Mid May to June 10 Garden

Garden -May/ June 2016

Clematis- Integrifolia Durandii June 6/16

It has been such a very busy, busy time the last few weeks, Not only digging, weeding and planting in my garden, but also with our grandchildren, my quilt guild and with my new volunteer job with Animal haven Rescue.

We took over 30 perennial diggings out of my flower beds which all found new homes with friends, family and neighbours.

Potentilla shrub, Persian cornflowers and asiatic lilies coming up.

You would think my beds were bare after all that removal, but there are still many perennials left. Chris and I did dig out the helianthus at the centre of my round angel bed. It was so badly overgrown with long grass, (some quack grass and some from the Karl Forrester calamagrostis reed grass.) We removed maltese cross and also divided my big Monkshood into 2 chunks (and some was given away.)

 It opened up the centre of that bed and I planted a Hydrangea shrub called “Quick Fire” there (Planted a second Hydrangea bush in my long bed.) There, too, I dug out maltese cross, anemonies, daisies and even one of my three Sea Lavendars. (Gave to Chris W).

There is more room now for the delphiniums to grow and many more lilies.

Surprise this week: I thought my little Morden Centennial rose bush at the end of my long bed was dead but it has sprouted some leaves now. I guess I need to dig it up and put it in a more sunny spot. Where?????

Dominion Day red peony and bearded irises next to the steps

We dug up the white peony from the far end of the long bed where it was always too wet and not enough sun and replaced it with 2 bergenias I got from Wendy G.  I transplanted the white peony into the flower bed next to the house (where there used to be some Campanula bell flowers.) That spindly peony has 2 buds!  

The dark pink peony that I had transplanted from under the spruce tree 2 years ago has lots of fat growth this year but narry a bud! Boo hoo! My peony curse isn’t over. (I'm sure it did get a flower or two last spring, only  6 months after I moved it there. But I guess peonies set buds the  previous summer so maybe that's why. Perhaps I did end up planting it too deeply after all. Darn! )

Julia Rose peony planted last summer 2015

Wendy G had also given me 3 day lilies. It took a while to figure out where to plant them.

Two of the day lilies were planted in the flower bed at the front of our townhouse in Stettler. Our renter Alicia had complained that a neighborhood cat was using the flower bed as a litter box and it smelled. Chris dug all the soil out of that bed and we got rid of it. He bought bags of fresh dirt and shoveled it in. I planted the 2 day lilies and 2 pink geraniums there, and A said that she would also plant some daisies from her Dad.

I think I will plant the third daylily over by the pond next to the big yellow one there. (I wonder what colour the new one will be?)

Bleeding Heart. Came up early this year but the frost zapped it so I had to cut it back. It has made a nice come-back.

My Morden rose bushes and my Turbo are all leafing out beautifully in the stack-stone bed. The wild rose bushes are going, well, wild, there. My friend K said she wanted wild rose bushes for her yard, so when she came to the lake this week she helped me dig 4 of them out which really opens up that flower bed.

Clematis: my Integrifolia Durandii is growing beautifully and has lovely deep blue flowers. The Nellie Moser clematis has really tall stems and small leaves, but no flower buds at all, sadly.  

Poppies: I seem to be poppy challenged, too! I tried mixing poppy seeds with some sand and sprinkling it in my stack-stone bed and something is sprouted but I think it’s chickweed. :(

My big oriental poppies sure look great in my long bed! 

Oriental Poppy June 6/16

Dahlias:

Since me rose bushes and my Siberian iris have grown so much, there’s really no room for my Firebird dahlia in its usual spot in my stack-stone bed. Plus one of the Franklin ground squirrels (not marmots, I found out) have planted a stash of sunflower seeds there which have sprouted. Cute!

Siberian Irises

My Rocket ligularia is up and growing well as long as I keep my false Dragonhead in check. It loves to try and take over! 

