Anticipation

Some people looks for signs of the apocalypse, gardeners look for signs of spring. And that's why we rock. 

Last fall--a late, beautiful fall--we went a little crazy planting bulbs. The spring before was very late and the few bulbs we did have were the only thing that sustained me. To ensure my sanity this year, I really stocked up last September.

What keeps me dreaming...

Now, wonders of wonders, we are having an early spring. (Thank the gardening gods, I must have been a VERY good girl this year to get both a nice fall and an early spring!)

Signs of spring abound. A robin AND a buttercup were spotted about 100 km south of here (the buttercup even made the news!), Canada geese have been flying over our city all week, and snow piles are melting. Yesterday, I was almost sure I saw some greening grass on a southwest facing slope.  

So, yes, the signs are here. However, I am the proactive type so I'm going to meet Spring personally. That's right, at the end of the month during my son's spring break we are once again off to Victoria, BC, to visit Spring at her home. I can. not. wait!!! Now, hopefully, when I come back, spring will have arrived ahead of me. :)

I hope you are all enjoying the anticipation this season brings. :)

It's raining...It's snowing....

...At least my garden's growing!

Yes, the weather is terrible (-5c tonight!), but my garden is showing signs of life nonetheless. I am so grateful for all the bulbs we planted last fall. Most of them are still little green stems--brave souls--and determined.

Most exciting for me, however, is that teeny deep red spot in the bottom right photo. That, my friends, is one of the five hellebores I planted last summer---wooooo hoooo!!!

If I jump up and down and pump my fist in the air like I'm at a big-hair band concert, you will know I have FLOWERS. Oh, and I will publish photos, of course (of the plant, that is! ) :)

Wishing you all the best with your spring dreams.

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!

Saw something green emerging from the soil on the edge of a west facing garden bed today (not mine!), but thrilling just the same!

Although freezing temperatures are still ahead, spring is closer than she appears. I've already seen my first robin and a friend saw a Canada goose. Surely signs that warming is just around the corner here in the GWN. Two more days, people, then it's official!

Anyone else got that old Beatles song "here comes the sun" running through their head. :-)

Into the Greening...

Spring is here in the GWN! Never mind that it has snowed ONCE A WEEK this month. No matter, it doesn't stay, and besides, my garden just ignores the snow and grows anyway. If it can be so calm and single-minded, so can I. I consider this my version of out-staring old man winter -- he'll flinch first.

My greatest champion in staring down winter is my rhubarb. This was here when we moved here; a lone sign of life in a sea of ugly gravel. Despite what the experts say, we've moved it three times and it just keeps coming back brighter than ever. I made rhubarb crisp with it last year and it was divine. So, I'm sure you can imagine how happy I was to see my old friend return. (My son holds my hand and drags me each day to "check on the rhubarb!" I love this!)

 

This striped squill is my very first flower of the year -- and it is not even mine! Really. It is a volunteer that made its way to the side of our house. I think this is the third year it has shown up, much to my delight. I think it is absolutely charming.

 

The next brave soul is the columbine, aquilegia 'Beidermeier.' As I had secretly hoped, it has begun self seeding. I simply cannot get enough of the cool pastels of this intricate and elegant plant. It lines the path leading into the garden and lends a lovely woodland feel to the path. Welcome back, lovely lady!

 

The next eager starter is the clematis, macropetala 'Lagoon.' It is a sweet blue clematis that is practically maintenance-free. It grows on old growth and likes to get out there early and let the world know that there is a reason to stop and stare. Deceptively delicate looking, it is proving once again - now in its third year - that it is one tough cookie. My kinda vine.

 

Don't these peppery looking little flowers delight? They are not ones that we normally get to see close-up because they are usually so far above us. They are the flower of the tree, Ulmus Americana 'Brandon.' Generally referred to as the American elm, it is a stately vase-shaped tree found on boulevards across North America. Sadly, it has been decimated in many regions by Dutch Elm Disease, carried by a small beetle. Here in Alberta, we claim to be Dutch Elm Disease-free. I think there have been one or two cases reported; however, the province has a rigorous program in place to stop the disease, that so far seems to be working. I am taking it on faith that they will continue to be diligent, and so added this very favourite tree to my garden. I have the room for it and absolutely love them. In a few years these tiny, frothy flowers will be too high for me to see so I'll enjoy their proximity now.

