August garden notes (2024)

Basically, I have a sailor's garden that has to make do with minimal care through the months of July and August. But I was at home more this summer than I have been in a very long time and had a chance to observe, appreciate, and tend my garden.  

Look how tall those roses are! (on the far left of the top photo). They are taller than the eavestrough. That particular rose bush is probably almost as old as the house, which was built in 1952. One of my garden visitors identified it as  'Rosa Queen Elizabeth', which would make sense for the period in question. We've admired it over the decades but haven't really fussed over it, however  Rob gave the plant a bit of fertilizer and they seemed to love the attention. Quite stunning! I'll have to research roses a bit to figure out how far back to prune these beauties, and when. I'd like them a bit shorter next summer so we can admire their blooms without a stepladder.

I love that daphne shrub! It is still flowering through August. The hydrangea is looking splendid. Both are non-natives, but attract lots of different pollinators. 

When the city limbed it up, I thought the spruce looked hideous and want to cut it and replace it with smaller natives like an Eastern redbed or paw paw. Since we haven't gotten permission to take it down,  I'm working around it and the Virginia Creeper vine is greening the trunk. I know some people are offended by the vine but the birds quite love it. Under the spruce, I planted a bunch of native seedlings, including echinacea, which didn't flower this year. Other plants keep dying under the spruce & I'm not entirely sure why. Acidic needles? I will amend the soil this fall.

Having fresh lavender and tarragon was a bonus and the violets were a lovely addition to cake and ice cream. The hummingbird sage actually attracted its namesake, as did the butterfly milkweed.

After morning Qigong in the backyard I'd spend some time weeding the moss between the garden slate. I never really understood that moss needed to be weeded until my trip to Japan. Now it doesn't feel as much a chore, as much as an exercise in mindfulness. 

I love sitting in the corner and looking at how green everything looks after the rain.

 

July Garden

I can't remember a July that I've spent as much time at home in the garden. Usually we are out and about on the boat, but Rob is taking this time to focus on some updates to prep for the boat survey this fall. Actually, good timing as we want to be near for Alex and Penny and Nora.

There are hardly any weeds between the flagstones in the back as I take the opportunity to pull them when I do my morning Qi Gong. The birds are getting used to me by the feeder and come while I am playing at movements like Wild Goose Flying and Hawk Glaring.

The front yard's expanded garden takes even less time to mow. I have actually been enjoying weeding, thinking of it more as 'editing'... The purslane has been part of our salads, and leaving the seeds to sprout from last year's dill has been a happy thing. Fresh dill in salads and dips, and sprigs to company. The seed pods are lovely placed in vases inside. A refreshing scent as we make our way to the front door. Black swallowtail caterpillars found the dill a feast. Also had a monarch caterpillar on the swamp milkweed (July 26). Bees absolutely loved the flowers on the hosta and are now discovering the hydrangea.

Rob and I have been thrilled to watch the evening primrose in the back, opening in real time, in 20 seconds. And the prickly pear flowered in the beginning of the month! I don't particularly like yellow flowers, but it does happen that many of the flowers I like just happen to be yellow.

The weather reminded me of summers in my childhood - hot days, cool nights. I was surprised to hear Kaarina remark the same - so it isn't only me. It was great while it lasted, as August grew quite sweltering. I wonder if it was the evening heat that triggered the bleeding hearts, poppies and dogwoods into their second flowering? 

The water hyacynth and water lettuce are growing like mad in the pond, excess being tossed into the back ravine for compost.

Dahlias are tumbling onto the front walk. I have to stake them sooner in the season!

Share * Inform * Inspire

I am now a certified (certifiable?) Toronto Master Gardener, having fulfilled the course and volunteer requirements. Alex, Penny and Rob came to the ceremony at Toronto Botanical Gardens in June, and then we all went out for dinner after to celebrate. A wonderful evening. 