Speaking of take over, I dug out most of my white daisies last year and planted 4 or 5 real shasta daisies. The white daises I left in are all blooming nicely right now along with my Siberian Iris. The real Shasta’s have only got foliage so far.... :/

This week I planted the tubs by the road. It’s all a bit of a mishmash this year, so we’ll see what grows and what it looks like when it blooms. I planted a red geranium ( which I had overwintered) and a purple wave petunia in each tub as well as a pink pansy and some licorice vine. I added a small white daisy in each tub as well. I’m thinking about planting either a cosmos or a dark snapdragon there too.  

Clematises: Nellie Moser on left, Durandii on left

Surprise :  The Eldorado reed grass that I had planted in those tubs last year all survived and started turning green again. (I thought they would die over winter.) Chris helped me to divide them since they took up half the tub. I planted a small chunk in the centre of each of the tubs at the bottom of the stairs, too. I had initially planted 2 expensive grasses there, which I had bought at Tail Creek greenhouse a month or so ago, but both of them died. (Did I forget to water them enough after planting?) 

Tiger lilies are sprouting up

 My lilies are all up and growing well. Time to get out and spray the new growth with Bobbex to deter the ground squirrels and the deer from having them for lunch.

Splendins is blooming now; Miss Kim lilac (behind) has many buds

 My Blue sage continues to amaze me at its abundance of deep purple/blue flower spikes. It seems to love the sunny dryish growing conditions at the top of my rock garden bed. The Creeping phlox, the blue flax and the pink dianthus are all so pretty in that bed as well.

Blue Sage is the bee favourite right now.

Last but not least, the white daisies ( which are impossible to totally get rid of) are blooming profusely now and looking really nice! 

Note to Self: Next week when the flowers are in the end stages, cut them all off ruthlessly!

Magnificent May Blossoms

May Blossoms

Brook Park Plum Blossoms

May has been a very productive warm month up until today. It is windy, overcast and cool with a slight bit of showers, but we could use far more than that! It has been very dry here. Everything still looks quite fresh and green though. Not sure how long that would continue without some help from Mother Nature in the way of precipitation.

The fruit trees all bloomed early and are so gorgeous it almost surpasses words!

Pembina plums almost finished blooming

The first of course was the pear tree, but the plums on both siders of the deck stairs were not far behind (Pembina plums on left, Brook Park plums on right). The crabapple tree  (Dologo Crab) as next and for a short while they were all blooming at once! The smell as you walked up and down the stairs was so heavenly!

The small Hyer apple tree has a few blossoms this year but not as much as last. We trimmed it last fall quite a lot.  This might be more of a "rest year" for the Hyre apple tree which is fine.

Our tiny 'Canadian Tire' apple three has flowers on it, too. This little tree has 5 different varieties of apples; the stems were grafted onto one trunk.  The bottom 3 stems have tags that say:
Rescue
Harcourt
Hardi-Mac
I don't know what type the other 2 branches are...

Interested to see if it will have any apples to speak of this fall. Last year it had a few crab apple sized ones but they were pretty sour.

Lazy felines lounging in the sun

Saskatoon tree is blooming in abundance

The saskatoon shrubs are starting to bloom here at the lake. Im curious to see the crop they will produce this year. Last year was so abundant it was almost unbelievable, the amount of fruit we had!

Ornamental cherry

My perennials are growing like gangbusters in all the heat that we had in April and early May.

Stack stone bed and pond

We cleaned out the pond last week and added fresh water.  I cleaned out the pond pots and put the ones showing growth back into the shallow end of the pond. The goldfish will be going out right away, but we have a bit of a set back in weather this week. The night time temperatures are forecast to be zero or minus digits!  I guess we are getting the April weather now that we had skipped in April. :(

I will have to cover my rose bushes for the next few nights. They have sprouted a lot of fresh leaves and I would hate for the frost to get them.

