You Glow Girl

There's a glow in my garden these days.

You can really notice it in the evenings

It's not the showiest bloom on the block

Her beauty is more sublime

And elegant in her simplicity

Her scent is fresh with a hint of citrus

And she seems to like it here.

My Morden Snowbeauty, purchased last year, is a real asset to the garden. She came through our winter with no extra protection and narry a problem. Her glossy green foliage is delightful. Her long buds are truly elegant and her open-faced blooms are sweet bee magnets. She's a nightime girl, though, and it is the evening when she really becomes the star that she is. I can't take my eyes off her when I am supposed to be sitting out there reading a book and sipping wine. Given that evenings are when we really get to enjoy the garden, plants that add something then, including scent, are an important part of the garden. This charmer politely stays within her space and her blooms are recurring after this first glorious flush. Yay for sweet hardy roses!

Snowbeauty, you glow girl. :-)

She always holds a party in June

One of the great thrills of June is Mother Nature’s elegant hand at carpeting the world with flowers. She really thinks gardeners are quite clever with their studied designs and drifting borders, but she chuckles to herself because she knows we are really just learning from her. Walking in the woods is my way of visiting her garden and acknowledging the Master Gardener of us all.

Her paths are swept with borders of bluebells.




Her groundcovers inspire the carpets in our grand hotels




She has made an art of combining textures


And always has a few stars show up to create a buzz


And some interesting bon mots tucked away here and there






It’s no wonder her garden residents wear their finest gossamer wings


And volunteers clamour to be part of the show


Ah, a June early morning in the woods.

"In small proportions we just beauties see,
And in short measures life may perfect be."
~ Ben Jonson

I left all my words in the garden last evening

I found I could say things


with colour


and shapes


that I couldn't say any other way


-things I had no words for.


~Georgia O'Keeffe, Artist


It is warm and sunny and the late afternoon light is dappled through the stand of spruce bordering the west side of the garden. I have a terrible cold and my thoughts are running, I suspect, out my nose. ;) Now I am off to to lay under the umbrella in my garden with my new book. Hope you are all enjoying these fragrant, lustrous days.

Juno, Juno, welcome!

How can it be June! These days are supposed to meander along, not do cartwheels down the hill with pigtails flying! Given that I haven’t had time to do a proper post and most of the photos I have taken over the last couple of weeks are already out of date, I thought I would just post a few of the highlights.

I have been super busy (started a new job I love!), have been out in the garden battling my four nemeses (nemisi?): goutweed (neighbour’s contribution to the ‘hood), lily of the valley (I thought it was gone last year!), ants (how did they find us so fast?), and the caragana runners I had hoped we put the boot to last year (from the ancient hedge we had ground out).


I have also been resigning myself to the losses from our crazy winter while at the same time hoping against hope. Well, my hope was warranted as there are many more survivors than first thought. Both my hydrangeas are alive and only one of my three Russian sage appears to be dead, only one fern is showing no life (well, of only two) and a Vinca ‘Alba’ has turned out to be purple.

[northern maidenhair fern - the cutest, tiniest fiddlehead ever]

My tender hybrid rose, ‘Sterling Silver’ bit the dust and the first bulbs of my life that I planted are mostly all up!

The spiral Dwarf Alberta Spruce ended up getting quite brown by the end of winter but seems to be coming back. All three of my new raspberry canes made it and my rhubarb (that got moved, potted and moved) is coming back great.

[not my rhubarb - a neighbour's]

Powdery mildew has arrived already but I can’t complain because it arrived in the wake of a lot of rain (and, yes, a little snow!) for which I am truly grateful.

[wet crabapple blossoms still smelling so sweet]

There are new squirrels, new rabbits and lots of robins. The sparrows can’t stop singing and I am waking up at 4:00 a.m. to the sound of birds – and I don’t mind! I went to the Saskatchewan border yesterday and saw loads of hawks on the trip.

[Are these Morels?]

I have been getting out for early morning weekend walks through the back alleys and down into the ravine.

[adorable unknown clematis spilling into lane behind a garage - can anyone ID it?]

The scent of all the flowering trees and shrubs has cast a heady spell on me and I join the bees in burying my nose in the boughs that overhang the fences.

Life is good, I want to blog more, but can’t right now and will be out of town for the next few days as well (it does involve visiting a winery so not all bad). Have been popping in on your blogs as much as possible and am thrilled to see how lush your gardens are growing. Enjoy each of these glorious days!