As part of volunteering with TMG this past month, I have continued to manage educational outreach with the Toronto Public Library but I also worked a couple of 'Ask a Toronto Master Gardener' shifts and offered advice at the Leaside Garden tour. Quid pro quo for staffing the tour was being able to peek into the backyards on offer.  

Over thirty ago I joined the East York Garden Club, and when returned to speak as a panelist in late May, it made me realize how much I have learned over the years, and how much more there is to discover!  Questions from members were provided in advance, and as I was researching the answers I learned new things about pruning fruit trees, transplanting lilies and dividing dahlias. 

In June, I also went to several pop-up tours which were offered by EYGC members. Someone organized a special afternoon where eight of us could all visit each other's gardens together, sequentially, to see what was growing. Many of these gardeners have provided revelations for me in years gone by and continue to inspire. I was delighted to be asked to participate and also somewhat intimidated because my own garden was included and so many of the others are truly spectacular. Bonus: I picked up some plants along the way.

I love these local tours because they give me a chance to explore 'the art of the possible,' that is, what grows in the area, micro climates, and seeing what can be accomplished in gardens of various sizes and budgets. There is also the welcome surprise of certain plant combinations and designs. So much incredible diversity and each garden really does reflect the gardener.

June Garden (2024)

The back garden was gorgeous, with the beauty bush attracting tiger swallowtails like mad, giant rodgersia spikes competing for attention; and when the iris blooms faded the clematis was eager to take the stage. The yellow wood poppy is thriving where it is, and it has such beautiful foliage and fuzzy seedpods. I plan on dividing & moving some in the shade along the side fence. 

One afternoon we watched it 'snow' as fluff from nearby Eastern Cottonwoods fell gracefully to the ground. Large flowers hung from the Black Locust trees in the ravine, and my native honeysuckle was blooming for the first time. Meanwhile, one of the red trilliums sprouted a fourth leaf for luck. The Butterfly Milkweed seedlings from last year were standing tall and some even had flower buds. Water hyacinth and water lettuce were keeping the fish company in the pond.

June's main project was to expand the front garden and do some transplanting

• Eastern Prickly pear and succulents to a safer, sunnier spot in the front yard where they could call home
• Creeping thymes were planted in the front where they can be easily divided and transplanted to the backyard later ('elfin' for heavy foot traffic which is slower growing and evergreen;  'coccineus' which is a strong grower & drought tolerant plant for planting between flagstones & moderate foot traffic).
• Hellebore was moved again! Just this spring I had moved from the back to front, but it was getting far too much sun, so it was re-transplanted to the backyard. A sun-loving Carpathian bellflower was planted in its stead  (Campanula carpatica 'Deep Blue')

I do regret not harvesting that Spruce tree in our front yard when it was smaller! However, now it is there, and limbed up ten feet by the city. I'm trying to make the best of it by creating a home for pollinators. Now we have wild geranium, sea holly, bergamot, daisy, lamb's ears, aster and cone flower. It's doubtful the seedlings and transplants will flower this year but the more established are all healthy. Still to do in pollinator garden: reduce the Japanese spurge; transplant black-eyed susans; move lamb's ears. 

other notes: 

• a groundhog seems to have moved in, under the steps in the front yard. we are trying a garden whirligig to scare it away. that, and a bit of talk radio. we also tried some of Griskit's kitty litter at the entrance hole
• the coyotes are drinking from our pond! we have seen them in both our front and backyard, and wandering the street during the day. Griskit does not seem to be taking any extra precautions, although we've come home to find her on our roof a couple of times
• Itoh peony did not flower, will have to check depth of planting
• trying out Dahlias in the front garden

***

Just this past May I broke my resolution not to buy more plants. Then come June, I donated most of my daylilies to various plant sales and then was trying to find more places for