  

Looking down, I see the patches of Lamium Maculatum 'White Nancy' are springing back to life. I put several of these in last year late in the season. I had this particular lamium in my previous garden and love the way it glows with a silvery light in the shade and in the evenings. The small white flowers look like pearls to me. I understand that some lamiums are thugs in certain conditions; however, White Nancy is a tidy and well-behaved ground cover here and blends beautifully with other shade-loving foliage. Welcome back, silver sister!

 

Another hardworking and under-appreciated beauty of the dappled light garden is Lady's Mantle, Alchemilla mollis. This beauty is one of the first to show up for the party and keeps her good looks all summer. You can't beat the silver beads of dew that grace her foliage in the morning and add sparkle to the garden. I put in several of these last year as well, and plan to add more this year as an edging plant.

  

An evergreen shrub I've always coveted is the Taunton's Yew, Taxus x media 'Tauntonii.' It has a graceful low form and soft, arching branches. I was delighted to see it came through its first winter without any burn or dieback. Most impressive. I may be adding more of these pretties as well.

 

And finally (I could go on as there is more coming up!), I will end with the Rosa rugosa 'Schneezwerg.' The snow dwarf is a sweet, simple white rose that blooms and blooms. I was very impressed with it last summer as the three of them were never without blooms. As a rugosa, it is a tough rose, but small, tidy and shapely. I look foward to seeing them fill in a little more this year.

  

I know this is my longest post in ages, but think of it as me exhaling after a long winter. Ahhhhh....I have plants growing! These are the days when you just can't wait to get out to the garden as soon as you race home to see what has grown while you were out. Um, can you tell I am thrilled? :)

I hope you are all enjoying the magic of spring, wherever your gardens may be. I'll be visiting your blogs as I can this week to check out spring as she is making her magic across the continents. Yay!

when you sing in your whisky voice

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's getting kinda slushy around these parts. When I'm wandering the trails I try to stay on the trodden path because the snow there is packed down and there is less possibility I will sink through to my knees. I can see the deer tracks really well in this damp snow and I know I am not that far behind them.

[These narcissus taken May 2010 in neighbour's front garden. Aren't they the cutest!]

The days lately have been brilliant sunshine and one section of my trail is closed off due to flooding. Greenish yellow water followed me down another trail today in gushes staining the snow in front of it. I bet that section of trail will be closed off by tomorrow. Crows are wheeling through the neighbourhood and the magpies are affronted.

Given all this extravagance of wakening earth after a hard, snowpacked winter, I can only think of one poem that really captures it. Here is my old university sweetheart...

...when you sing in your whisky voice
the grass rises on the head of the earth
and all the trees are put on edge...

Welcome back, Miss Spring. Like a gin-soaked favourite auntie with the best stories, hugging us all and smearing lipstick on the kids, you are bit late for the party, but we are still tickled pink that you are here.

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!

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!

A Paper Garden...

Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.
~ Napoleon Hill

Well, we have come up with a plan! Our mature yard, unloved for so many years, decades even, is coming to life!

The plan below represents two winters of dreaming out the window and one summer of evening meanderings. Last summer we got the old stumps that were along the borders all ground out and we got a fence up. Why so slow, you ask? Well, with a toddler to enjoy and home renovations underway, it's all we could manage.

This year so far, we have settled on a landscaper to do the excavation work of taking out all the gravel and concrete pavers and about six inches of clay. He will bring in topsoil and lay the sod and prep the beds with bark mulch. That will be our foundation for gardening. I know all the experts say to do your hardscaping first, but we haven’t decided on exactly what we want for hardscaping yet and I simply can’t wait another year before I garden!

Although we know we want either a patio or deck out there and have a vague notion of the shape, I am happy to sit out on the grass until we do decide.



