Green again!

Great to be out working in my garden again!

Did some heavy weeding, transplanting and planting in the pollinator garden and ravine.

On the back ravine, I ripped out enough English ivy to fill a standard garden waste bag (30 gallons!)  

Unfortunately, my neighbour planted the English ivy in his ravine a few years ago and now his entire ravine slope is covered with it, smothering all the lovely green ferns that used to grow there. All his trees are dying, likely due to the concrete he dumped to try and prevent erosion. It instead seems to have compressed the soil, and the ivy doesn't help things either. It is making its way over to my slope and for the past few years I've been digging it out, but it may be a lost cause. It's tough to navigate heavy weeding on the ravine slope, I really do need to be careful not to take a tumble.

I planted some new perennials I picked up at the TBG had annual plant sale.

We'll see if the Black Snakeroot can manage an effective defence against the English Ivy. The nativar is also known as bugbane and I have it elsewhere in my garden. Not sure how it will manage on the ravine as it prefers moist soil, and I have a low maintenance policy in that area. I'm giving it a try as I like the dark colour and fern-like quality of the foliage. Chocoholic has burgundy-purple foliage is topped by fragrant, pink to white, bottlebrush-like blooms in fall.

Northern bush honeysuckle
Diervilla Ionicera

I've also planted native honeysuckle, or diervilla ionicera. It is supposed to be very hardy and adaptable to slopes, which makes it effective in fighting erosion. The pretty flowers are a bonus to pollinators, and the foliage changes to red in the fall.  Transplanted some ferns to make extra space so the bush honeysuckle could easily spread. 

Its suckers should form a good thicket with time. Under normal conditions the bush is supposed to live about 20 years. Relatively easy care, will grow in most soils and is drought resistant. Best to prune in late winter.

From the Wild Seed Project: The constant floral banquet benefits butterflies and moths and any long-tongued insects who can probe for nectar. Aside from native bumblebees, (Bombus affinis, B. terricola, B. vagans) the Sphingidae (called sphinx moths as larvae, and hawk or hummingbird moths as adults sip bush-honeysuckle’s flower nectars from long straw-like mouth parts. Smaller short-tongued insect diners include the Anthophoridae (digger bees) the Megachilidae (leafcutter bees) and the Halictidae (sweat bees, Lasioglossum species). After any of these attendants have visited, and incidentally pollinated the flowers, bush-honeysuckle’s flowers turn deeper yellow, salmon, peach then red, adding other colors to the shrub’s lively palette.

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Wild bergamot is now nestled in with the lamium in the pollinator garden. A member of the mint family, Wild Bergamot blooms for 1 month in early to mid summer and attracts many of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. It is not the same as bee balm, which has red blooms and attracts different species of pollinators.

The Japanese anemone isn't native, but it does attract butterflies, so I dug 'Curtain Call Pink' into the pollinator garden in the front. This is a shorter stature Japanese Anemone that begins to bloom in late summer, and produces bright rose pink flowers that are positioned right above a small mound of green foliage. Spreads slowly through rhizomes.