Saturday, November 30, 2013

DEER ARE WELCOMED GUESTS

I know many gardeners feel differently about deer and that I only have one year of gardening with them under my belt, so perhaps my frustration with them will grow. 
For now however, I just love seeing them.

We were never going to see a deer in our neighbourhood in Toronto. Being closer to nature was one of the reasons we moved from Toronto to Winnipeg and seeing these awesome animals while out on my evening stroll I feel happy to be back home.

Tonight I saw three different deer during my dog walk the first two in the large park nearby.

Then, surprisingly, another with substantial antlers rubbing them against a neighbour's tree in their front yard. I walked up the street and it moved parallel for quite a distance until it came to this tree where it could reach up and eat the leaves that had never fallen to the ground. It stopped there and I must have watched it graze for 5 minutes before heading home.
Hope to see you again soon deer. 
Oh, and by the way, everything I planted this fall is rated deer resistant.

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Sharing with Nature Notes & Our World Tuesday

Monday, November 25, 2013

FACEBOOK - give it a whirl?

If I am behind publishing a new post (like I am right now!) I am still often active sharing links and photos on Facebook. 
https://www.facebook.com/aStudentGardener?ref=hl

I have made five Facebook posts since I shared my last blog post eight days ago, including photos of flowers from my recent trip to San Fransisco and the launch of my first ever bulb-forcing experiment.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

THE STRIP II

If necessity is really the mother of invention then she had a hand in this.  
I had extra daylilies - lots of them - and nowhere to plant them.

But a gardener can always find somewhere...

It occurred to me that there was nothing distinguishing about where our driveway enters the street.
High shrubs on either side but plain old flat lawn in the middle.  Adding the daylilies is really all about the foliage; while not quite an urn on a pedestal the height & weight of the daylilies' foliage will give it a somewhat grander feeling whether or not it gets enough sun to bloom under those elms.  It will also help to define the borders which is inherently more formal than two properties that simply blend into one another.
Since it is 100% on my northern neighbour's property I made a proposal which she thought about for a couple of days then happily agreed to. So far we have removed less than a quarter of the grass that will eventually go. 
This is a case where bigger will be better and adding some depth to the dayliliy row will increase that sense of formality as the border lengthens. The red line denotes a natural break where the pavement changes colour. Stopping there feels right, like the two lines may subtly reinforce one another.

Even when they have shrunk down in late summer I can see the potential next year of this no-maintenance garden bed.

Since daylilies bloom later in the season I felt obliged to add something to the mix that will give back earlier in the season.  This week I added 25 daffodils randomly mixed between these two gorgeous varieties:

Centannees Split Cup DaffodilTiritomba Split Cup Daffodil

Centannees Split Cup and Tiritomba Split Cup.


The soil was pretty serious clay. 
I have no fear for the daylilies, who seem able to thrive anywhere, but I am concerned for the bulbs. 
Only time will tell so look for a follow up post next April.


Check out the story of the first time I took over the strip of grass between my neighbour and I.

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Sharing with Foliage Follow Up.       

ANATOMY OF MONET GARDEN - 2 of 3


Earlier this week I posted about the first of three stages in creating my "Monet Garden" by describing what I planted last spring.  This post is about what I just finished planting today. The third post will detail what I am going to plant next spring and pull it all together in one terribly messy map.

The pink rectangle are 5 purple Nicky Phlox. I hear they can get by with part sun but will there be enough?

phlox paniculata nicky
Stay tuned.

Yellow oval represents 25 Atropurpureum Allium which may bloom at the same time as the surrounding Iris.

Allium atropurpureum. Pure love. The grass underneath is Festuca glauca, a cool season grass.
Stay tuned.

In the odd orange shape with a 90 degree angle are 200 Pearl Blue Species Crocus  If they work well there will be many more.

Stay tuned.