Round angel bed/ early May

We dug out many of the perennials in my round bed and divided them. I completely removed the helianthus and cut back the Karl Forrester Calamagrostis reed grass. What a job getting all the quack grass roots out of that bed! There are still more roots sneaking to the surface, but the majority is done. I bagged a lot of diggings to take to my daughter's place for her new flower bed and we planted them this past weekend.

I dropped some perennial diggings off in town for the Plant Swap and I still have a bunch more to give away to friends.  Quite a variety:

Monkshood
Campanula cluster Bell flower
Campion/ Maltese cross
White daisies
Blue sage/ May Night Salvia
Purple/ white bearded irises
yellow day lily digging
Anemones
Blue Cornflowers
Helianthus
Reed grass

The centre of my round / angel bed is bare right now.   I have decided to try and reduce the amount of work in my big beds. I want to plant 2 or 3 shrubs in the centre, ideally something that blooms in spring and that I can much to keep down the weeds and seedlings. I have seen the most beautiful pink blossoms on some small trees in town and I wish I knew what they were! I'm thinking maybe flowering almond or something similar. Time to hit the big greenhouses and see what I can find!

Happy gardening!

April Garden Activity 2016

The plants in my garden are really starting to grow quickly now. The tulips are looking so colourful in my rock garden, next to the house and in the Stackstone bed. The few in my triangle bed have been chomped on. I added some Bobbex the other day but not till after I noticed the damage. 

I think I need some new Bobbex as well. The old stuff might be off, it really smells terrible!

Tiny Creeping Phlox

 The little blue variety of creeping Phlox has really flourished in my rock garden. I think I will divide it and put some back into my stackstone bed as most of it there has died out. I had little luck with getting the pink blooming variety to grow very well.

Earth Day brought a super surprise this year! The tree swallows which normally don't show up till about May 4th, made their first appearance
on April 22, almost 2 weeks early!

First swallow has returned to check out the accommodations Earth Day April 22

 The next day another pair of swallows showed up and claimed the house behind the house. They are smoking at the top of the tree snag and working on decimating our flying insect population.  :)

Grape Hyacinth

 The little grape hyacinths are so cute and looking quite healthy.
The day lilies at the bottom of my rock garden bed are thriving.  The one closest to the steps has to be divided in the next few days. They both get so huge and usually get covered in a mass of yellow lilies. These two plus the one by the pond were originally here when we moved in almost 10 years ago.
The 2 in my triangle bed are about 5 years old and the orange one in my stack stone bed is about 2 years old and still quite small.

Large daylily perennial in rock garden

 The Persian Cornflowers and the tiny Forget Me Nots in the stack stone bed are all growing well.  The Forget Me Nots usually bloom quite early. and the Cornflowers some time after that.

The peony on the east side of the main steps is up and hopefully it will bloom this year. Because it was so recently moved it might not happen yet. The peony next to the house was the first one up and has lots of healthy stems. Hopefully it will bloom again this year. I was amazed that it did bloom last year because I had just transplanted it the year before. Goes to show that my "peony Curse" is over!!

Daffodils are  blooming.





 

Today I cleaned up the rest of my lower rock garden bed. Had to dig out the rogue white daisy babies trying to grow at the lower edge on that bed, They were badly infiltrated with quack grass which I removed. I replanted the little sedums at the front of that bed and I dug up a mass of bearded irises at the front corner. The irises were so crowded and needed to be separated. I put them in a pail of peat moss for now and I'm going to give three quarters of them away.  Most of them probably won't bloom till next year, though.  

I have to dig up/divide a whole bunch of perennials early next week to donate to the Stettler Beautification Committees Mother's Day Plant Swap.  (Thanks Marilyn S for taking them there for me. :) )

Happy Gardening!