As you can see in the plan, there will be lots of areas to plant. Everything marked “mulch” is prime planting space! I will have an almost 10 ft deep semi-rounded bed for shade plants, some shrub areas around my spruce in the back and lots of sunny areas for some hardy roses and other flowering shrubs and perennials.

Along the north side (right side of image) I want to put a privacy screen of a variety of columnar trees and some high shrubs. I want a mix of deciduous and evergreen so that there is winter interest. These have to been quite narrow or standard-shaped as I only have about eight feet of bed there between the fence and the area where we will have a patio or deck.

On the south side (left) I want to put one deciduous tree with a high and rounded, but not too dense, canopy to screen out the view of the side of the neighbour’s house. I would also like this tree to have some winter interest so I am thinking of something with an interesting bark, such as Prunus maackii ‘Jefree’ (Goldrush® Amur Cherry). Around this tree will be shrubs and perennials for shade. (Maybe even a water feature someday. One must continue to dream!)

So many decisions to make! I am working on a list of plants, shrubs and trees I like and what might be suitable to the particular locations in my garden.

Right now, we have to pot up what I do have planted out there already (treasures I couldn’t resist even though I knew we were going to have a major upheaval!) and pick out the stepping stones.

Oh, did I mention the landscaper said they should have it done in May? Cross your fingers with me, dear gardeners, and think positive thoughts that they stay on schedule!

Edit: I have tried to post this so that the picture of the plan will enlarge as you click on it- to no avail, I'm afraid. It seems to be random in that some do and some don't. If anyone knows the secret, please share!

Egads!

So. We woke up to this familiar white stuff this morning. In late April. *cough*

I thought snow had left us for more arctic climes, but it appears that life was just so good here that it doesn't really want to leave.
It lightly dusted everything and warned the weatherman it may be back for more mischief.

I rushed out to see how my little plants were doing that I covered in plastic the night before.

Not so good, it seems. A little floppy and worse for the night.

So I did what I should have done earlier. I put them up in the garage window where it is insulated but not heated. (Never really gets below zero in there)

Aren't they sad? I really, really hope they make it back to their perky selves.

In brighter news: We have a landscaper coming tomorrow morning to talk to us about our plans for the yard. Wish us luck!

Just a teensy weensy bit of shopping...

Did I shop while I visited the display garden at a local garden centre over the past weekend? Yes, yes, I did. Not until the end, though! Can I possibly blame my friend for my weakness? I can try. She did tell me that the special items tend to go quickly and might not be there when I am ready to garden. Oh, and being Easter weekend and all, there was a great sale on Easter items! I would have been foolish to pass it by. I tell myself with stern conviction.

So of course I was very practical. I bought an Easter serving tray and bowls that were on sale for half price. Who could blame me at $12.50? It would have been foolish to walk by. Um, really.

And then: Three very adorable plants

I got this lovely hosta, ‘Touch of Class’. While we were there, I was describing to my friend a beautiful hosta that I had seen once and thought gorgeous. I think this is it. The centre is a soft lime green with blue and green margins that look like they were painted on by a water colourist. My great aunt was a water colourist, and one time she painted all the wild flowers of her home province in one painting. This hosta looks like something she would have painted.

Next was a lovely and finely drawn Adiantum pedatum ‘American Maidenhair Fern’.

I am smitten with this plant. I had one in my first garden and loved its shy beauty. If I were a fairy, I think I would make a long skirt of layers of maidenhair fern lace. It adds such texture to a garden and makes other plants around it shine. The kind of plant you want on your team.

Finally, I bought this Heuchera 'Plum Royale'. Quite frankly, it dazzled me as soon as I entered the garden centre. There was a guy leaving with a trolley that had the bottom shelf of it filled with these. I found myself saying “wooooo” as they wheeled by me. The silvery sheen laid over the plum colour is like an evening dress with silvery tissue over a plum satin. Every girl should have one once in her life.

So now I have to keep them all alive until it gets warmer. If the garden is going to be in upheaval this summer for any amount of time, (as I suspect it may well be) then I think I may put them in the ground right in their pots until things settle down and I can find them a permanent spot. I hope that will work.

But really, I must hold off on buying plants until the ground is ready for them. I must. Really.