• Ontario Native Plants seedlings (Butterfly milkweed (3); Foam Flower (3); Purple Coneflower (5); Scarlet Beebalm (4); Wild Bergamot (7); Wild Columbine (2)) 
•  Seedling plant exchanges: anise hyssop from Vlad; wild columbine from Tina C; shortii aster from Anna
• Transplants from Roni: penstemon; evening primrose; Japanese anemone
• Richters Herbs: evening primrose (native); hummingbird sage, Bay, curly violet, french tarragon; french lavender
• Sheridan: Coreopsis 'Little Bang Daybreak' (replacing pulminaria; Gaura 'Graceful White' (by pond)
• East End Garden Centre: Bellflower and Hens and Chicks (Hens and Chicks did not survive the transplant :-( )

May - Full Flower Moon 2024

The Flower Moon was full on Thursday May 23 and we could see it very well on the cloudless night, on the drive home from Koerner Hall.

Really is so aptly named, for all the abundance in the garden! Peonies, poppies and alliums in bloom with all the bees buzzing about. I do love this time of year.

May 17 /  23 /  25

Plans afoot

After about ten hours or more of pulling Scilla from the back garden I have a grudging respect for its ability to self-propagate. This plant was a traveller from my neighbour's garden and more than doubled its footprint in the last year. Despite my best efforts I think it will be returning next year, and HORRORS, I was pulling strands out of the patch of blood root. Now half the lawn is missing in the back and we have plans for sod to fill in the space.

I also wanted to slightly expand the front garden and take some of the non-natives from the back to the front. Hellebore, brunera, pulmonaria.

Just move things around, and try to focus more on native plants. 

This was also going to be the year I didn't spend much on new plants. Ha ha.

Our fence blew over in a winter storm and I lost quite a few plants when a crew fixed the damage. Thankfully we were able to keep the panels that Rob and Alex built together 18 years ago. But the frame and footings needed to be replaced, they'd rotted. Meanwhile, anything planted along the fence was trampled - including all the clematis I'd planted last year. I wanted Henryi, but couldn't seem to find any in nursery stock in Toronto, so settled for two white 'Ninon' that are easily pruned (cut back to 12" in spring).

I did want some more Canadian anemone and Jack in the pulpit. Ontario Native Plants was my first stop, ordering online. They had neither available, but that didn't stop me from getting some purple bergamot and scarlet bee balm.... and some butterfly bush, purple coneflower, and foam flower. This will ship in June. 

In the meantime I was still on the hunt for some Jacks and Anemone, and found a native nursery in Caledon called Plant Paradise. I left with some real treasures, some I'd been looking for and others I didn't realize I needed until I saw them.

Jack in the Pulpit x 3
Anemone canadensis × 2
Actaea racemosa (Black Cohosh/snakeroot)
Iris cristata
Pulsatilla (Pasque flower)
Myrrhis odorata (Sweet Cicely)
Artemisia lactiflora ‘Guizhou’
Paeonia Pink double dandy (Intersectional Peony - Itoh)
Root Rescue (mychorrizal fungi)

The Black Cohosh has already replaced a Smokebush that was surrounded with Wild Ginger and May Apple.  I'm looking forward to white plumes in autumn. Hopefully this won't get too large for the space, but if it does it will find a home in the ravine.

The trio of Jacks is under the Japanese maple, and one anemone went to the front and another to the back.

Sweet Cicely has gone under the bird feeder. Not native, but wonderfully aromatic. The Artimesia, also not native, will likely be gifted to Alex and Penny  as it likes more of a sandy soil and lots of sun (what was I thinking?). 

I'm still trying to decide on the best spots for the Iris and Pasque Flower, likely in the place of a hellebore or brunera.

The biggest surprise on the list is the Itoh Peony! This plant is definitely NOT native. This is 'intersectional', that is,  a tree peony crossed with a herbaceous peony. The blooms should last a full month, and the plant itself should last more than fifty years. This may have been the most I've ever spent on a flowering plant, but I'm already looking forward to seeing how it does this spring. But first we have to expand the garden.  My big garden 'to do' next week is to get this plant into the ground so it can bloom in June.

