Delightful Dahlias and Raised Bed

Delightful Dahlias

My best dahlia performer this year is the red “Thompson” dahlia. It has been blooming for about 10 days now! I'm so pleased with these tubers as I have been growing them for 12 or 13 years now, since we lived in Thompson. It is so easy to just dig up the fat healthy tubers in the fall and keep them over winter in some peat moss in the launder room. The following spring they are sprouting and eager to grow for another season. 

Firebird Dahlia- Stackstone bed

The Firebird dahlia in my Stackstone bed is opening its gorgeous orange and yellow blossoms right now as well.  The clump in my yard tub next to the electrical pole is growing, but seems quite a bit further behind, probably due to the fact it gets less sun there.

Creeping pink baby's breath and red dahlias

I bought a new dahlia tuber in a bag of three this spring called Mystery Day. Eventually they should produce some pretty two tone blossoms. They are growing okay, but are nowhere near producing buds yet. One pot is in the greenhouse and two are on the deck.  Must remember to fertilize them with high potassium Miracle Grow and maybe they will set some buds then.

I love Morning Glory vines and this spring I started some Morning Glories from seed again. The first ones which I planted out in my Round “Angel” Bed have done nothing! They are just hanging in there, but not growing at all. Maybe they don’t appreciate the late afternoon/ early evening sun there.

The second batch of Morning Glories which I had planted in my Stack Stone bed face south east and they are growing tall along the trellis. Hopefully they will start blooming soon, too.

Raised bed

I’m really pleased with my new raised bed that my diligent, thoughtful husband built this June. We planted radishes and carrots in there and  we might actually get a nice crop for once! We had no luck at all growing radishes in the ground since our soil is too alkaline and radishes prefer more acidic soil. It doesn’t help that the sprinkler water from the well pump is high alkaline too. 

We also have some green bean plants, some peas, some onions and a big squash plant in the raised bed. The squashes are growing really long and are producing big yellow flowers, but the lazy bees aren’t doing their job of pollination so no fruit is growing yet. Diligent husband has been using cutips to help that process along, so we’ll see what happens... :)

Bearded irises (left and right) Miss Kim miniature lilac bush (centre back), Splendins Lychnis in centre

The Splendin Lychnis is struggling this year, and had few blooms, but that's likely because I had dug it up a few weeks ago to remove some of the encroaching perennial asters.  The continuous rain showers we had for much of June has caused the asters to grow tall and healthy.  The asters were so weak and tiny for about 3 years that at one point I was debating about composting the whole lot of them!  They will bloom some time in August when most other plants are done, so that's one nice benefit of being patient.

Beautiful rogue lily growing in rock garden

And the weeds, of course are also growing huge! Had to weed my Stackstone bed again this week, especially the shady east end.  And of course that's an ongoing process in all the rest of my flower beds, too. 

Happy gardening!

beautiful buds

Roses and Tiger Lilies

Roses and tiger lilies are two of my favourite flowers.

Morden Centennial Rose

My rose bushes have started to bloom and my first tiger lilies are popping open! I love this time of year when all my hard work and efforts are rewarded by floral beauty in my flower beds!

Morden Blush rose

The most obvious thing I see, as I gaze at my garden beds are my white daisies however! They seem to be everywhere which adds a pretty blanket of white, but they are creating too much shade for the rest of my plants. I already cut a lot of them off and filled 4 vases in the house, adding a few Siberian Irises, Persian cornflowers and white yarrow.

I'm afraid of what might happen if I leave the daisies to finish blooming.  They will attempt to take over my whole garden!  I started chopping them all down this week to keep the prolific seeds in check.

Top of  Rock garden- I dug out (yanked out, in some cases) 3 daisy plants and replaced them with 2 border pinks (dianthus) and a small blue flax. Then I added a bunch of cedar chip mulch. The liatris has more room and sunshine now, as does the rogue lily growing there.

The blue sages there have grown well and have nearly finished blooming. 

Note to self:

Be ruthless! Dig up most white daisy plants. Maybe replace with Shasta daisies?