Except for annuals. For the pots. I can’t ignore my pots. Now that would just be rude.

"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments." -Janet Kilburn Phillips

Inspiration feeds the dream...

A friend and I slipped away to a local garden centre this past weekend for a little inspiration.

This was my second visit, as I had been to see this year’s display garden a few weeks ago. It stayed in my mind and I knew I really liked it. I wanted to go back to look at it more analytically and find out why I liked it so much.

The first thing that jumps to mind is the garden’s focus on foliage and texture. The array of hostas is amazing, as it the variety of textures in all the plant materials. My first garden (two oh-so-short summers!) was mostly a shade garden and I fell in love with textures and foliage. I like green, I really, really like green, in all its shades.

I also find I like structure. The bones of a garden are important to me. I like the variety of heights and shapes in this garden. I think the cedars in the background and the standards in the beds create a sense of enclosure and intimacy in the garden. They also bring the garden up to eye level so that everything isn’t below you. It all seems a little more lush as you feel you are moving through the garden, not just stepping over it.

I have to say I like the colours of the large man-made structures as well: they really let the plant material take centre stage and allow you to accent with whatever colours and blooms you choose, without competition. So while they provide a frame for the garden, they really do step back and let the garden itself be the star.

Now, mind you, this garden is something of a blank slate to me as well. It is crying out for blooms and accents. It is like a gorgeous room waiting for rugs and curtains and art and sparkle. I think in that sense it provides me with inspiration as a starting point.

This pot of perennials I spotted there would be a perfect addition to that garden. I thought it was absolutely sublime. The colours are subtle and the shapes are very architectural.

So, as I dream and plan my first real I’m-not-going-anywhere-for-a-while-garden, my lessons learned from this display garden are this:

1. Form matters – I must give my garden some good bones.
2. Don’t forget texture – it adds great depth and interest.
3. Bring some of it up to eye level – it connects you to your garden and makes you feel in it.
4. I want a water feature. There were several in this garden and they were mostly understated, but the sound was somehow joyful.

Next up: Did I leave the garden centre empty-handed as per my intentions? Of course not!

When your garden is finished I hope it will be more beautiful than you anticipated, require less care than you expected,and have cost only a little more than you had planned. - Thomas D. Church

Spring lives here!

We are still working on a plan for the back yard. In the meantime, the real spring found us; slipping softly into our yard with an early morning shimmer of gold that the snow simply couldn’t resist, so it melted at spring’s feet.

It couldn’t have happened at a better time – the beginning of the Easter long weekend. Time to finally go into the yard and listen to the sound of the returning birds.

I took this photo from the second storey of the house to show you the big picture.




Here is the south facing side of the yard. Pretty empty, hmm?



And here is the north…

Here is a small sampling of the caragana runners that had taken over under the spruce along the west of the yard.
Before we put the fence in last summer there was a chain link fence that ran under the spruce to divide us from the back lane. Along this fence was a 40-something year old caragana hedge gone rampant. We cut it down and had the stump man grind it out; however the runners remained.

While the toddler napped yesterday afternoon we hacked and clipped and loped. Hubby even cut down a dead tree and tore down a long-dead shrub with his bare hands and a few tools.

The best part for me, though, was when I pushed on a dead spruce and it started to wobble! I gave it a few pushes and…

Voila!! I winked at hubby and told him he could just call me Wonderwoman.

*hee hee*

Oh, and as I poked around the garden, I even found a sign of life

The Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy' I planted on the side of the house peeping out from under some well-established Convallaria majalis (Lily of the Valley).

Because our soil is such hard compacted clay (water pools on it), I didn’t have to worry about compressing it as I walked on it (or the gravel), so to top this luxuriously warm day off, we pulled out the wee toddler’s new play set and when we woke him from his nap he squinted at the sun and seemed hesitant to step out the door. (At just-turned-two, he is probably too young to remember anything but winter!) Once he tapped his way across the gravel and made his way to the play set, he too found the joy that is Spring.

"If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall." ~ Nadine Stair

Next up: After all my hard work yesterday, today I slipped off with a friend to one of my favourite garden centres to be inspired…not, ahem, to actually buy anything...