Flower Bed Clean Up -April 2016

April 1 to 7- The tulips started popping their leaves out of the ground.
Today ( April 12 ) they are up about 6 inches already at the side of the house and one or two already have buds!!  (I don't want to say that too triumphantly; it might antagonize the weather deities and who knows what ugly weather might follow! )

My Hollyhocks have sprouted in that bed and are reminding me to do something about the 3 rogues growing at the front of that bed. Holly hocks don't like to be moved once they are growing. They have a deep main root and are hard to dig up, too, but not impossible.  I did have some success last year so it's worth a try.

Bearded irises and Hollyhocks (back)

April 3
I started my flower bed clean up. I'm quite certain that is the earliest time on record for me! Yay, to early spring!
I cleaned up the side of the house bed, clipped off the rest of the dead holly hock leaves and branches that I had missed in October.  Dug out some grass roots (Isn't that a 'given' in all of my flower beds!?) and added some compost (store bought bags), plus some rich dark soil from the pile over by the greenhouse that we had trucked in last year.
 I also started cleaning up the shady end of the stack stone bed and added some soil to a hole left there after I dug out a white daisy last fall.

Tulips and clematises

April 11- I cleaned up the top of the Rock Garden bed next to the deck. Lots of quack grass roots came out of there! I added some compost and some fresh soil as well. Filled in a hole that the dog had dug (Brandy!  Possibly with help from Jackson.)

Iron fencing to deter dog digging

Pasque flower (tame crocus)

April 12
The Pasque Flower in my Stack Stone bed started blooming yesterday (April 11),  but the big winner this year for "First to Bloom" are 2 little Jolly Jump Up wild pansies that survived under the winter snow to please me with their cute little purple faces so early this spring!

Jolly Jump Ups

Tulips, daffodils and roses

So pleased - My rose bushes have buds !  I had to start unwrapping the burlap around my Morden roses in the Stack stone bed as most of them had stated setting buds already! Today I removed the mulch around the bushes and spread the peat into the surrounding bed. First though, I dug up a laundry basket full of quack grass weeds. That battle has started full on!

That bed is still not all done, though. The west side still needs some attention (grass removal). So nice to see that my Lamb's Ears  and my persian Sunflowers survived as well. 

Cosmos seedlings April 12

 Greenhouse-
The squashes are growing quickly  and the tomato seedlings are too. I will have to transplant them all in a week or so into their own individual pots.

Dahlias- I had to snip back the dahlia shoots to encourage them to grow bushier. I have 2 big pots of Firebirds (orange and yellow) 1 small firebird, 2 red Thompson Dahlias and 1 Mystery Day (Purple and white)

Dahlias, 3 firebird, 2 red Thompson and 1 Mystery Day. 

Purple Russian heirloom tomatoes, Early Girls and Lemon Boys

The crocuses were gorgeous and at their best around April 14.

Today April 19/ 2016 the crocuses are still blooming on Picnic Hill but many of them are spent now.

+25C here today!

Spring Gardening March 12, 2016

Spring is here!  Time to start the new planting season. :)

Dividing the Dahlia tubers

Dahlia tubers

This year I planted my dahlia tubers on March 12. They had sprouted long this white eyes just like they always do when I check them in the rubber maid tub in the laundry room. That location is not the ideal as it is far too warm and encourages the dahlia tubers to sprout too soon. 

I spread newspaper on the floor in the laundry room,  cut most of the long shoots off and then divided the tubers. I cut off or pulled off any dried up parts. Next I planted the best tubers in fresh potting soil (Miracle Grow soil).  (I had washed most of the pots in the laundry room sink the previous day.)

I now have: 3 pots Firebird dahlias, 2 large, 1 small. (Two pots to plant out in the yard and one for on the deck.)

2 pots of red "Thompson" Dahlias, 1 large, 1 small

2 pots of Mystery Day purple and white Dahlias

1 pot unknown ( Most likely Firebirds; they had the most surviving tubers.)

Dahlia Tubers have been planted

March 17  I planted Tomato seeds, Squash seeds, English cucumber seeds and red peppers today. (Thanks go out to my Helpful Husband who washed dozens of 4  to 6 inch pots on the deck with the hose.)