Purple circle top left is a random mix of 25 each of Delft Blue and Peter Stuyvesant plus 3 other shades of blue in quantities of 12, 10 & 8, all randomly mixed together. Plus 6 from the second mix below.
Hyacinth Flowers   

Left hand circle has 42 randomly mixed Sky Jacket and Blue Jacket which may have been planted too late in the season to survive!
Hyacinth orientalis 'Sky Jacket'   Image of Hyacinthus orientalis 'Sky Jacket'
Stay tuned.

The small bright blue circle represents 25 Dutch Iris which are a fitting addition to my Monet colour palette.  I would have loved to put in up to 200 right away but I am still learning how much light this bed actually gets and I need to see some proof before I dive in.

Dutch Iris Blue & White Blend

 This is what it looks like when fall is added on top of spring.
The Blazing Star have been removed from where the Iris and Hyacinths are, I have already transplanted as many of the 80 as I could find to where they will get more sun

Parts 1 of 3 & 3 of 3
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Sharing with Fertilizer Friday

Thursday, November 14, 2013

ANATOMY OF MONET GARDEN - 1 of 3

I loved my original plans for the front garden but it turns out that there is not enough sun getting to this bed for quite a number of the plants I had chosen to live there, let alone thrive, and "thriving" is how I envision all my gardens three years out.

So it is time for what we call at work a COE or Correction of Error.  The 'error' of course was planting so much in my first year rather than waiting and observing, but honestly this is how I learn. Even still I am one year in and still unsure whether the garden is part-sun or part-shade, but now I know it is certainly not full-sun, and next year I will learn even more.
 I have everything planted and  planned but since I have been remiss about documenting what has happened in the bed since moving in let us take it a step at a time. In the end the design is not that different in many ways from what I had originally planned (above).

We will start with a look at what I planted this past spring after having built the garden the previous fall.

Small triangles are lilies: some incredibly tall ones that were here already and some gorgeous cream coloured ones I planted with dinner plate sized flowers.

Bright blue are Iris. Those in the far left oval are white with purple falls that I bought at a Friends of Gardens Manitoba annual plant sale.
The long pink oval along the front is made up of two kinds of Bellflowers that I have grown from seed. 

Green crosses are Verbascum that came from the garden of a work colleague (thank you Rhonda). Apparently they need full sun and flop over in rich soil so I am going to move them into the backyard where the bed is mostly original soil as compared to this freshly made lasagna garden.

Yellow heart is a lone blue Lupine.

Green circle were 80 purple Liatris that definitely did not get enough sun but whose bulbs all still looked very heavy when I moved them into the Sun Garden.

Blue stars are Bachelor's Button from Shelmerdine's that I got just before I admitted to myself that this garden was not getting as much sun as I had hoped and planned for.  Happily I was able to use a gift certificate I had gotten for Christmas (thanks Joyce & Gerry)

I did not include a marker for the Bachelor's Buttons I started from seed but they are spread along the front, and while they make for gorgeous close-up photos they are lanky and spindly and I do not hold much hope for them long-term here.

Nor did I include markers for Flax or tall purple Asters, both of which I planted in the spring but neither of which are getting enough sun to have much of a future in this bed.
 


White circles are one of the few contrasting colours, yellow somethingorothers.

Bright green oval is Lamium that was previously growing in the original part of this bed but has really taken off in the new soil since transplant.

Yellow vertical rectangle is Globe Thistle. Stunted this year, but perhaps that is normal for its first year from seed? Or perhaps it did not get enough sun - also very possible.

Blue vertical rectangle and blue horizontal rectangle I believe to be tall purple German Iris, the same as in the Sun Garden, but I cannot be sure until they bloom one day.

Also in the horizontal one I planted a 50 tiny Iris Reticulada as soon as we moved in a year ago, about 20 of which came up last spring.


 The red smile is made up of Allium Molly, another of the few yellows. Whether Hyacinth or Geranium it should have some contrasting companions sharing its bloom time.