The tiger lilies are stunning

Lupines

My lupines have started to bloom and they look so pretty, I love the big tall spikes of pink and dark blue blossoms. 

Perennial geranium (left) and pink lupines

Many of the cosmos that I had started from seed are blooming already.  I threw a bunch of seeds in one flower bed and I think every single one has sprouted! Time to cull some of them now.

The holly hocks against the house are growing huge as is the one in the stack stone bed next to the birdhouse.  Some have self seeded at the front of two of my beds and I had to dig them out.

I yanked 2 small to medium sized holly hocks out this week, but there are at least 3 more than need to be removed. Too close to my Morden blush rose bush.

I'm pleased to see that my ligularia on the east side of my Stack Stone bed has a lot of buds on it! This will be it’s first time to bloom since I planted it 2 years ago. Had to dig out some of the tall white daisies surrounding it (and there are still a few more that need to go!) Looking forward to seeing my ligularia bloom!

Peonies-

The princess of the peonies in my yard is the light pink one in my triangle bed. it has 5 blossoms which seems laughable to some people who have masses of flowers on their well established peonies. But this is one that I transplanted from my “wild bed” where it was struggling to grow, so Im thrilled with its progress.

The other 3 peonies are not doing quite as well, but two of them were just transplanted last fall so the fact that they each had one flower already this spring is really good! 

My white peony at the end of my long perennial bed is struggling to grow. Not enough sunshine there and far too wet. A spider wort might be more appropriate there. 

Note to Self:

Dig out one sea holly and move the white peony there.  Move the hosta squished in the centre of that bed to the peony spot. Should be enough sun at that end of the bed for a hosta.

Red painted daises are looking great this year

Campanulas and Clematises

The blue bellflower campanulas next to the house are looking quite pretty. It adds some colour in the spot where the clematis flowers should be. :(   

So far neither of my clematises are getting any buds. I’m disappointed in the Nellie Moser which I had planted a year ago. I thought it would bloom this year.and hopefully it still will. At least it is growing really tall…

Cluster bellflower campanula

Bellflower in centre of clematises

The Integrifolia Durandii which I planted in May/ early June isn’t growing or producing any new flowers yet. I guess that’s what a person gets when you buy plants at Home Depot instead of at a greenhouse…

My columbines are full of flowers and looking very pretty. The biggest plants have been here longer that I have, more than 9 years and they are still growing strong! I especially like the pink and yellow flowered colombine, but the yellow one is pretty, too. 

columbines

I love my garden!

Early June, Rain and Sunshine

June 5, 2015

Crab apple blossoms

June already; where did May go?!
It has been a really pleasant early summer, weather-wise this year, I'm happy to say.  In previous years it has often jumped from cool single digit temperatures in early May right to hot and dry weather (+ 26-28C) without the warm 20C days in between.  It is brutal to try and do any work in the garden past 10 am if the weather is that hot that early.


We did have about a week like that, where the lawn was turning dry and yellow, and I had to constantly water everything, particularly any new plants.  Surprisingly we did finally get some much needed rain, several times in fact. And there was another thundershower today.

Beautiful aromatic lilacs!

It is so amazing how much everything shoots up to quickly once there's been a good rain. Watering from the well doesn't have the same growth effect as Mother Natures own showers.

Almost all the peonies have buds on them and promise to have beautiful blossoms before too long. My new addition, the Julia Rose peony had its one fat bud EATEN by some passing wildlife before I got a chance to spray it with Bobbex! So frustrating!

The white daisies are starting to open their buds now. I'm always surprised by how many clumps I have even though I dig some out each spring and fall. They look really fresh and pretty at first, but one has to be ruthless about chopping them all off in a week or 10 days before they all start to seed or they take over the garden.

hollyhocks, bearded iris and poeny

The bearded irises are looking good and many are blooming now, except for those I dug out and divided this spring.  I love the purple and white ones, but my favourites were the solid dark purple which were only growing in the wild bed by the road for some reason.  Im not even sure if there are even any still growing there now.
The tall thin Siberian irises are blooming now, too.

Siberian irises, dahlia leaves, daisies about to bloom

The oriental poppies that I planted in my long perennial bed last year are growing and one has a huge fat bud on its stem.