The other ambition is to potentially add a Japanese element in the back garden. Spirit lamp? Rain chain? Water feature? Rock? Moss? Karesansui dry garden? Probably best to finish the other two projects before starting in with this one. It will be fun to research!

April showers bring May flowers

Despite being very sick upon my return from Japan, I've been spending quite a lot of time in the back garden.

Dig, dig, cough, cough. A combination of allergies and a respiratory bug. Same time this year, last year, I also had a cough so bad it was hurting my ribs. Better luck next year.

I've also been to the Master Gardeners of Ontario conference, visited the Guelph Arboretum, the Humber Arboretum, and Toronto Botanical Gardens. Lots of local inspiration.

I was happy to learn that the coreopsis in my back garden is native, and so is the potentilla planted a couple of years ago by the front steps.

Meanwhile, the yellow wood poppy planted in the fall of 2022 is thriving. The red trilliums are back. The bloodroot put on a fine show, but as usual didn't last. I was a bit alarmed by how well the zig zag goldenrod is doing, so moved that to the front under the spruce. 

I will save photos of the tulips, daffodils, and allium for another post.

Succulents and natives

I was so intrigued by the native prickly pear I wanted one for my garden. I've seen them in the neighbourhood, and Alex has them too, so I know they survive our cold winters.

Last fall I planted two and they came back nicely. Being an impatient gardener, I picked up a larger one on a visit to a farmer's market in Wolfe Island.

I planted some annual porticulata. A friend told me they would self-seed in her childhood garden. I hope that's the case, although it will serve nicely as an annual.

Then surprise! What I thought was a ground cover  'sedum' came into flower. Google images recognizes it as an ice plant succulent. I remember planting one of those a few years ago, it must have rejuvenated after I cleared out some of the lamb's ears in its way. The ice plant is a succulent native to Africa, but it  looks right at home nestled beside the prickly pear.

I also picked up some native Hairy Beardstongue - or Penstemon Hirsutus - at the TMG plant swap to keep them company. The Beardstongue also self-seeds.

In my haste to establish these I may have mistakenly removed the Pearly Everlasting I planted last fall. oops

May Flowers

It is so energizing to watch the ravine green in May. The tree's leaves fill and create a beautiful private haven. 

Ferns proliferate and blue flowers make a carpet from forget-me-nots, lamiium, brunera, and pulmonaria. Tulips and alliums in a graceful dance. I particularly liked the yellow tulips in the front - they were especially long lasting and ended up fading to white.

Always happy to give Alex transplants, too. This year it was hellebores and brunera, plus a fern. His garden is thriving! I also brought several plants over to Amita's backyard to make a new home.

When we came back from Chicago the peonies were in full bloom. I actually pulled up a chair one day so I could sit and enjoy every petal and take in the fragrance. The blossoms were so heavy one of the branches snapped off, so we created a beautiful indoor arrangement to enjoy the rescued flowers. The scent permeated the house for days and fallen petals made a potpourri. 

I've ordered a Japanese hori hori knife so I can properly prune the tree peony branches.

Bladderwort native is such a gem, with its exotic flowers. And the Mayapple blooms seemed especially large this year. A Jack came back, which was good to see, along with a red trillium. I'd pre-ordered some native plants from the North American Native Plant society and was especially disappointed by the two trout lilies and Dutchman's breeches. The specimens were dead within a day of me picking them up. When I followed up with NAAPs to complain they explained that these ephemerals were just dormant and should be back next spring. I'll put a note in my calendar to follow up with them next year. The plants weren't cheap and the breeches were as small as the moon on my fingernail. I'm not so sure I will pre-order plants unseen next year. 

I did get another red trillium and a few more Jacks that are in the ground, although when I was looking out the upstairs back window I saw a squirrel digging up one of the younger Jacks. The brat!  I now have a cover protecting them as they get established. I would love to have a colony of Jacks in the backyard to admire throughout the season.

Barrenwort