Odd purple shape is made up of about a dozen Hardy Geranium which should fairly quickly take maintenance for that whole part of the garden off of my hands by filling it all up.

The light grey-ish purple circle to the far right are 3 blue Columbines which may very well get overrun by the Geranium. 

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 describing what I planted this fall and what is on the menu for next year respectively.
 
 Parts 2 of 3 & 3 of 3

Saturday, November 09, 2013

CLOSING UP SHOP

Short of getting my order from Van Fleur with literally still dozens of things to plant and freezing temperatures creeping in, I am done and ready to finish closing up shop.  
Thank goodness the weather has been hospitable.

I grew lots of plants in the Sun Garden this summer I had never grown before so I had to learn about their pruning procedures and it turns out they almost all get severely cut back:









I will leave them until last and see how I am feeling...

Let us hear it for tomorrow, one of the season's final days to be spent outside.
Hip hip hooray!

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Sharing with Fertilizer Friday, Today's Flowers, Floral Friday Flowers, Very Close

Monday, November 04, 2013

REPORT CARD - fall planting update

It has been six weeks since I placed a large order from Van Fleur and about half of it has come in so far, in three different shipments.  Being in zone three I would prefer to have all of these in the ground already; last year on November 10th we had 30 cm of snow that stuck around for six months.

If the rest of my plants and bulbs do not get here soon I am worried they may not have enough time to settle in before the freeze sets in.  

On the bright side Van Fleur has a money back guarantee, but I would rather not have to plant things twice, even if I only have to pay for them once.



ARRIVED AND PLANTED - MOON GARDEN



5 DOUBLE PEONY FESTIVA MAXIMA ($29.50)
Paeonia lactiflora ‘Festiva Maxima’
At the front of the garden despite their height, in order that they get enough sun to bloom.

50 CHIONODOXA LUCILIAE ALBA ($6)

These small early bloomers were spread amongst the peony at the start of the path to the bench.

25 ALLIUM GRACEFUL ($17)
Allium Graceful!
East end of the Moon Garden, closer to the front than I had originally planned considering they turned out to only grow 12" tall. Quelle surprise!

10 TALL BEARDED GERMAN IRIS QUEEN OF ANGELS ($27.50)
~Iris 'Queen Of Angels'
In front of the Phlox I am still waiting for, around the base of the lilac trees; these are at the front of the Moon Garden despite their height, in order to receive enough light.

25 HYACINTH CARNEGIE ($12.50)

In front of and alongside the Iris in some sort of triangular, carefully chosen yet (hopefully) random looking shape.



ARRIVED AND PLANTED - SUN GARDEN

5 PHLOX ORANGE PERFECTION ($13)

Orange Perfection Hybrid Tall Phlox 
These are going to look amazing inter-planted with purple Blazing Star in the original part of the Sun Garden, which I revamped a few weeks ago.



       
25 JONQUILLA DAFFODIL KEDRON ($14.50)

I had great success with these sweet smelling beauties at the Ontario cottage and added them to the middle of the Sun Garden.

25 HYACINTH GYPSY QUEEN ($12.50)
Hyacinth Gypsy Queen
I planted these in two groups at opposite ends of the original (portion of the) Sun Garden and also added orange Darwin Hybrid Tulips directly across the path from them in the new Sun Garden. Will they bloom at the same time?

From CostCo another 150 Darwin Hybrid Tulips:

Daydream Tulip
50 Daydream ($13.99); 25 on either end of the new bed.

 Tulip Darwin Hybrid Striped Apeldoorn from Longfield Gardens
50 Striped Apeldoorn ($13.99); 25 on each side of the new bed, alongside Daydream.

Tulip, Darwin hybrids
25 Beauty of Spring & 25 Ad Rem ($13.99) mixed together and planted in the center of the new bed.




ARRIVED AND PLANTED - MONET GARDEN


25 ALLIUM ATROPURPUREUM ($25)
Image 1
 I mixed these in with the Iris above. I hope they do not bloom at the exact same time, however it will be close, so stay tuned for an update next spring.