I Bobbexed everything yesterday, including the tiger lilies that are about 8 inches tall now and all the other lilies coming up. I even sprayed Bobbex on the delphiniums, all 5 of which managed to over- winter successfully; unlike last spring where I only had one left!  Thank goodness for Bobbex!

My Forget-Me-Nots are looking really cute, as are the pretty deep blue Persian Cornflowers in the Stackstone bed next to them.

Forget-me-nots & Persian cornflowers

Most of the tulips are done now and I'm letting the leaves die back naturally to add nutrients to the bulbs for next years' blooming.  I do still have half a dozen late blooming pink ones that add a nice shot of colour.

Clematises growing well: Nellie Moser on left, Integrifolia Durandii on right

Looking forward to seeing my clematises grow and bloom. The Nellie Moser was planted last year and is growing well so far. It should get pink and white flowers eventually. The Integrifolia was already blooming big purple 4 lobed flowers when I planted it a few weeks ago. Potentially it should only grow about 6 - 7 feet tall and not overshoot my trellis.

     Morden blush rose

The rose bushes are growing beautifully, lots of foliage on the Morden roses. The Winnipeg Parks rose which is at the end of the long bed is just starting to sprout leaves. I think it needs some blood and bone meal.   The John Davis climbing rose is doing okay as well. Looking forward to the first blossoms.

Swallowtail butterfly in my lilacs

The apple blossoms are all done now. We had a summer storm and it blew off a lot of the petals that were left. The Hyer apple tree is looking really nice. Last year we had almost no apples, but I think we'll have a lot this fall.

The lilacs are looking so gorgeous now! I wish they would bloom for longer. I love their heavenly smell!

American Goldfinches are back!

I love to wake up to the birds singing in the morning, the cheerful sound of the robins and the twitter of all the little house wrens.  :)

Tree Swallow Nest Building

Tree Swallows choosing their bird house

The tree Swallows are busy pairing up, mating and building nests.
The female that is nesting in our Nest Cam birdhouse has been diligently adding dried grass piece by piece, trip after trip, only stopping occasionally to fly around and catch an insect meal. Look out mosquitoes!


One coveted item that the swallows love in their nests are white feathers. Yesterday I tried to pull a few white feathers from my pillow without a lot of success. Then I decided to take more drastic measures. I took out our huge heavy feather duvet and slip a small opening in the end. I took out a few handfuls of feathers and put them into a bag.


Outside it was quite breezy and I let a few feathers fly in the wind, rescuing any that got tangled in the lilac shrubs or landed too close to the house. ( Don't want the cats to interfere with the nesting business.)




One of the first feathers that I let fly was intercepted mid air by one of the swallows and quickly taken back to the birdhouse. (The Nest Cam birdhouse) Both males and females will catch feathers although only the female seems to build the actual nest. The male will proudly bring his prize to his new bride to add where she wishes. The male occasionally visits the bird house and surveys the work in progress.

In no time at all there were 6 or 8 swallows swooping around and vying for the feathers. Somehow all the swallows in close vicinity got the message. The bravest ones landed on the ground to find feathers. A few feathers I had to re-launch into the air, but by evening there were no feathers left anywhere on the lawn and I had let them go in 4 different places. It was quite comical to see the swallows chasing the feathers that the wind was carrying aloft. Some had to try several times before they caught them mid air. I guess blowing feathers act differently that flying insects. :)

cushy nest

So now we have at least half a dozen plush, feathery nests in our birdhouses. Talk about luxury accommodations!

'Nest Cam Mama' is doing a fine job today of adding grasses to her nest and it looks almost done. :)

Mama Tree Swallow surveying her handiwork.

Pear and Plum Blossoms Plus Peonies! May 20

Pear Blossoms

Pear Tree

The pear blossoms have been blooming for over a week now. They are always the first to bloom. Another sure sign of spring!
This year the plum blossoms popped open not long after. It smells so heavenly right now, walking up and down the deck stairs past them. The crab apple blossoms are showing a lot of pink and they are not far behind in showing off their beautiful display. By this weekend, I think they will be in full bloom.  One really has to make a point of going out an admiring them. They last such a short time.