Tomatoes: Early Girls

Lemon Boys

Tumblers

Patio Tomatoes

Purple Russians

Squashes: Spaghetti and Kabochas

Tomato seeds have sprouted March 23/ 2016

March 23rd The small pots of tomatoes and squashes have all germinated. 

 Dahlias were all sprouting and growing well.

The English cucumber seeds have not germinated, nor the Red Peppers or zucchinis.  Will have to buy some bedding plants, I guess.

March 24  all the pots were moved from the living room into the greenhouse.

Dahlias March 23/ 2016

April 1, 2016 

We ate a butternut squash on Easter weekend and I saved some of the seeds. I planted them in a pot today and put it in the greenhouse. 

I  planted some Blue poppy seeds today as well, (Meconopsis Baileyi) from Butchard gardens, Victoria BC, which were a gift from a friend.  It seems these seeds are pretty tricky to grow. Most poppy seeds need light to germinate (unlike most seeds) but this variety needs darkness and cool temperatures. They can take up to 25 days to germinate! Patience is required! They are currently in a pot in the dark crawl space under the stairs, the coolest place in the house, (which also contains our wine, coffee pods and our preserves. )

That same day I also planted Zinnia seeds and Morning Glories seeds from packages on April 1st. The zinnias are up already but no sign of any action from the Morning Glories yet. 

Early Spring for 2016!

Early Spring for 2016!

We had a very mild winter 2015-2016 with a modest amount of snow this year, second year in a row now.  How lucky can we get!  Eastern Canada and the eastern US had our prairie winter this time and we ended up with their winter weather. Go figure! (I suppose they will want to trade back once they realize what's happened. ;)

The Canada Geese showed up early, as they usually do. These photos are of March 5/ 2016, taken in a field just north of Stettler off HWY 56.

  The robins arrived in mid March even though there was still plenty  of snow on the ground and the weather had turned cold after a week of mild weather.

Eating our chokecherries March 23/16

Robin sat outside the breakfast nook for a long tim eating the leftover choke cherries.

Looking in the window at us. Maybe he's saying. "Thank you for breakfast! "  :) 

Not long after this, I saw a small flock of Robins about 7 or 8 of them all sitting together in one of the trees by the driveway. No photo though.

So looking forward to a terrific new growing season! 

                    

Pond Goldfish October 2015

Goldfish Pond Oct 2015 (Found this in my draft file.)

We cleaned out the pond this week (Oct.1st) and pulled almost 50 goldfish out this year!  We still had 6 small spare goldfish in the 20 gallon tank inside the house. Of course the year that I kept spares, nothing happened to the fish in the pond ( like in some previous years).

We drained our pond and netted the fish as the water dropped. There was a layer of leaves and slug in the bottom of the"deep end" of the pond and numerous little grey babies were trying to hibernate there. Since the pond is so shallow, they would have frozen solid eventually.  Not sure why, but we had a number of casualties this time, mostly the smallest babies. Maybe the water in the "rescue pails" was too cold.  We still have more than enough gold fish, though, to fill the pond again next spring and then some!

I believe that all the adults (14 large and medium sized) that we put into the pond this spring survived.
There are now 10 large to mediums in the 30 gallon tank (in the laundry room ), as well as 4 grey babies. There are 11 small/ medium goldfish in the 20 gallon tank and about 14 surviving grey babies.

We lost a few tiny ones which got stuck on the filter intake… :(
I cleaned that filter this morning and added another intake tube to make it longer so hopefully the rest of the little fish will be okay.

Ended up giving away 12 of my goldfish to someone who came to the house to look at my big 140 gallon tropical tank.

March 2016
All the goldfish survived the winter in the house. No casualties. We are experiencing a wonderful warm early spring, even earlier than what spring 2015 was, so hopeful we can put the goldfish back out in the pong in April.