25 DUTCH IRIS BLUE & WHITE BLEND ($7.50)
Dutch iris - blue & white blend
 A perfect colour pallet for the Monet Garden, I planted them where I removed the Blazing Star.  There is room for another 100 but  I am waiting to see how they do before I plunge all the way in.

25 HYACINTH DELFT BLUE ($12.50) & 25 HYACINTH PETER STUYVESANT ($12.50)
Image of Delft Blue Hyacinth                      Image of Peter Stuyvesant Hyacinth
I mixed these two together with 10 Blue Star and 8 Sky Jacket from a mixed bag purchased at Costco and planted them where the Blazing Star had been. 

5 PHLOX NICKY ($13)
Nicky Giant Hardy Phlox

Behind the Hyacinths and Iris; I have pre-dug another 5 holes that I will fill with blue Phlox next spring. I did not plant these as far under the front Lilac as I had planned, they would not have gotten enough sun, and I am now saving their spot for Astilbe.

5 RE-BLOOMING GERMAN IRIS ENGLISH CHARM ($19.50)
         English Charm Tall Bearded Reblooming Iris
These tall creamsicle-coloured beauties will rise above above their shorter, white & purple bi-coloured cousins.
Orange is my accent to purple in the Monet Garden and vice versa in the Sun Garden.



STILL ON ORDER - MOON GARDEN

10 PHLOX DAVID ($21.50)
   
 
I have pre-dug 10 holes along the east end of the Moon Garden; they will grow in front of the trees, covering up the base of their trunks.

1 TREE PEONY SHIMA-NISHIKI ($27.50)
   
A tallish shrub at up to 150 cm, this will add a splash of colour in the Moon Garden while taking its lead from the white-only theme.

25 HYACINTHOIDES HISPANICA WHITE ($13.00)
Campanulata White
   
No pre-digging required, small bulbs are quick and easy to plant. 




STILL ON ORDER - MONET GARDEN

5 RE-BLOOMING GERMAN IRIS ORANGE HARVEST ($18.50)
Orange Harvest Tall Bearded Reblooming Iris
    These will join the herons (along with Victoria Falls) behind the hardy Geranium in the front garden.





5 RE-BLOOMING GERMAN IRIS VICTORIA FALLS ($19.50)

These intense blues will join the Orange Harvest in a row parallel to the front sidewalk where there is a real danger they will not get enough sun.



200 SPECIE CROCUS BLUE PEARL (CHRYSANTHUS) ($32.00)
   
I could not pass up this shade of blue and every garden needs some really early bloomers to kick of the season.



50 HYACINTHOIDES HISPANICA BLUE ($20.00)
The faster these spread, the better.


25 HYACINTH BLUE ICE (SKY JACKET) ($21.00) & 25 HYACINTH BLUE JACKET ($21.00)
                         Hyacinthus Blue Jacket        Image of Delft Blue Hyacinth


I will mix these two together along with 12 Delft Blue.

These pre-dug holes where the sidewalk meets the driveway will allow me to get them into the ground as fast as possible.




STILL ON ORDER - SUN GARDEN



5 RE-BLOOMING GERMAN IRIS ORANGE HARVEST ($18.50)
Reblooming Iris Orange Harvest
These will reinforce the three oranges already mixed in with the purples.

STILL ON ORDER

25 SPLIT CUP DAFFODIL CENTANEES ($23.00)
Image 1
These will be mixed with the Tiritomba and planted in the backyard at the base of the grape vine.

25 SPLIT CUP DAFFODIL TIRITOMBA ($19.00)
Tiritomba Split Cup Daffodil
These will be mixed with the Centanees and planted amongst the daylilies at the end of the driveway.


[Dec/13:  They eventually arrived, see where most of them were planted or where these split cup daffs ended up.]
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