The wild Saskatoon bushes in and around our property are all showing off their while blossoms now was well. Last year there were hardly any berries, so I am hoping for a better crop this year.

Last year's light pink peony (Triangle bed)

Peony success! For those gardeners who find growing peonies a snap, this may not sound like much,   but for me who has never had much success getting any peony to bloom which I have planted myself, this is a real milestone! The beautiful pink Sara Bernhardt peony which I transplanted last fall from under the spruce tree to the side of the house bed, has a lot of healthy growth and even buds! I thought that they usually won't bloom for a few years after transplanting but it seems to like its new location.  I don't know for sure how old these roots were, but they were already well established when we moved here 9 years ago.

Medium pink Sarah Bernhardt peony is doing really well from having just been transplanted!

Gorgeous Sarah Bernhardt blossoms from a previous year

 And the red Dominion peony which has never bloomed for me in four years has buds now, too!   I moved my red Dominion peony last fall as well. The wild bed that it was in was getting less and less sun as the nearby Saskatoon shrubs were getting taller and taller and it was not thriving there.  As long as I keep the peonies well watered, the buds should develop into flowers. Yay!  I fertilized them with blood and bone meal last fall but maybe it wouldn't hurt to give them another round this spring, or would that be over-kill, I'm wondering...

One Peony down side though, is that my white peony (Alba) seems to have bit the dust. I noticed last year that its location at the far end of my long perennial bed was very wet and after 2 or 3 white blossoms opened, the rest rotted and so did most of the stems. I wonder what I could plant there that would like a moist semi shady location???

I moved my Miss Kim miniature lilac bush from the side to the centre of my triangle bed. I dug out and composted my spirea.  It was mostly dead and really has not been growing well for several years inspite of trimming it, fertilizing it, etc.  I planted a new peony in the corner where the lilac had been (after digging up a massive amount of overgrown bearded irises.) The new peony is called Julia Rose. It faces east and will get mostly morning sun there, with a little noon day sun.  It only needs 3 to 6 hours of sun apparently so we'll see how it does. It looks like it have pink and pale yellow blossoms.

Julia Rose Peony new addition to our family

I looked it up online and I really lucked out with this choice. This is what one site had to say about it:
Paeonia x 'Julia Rose'. Full Sun to Partial Shade. Deer tend to avoid.

Impressive 8" flowers open strawberry red and lighten to apricot, then pale yellow with plum edges – gorgeous! An especially vigorous variety, with a spicy scent.  

This spectacular group of peony was originally created by the late Toichi Itoh by crossing herbaceous and tree peonies. The result is a dense, rounded plant only 2-3' tall and wide, with a great abundance of large 6-8" blooms in an expanded palette of colors. They are borne on strong, non-flopping stems atop handsome foliage that stays attractive all season. Even better, they bloom weeks longer than either parent, producing more than 50 blooms over an extended 6-week period from late spring into early summer. And they take more heat and cold.  

- See more at: http://www.springhillnursery.com/product/julia-rose-itoh-peony#sthash.IPlvukAV.dpuf
Sounds perfect to me!

New clematis called Integrifolia Durandii.

I bought a new clematis this year to plant in the side of the hues bed next to the Nellie Moser (which I planted last summer.) This new clematis is called Integrifolia Durandii. The flowers are a dark purple (it was blooming when I bought it.)  The tag says full sun to part shade so that east sun location should be perfect. It also only grows about 6 feet tall so it shouldn't outgrow the trellis. I think the tag said it was good to zone 2 so it should be able to survive the prairie winter here.   I thought that would be a nice contrast to the Pink and white Nellie Moser blossoms.

Penstemon Schmidel, Red Riding hood series

Two other new additions are a lavender Augustifolia which needs full sun, 6 + hours per day, and  Penstemon Schmidel, Red Riding Hood series.  I have another penstemon called rubris in my Triangle bed and it has grown and bloomed faithfully for 3 years now. Not sure yet where this new penstimon will end up. I looked it up online and judging by the colour, it might be a variety called Pink Chablis.

