The Healing Garden

So, my busy life has come to a standstill. In June. A few weeks ago I finally got the call for a long awaited surgery. Nothing serious, but it does lay me up for a month. And that month is June. Yeah, so I won't be doing much. The good? It is June and I can go outside. In the garden.

My husband set up our gazebo for me and I have an outdoor wicker chaise lounger with cushions. So I have been taking a blanket, music and reading stuff and dozing outside in the afternoons.

I'm actually getting to enjoy watching my plants grow. Who knew it was so fun? Well, some of you, I know.

My columbines (Aquilegia "Biedermeirer') came through the winter beautifully. I hope they self seed and spread the love around.

The irises (name unknown) my Dad gave me are just starting. I've realized my garden is shadier than I thought as everything seems to be a little behind sunnier gardens in the neighbourhood. I'm good with that.

I only got one tulip (tulipa 'Spring Green') from my small patch by the back door. The rest are suspiciously picked and trampled. I could blame the crazed magpies guarding over their fledglings or perhaps a certain enthusiastic preschooler who frequents the garden? :)

My maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) is just unfurling and dances in the light. Hard to believe how tough this delicate looking little plant is. I highly recommend it for those who garden in the GWN.

My Eared Lady Fern (Athyrium Otophorum), that I thought was a goner, made her appearance today. She simply glows in the shade and I am so pleased to welcome her back.

And finally, a sure sign of the nearing summer, my very first rose bloom of the season. Thérèse Bugnet is covered in buds and promises to delight me all week.

I really believe the garden is keeping me sane during my imposed time of rest. It is also giving me lots of time to think about my life, my plans for my garden, my dreams for the future and what is really important to me. It's amazing how inspiring quiet time in the garden is. (If I make some big shift in my life in the coming year blame it on this June in the garden!)

In the next week or so we have some guys coming to help with some major planting of the garden. Should I lay on the chaise like a garden princess and observe (and probably feel guilty - or worse, bossy) or should I keep to the house during those days? What do you think?

I hope you are all enjoying some quiet, restorative time in your beautiful gardens.

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~ Henry James

What's all the Ruckus!

All the honking of late should have warned me...the party was on!

I went out to the garden for some peace, but the festive signs were even evident there. Something is stirring things up!



Some residents even had a "glow" on. Now what could they be up to?

I think everyone is getting just a little flighty these days!

And, I am sure I have even heard a robin singing just out of sight. Could it be? Has Spring, with her giddy entourage, finally taken command of the season? Well then, let's get this party started!

A Gift from my Father

My Dad came for an overnight visit last weekend for Father’s Day and we had a fabulous time. (Yes, we ended up going to a nursery, but that’s another post!)


He was very pleased to see that we took the plunge on bringing our garden to life. Last summer, our first summer here, when it was all gravel and concrete and clay (with no fence, even), he gave us some iris bulbs to get us started.


I think he knew I needed to watch something grow. I put them in a pot and they grew leaves, which was very nice. At the end of the season we popped them in the ground to keep them over the winter. Again, this spring we dug them up and put them in a pot to save them as the landscapers were coming. They sat in a pot on the side of the house for a month waiting for the landscapers to arrive and to leave. Hubby set the hose to reach the pots back there that were hidden behind a patio table and chairs, our little son’s play structure and boulders we saved. We hoped for the best.


Well, last week we brought all the pots back out again, and lo and behold, everything is alive! The irises even had small buds on them – most elegant, I thought.


When I came home tonight from work, they were open! I was expecting plain purple because that’s what Dad said they were. Obviously, he must have other irises in his yard as well. I am quite pleased with these, my first flowers for this garden, as they have white on them – and I do have a soft spot for the radiance of white. I don’t know what they are called so if you know, please leave a comment with the name.


I do know they are lovely. Thanks, Dad!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Do you remember that loooooong stretch from Halloween to Christmas, after all the bags of chips and little chocolate bars and even the candy kisses from your Halloween treat bag were gone and still your family hadn’t put up the Christmas decorating? The bright lights of Christmas seemed so unbearably far away and you hadn’t even really had a pretty snowfall yet, and so, you scrunched down into your collar and silently trudged through the grey, cold days of November waiting for signs of the festive season ahead.

And then, one Sunday afternoon a few big, fat snowflakes fell and stayed on the trees in your backyard, you noticed your parents huddling in whispers and looking at your with bright eyes as they stirred hot chocolate on the stove. Soon you even caught yourself humming the song to Charlie Brown’s Christmas special.

My little plants feel like that today. They are now sentinels, potted and shelved, waiting for the landscapers to come and restore their earth.

They know it will be a momentous event that will leave them with the greatest present of all—new beds filled with rich earth and room to grow. So although they are scrunched into their pots they cannot help but glow a little in anticipation.

The dicentra ‘Candy Hearts’ has sent up some rosy buds.

The plants that suffered such a set-back in the cold only a short time ago have now bounced back and are sending up new babies.

Even one of our furry feline friends, Bob, has come outside to roll around and have his belly rubbed.

Surely the big day can’t be too far away now, can it?

May Pleasures

We ventured out into our local ravine yesterday for a hike with the wee toddler. (Hubby has a great backpack-type carrier for the little guy so we can go anywhere!)

The creek has settled down after its spring rush and is moving quite sedately, albeit with a skim of slushy ice pooling on it in the quieter locations. Because we love you, Miss May, we have learned to enjoy all your surprises — even the snow on the streams in the dark, mysterious corners of the ravine.

I love these little nooks who refuse to give up their winter mantle.

Spring is a season of contrasts. So, of course, up on a sunny hill a little later in our trek we saw our first butterfly of the season! Our little guy was delighted and kept pointing as the butterfly flitted about, “budderFLY, budderFLY!” He has only seen butterflies in books (except for last summer which he probably doesn’t remember as he was only one then). I don’t know what this butterfly is, so if any of you astute readers can offer a suggestion I would love to know more. I googled it and it kind of looks like a ‘Green Comma’ (lovely name!) but its wing shape wasn’t quite as ornate.

Out in the garden this morning there are signs of Spring's renewal. The dicentra ‘Candy Hearts’ (fern-leaf bleeding heart) I planted last year is showing vigorous signs of life.

As is the rhubarb, which was here when we got here. . (Looks like the brains of the operation to me!) I think it is gorgeous in full leaf and plan to keep it. I look forward to rhubarb and strawberry pie later in the summer…mmm.

Also, the purple irises (name unknown) that my Dad gave me last summer are coming up.

All these will have to be potted up before the landscapers come to take out the clay and bring in topsoil. Rest assured, little plants, you will all have a home in our new garden!