dead; it had a small shoot on it, so I planted it in a pot outside of the greenhouse. It still only has one shoot but is growing, so we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to plant it at the side of the house in the fall. (To replace my white peony which is not doing very well.)

Winnipeg Parks Rose bush, which I thought was dead, has sent up a small shoot, but it is severely shaded by my Spirea now. It will need a new sunnier location soon. There's a spot in the bed next to it, but I have to monitor the sunlight there to see if it's suitable.

And at last, my Morden Blush is popping open its buds now! Photos soon.