I have never had any luck getting lavender to live through the winter here, but I'm willing to treat it as an annual if need be. I love the blue spikes.

Another "new kid on the block" is a blue flox perennial that I acquired at the plant swap in town on Mother's Day weekend. Looking forward to seeing that bloom as well.

Tulips!  I am so pleased with my tulips this year. They are sunny and beautiful and lasting quite long. A few of my old red ones started blooming at about the same time as well, but they are all done already.
I noticed a couple of pink ones from a few years ago that just opened and are quite pleasing. The daffodils did finally bloom and were a welcome sight. I just wish they would last longer.


My pretty little creeping flox at the top of my rock garden are still blooming so prettily. It is a pleasure to see.

tiny creeping flox

And today I noticed that my wee little Forget Me Nots are starting to bloom in my Stack Stone bed. Can't forget them! :)

I'm thrilled to see my tiger lilies peaking out as well as some of my other lilies. I think it's time to spray another round of bobbed as I saw a little brown bunny running past me this morning when I was checking my flower beds. Our little grey car Nahla tried to catch it, but it easily out ran her and raced to safety in the environmental reserve next to our property. Watch out for the horned owls, little guy!

Spring is Springing and Springing!

Hooray! Spring is springing in earnest now!
The tree swallows came back yesterday and a pair of them have already claimed the new bird house that my sweet husband built out of cedar to replace some of the old worn out bird houses.

My rose bushes had started spouting shoots right through the burlap covers so I had to quickly take the burlap coverings off and remove all the peat moss and mulch. I don't remember them sprouting this early before. In fact last year most of my old branches were dead and the roses had to grow again from the roots except for the Morden Ruby. 

To Do- John Davis Rose bush in my Round Bed and Winnipeg Parks in Long Bed. I hope Parks survived as "someone" dug around it and removed a lot of the mulch and peat moss. The burlap wrapping was loose and then disappeared one very windy day. I will probably find it in the environmental ravine. Should go look. Not sure who the culprit was! The deer don't usually disturb my rose bushes.  Hmmm, maybe the dog decided to bury her ham bone there?  Interesting mystery.

I have dug out meters and meters of grass roots in the last few days and only have 2 1/2 beds done so far. There are still 3 large beds left to do and the bottom of my rock garden. By then the first beds will be sprouting all the quack grass that I had missed, so it is just a big endless cycle. Good thing I enjoy gardening! 

Greenhouse
I transplanted some Early Girl tomatoes into bigger pots 2 days ago and yesterday I did the same for some of my Lemon Boys, which are sweet yellow tomatoes.

Today I transplanted 3 Butternut squashes, 2 spaghetti squashes and some more tomatoes: 3 Tumblers and 3 Patio tomatoes. I'm running out of medium sized pots! Might have to go to Wal Mart and get a few cheap plastic ones or maybe just use some of my milk jugs to plant things to give away. I often give squashes and tomatoes away to friends and neighbours, but I seldom get the old pots back.

Peonies
The 2 peonies that I transplanted last fall are up and growing but I wonder if they will bloom this year. The last time I transplanted one, it actually did bloom a little the first year and then bloomed really nicely the 2nd year, so I consider myself quite lucky there. WE'll just have to wait and see! :)

Tulips!
My first tulip opened today! Yay!  It's one of my old red ones, but I can see the new yellow and pink ones getting ready to open, too!  My daffodils are slow this year, but I'm so thrilled to see things blooming, regardless! :) 
I guess I'd better dust off my bottle of Bobbex before the deer find the tulips. 

Trees

The leaves have popped out on the poplar trees and the crab-apple trees already which is early this year (April 29/15). The Mountain Ash shows no leaves yet, but thats not unusual to have it stout leaves a little later.

It is so gratifying to see the fresh green leaves again and know that spring really is here now, in spite of the ugly winter weather we had last weekend.

Old Man Winter's last present- April 24/25

This is more what I like to see!

I planted these bulbs last September/ early October. The package shows them to be more pink than this with a hint of yellow, but maybe it has something to do with the high alkalinity of our soil that they turned out looking so yellow.

Happy Gardening!