Wednesday, June 25, 2014

UPDATES - iris and calla lily

Two weeks ago I expressed concern about having mixed up my Iris and I was clearly right; you can see the taller purple and shorter white/purple both in the Sun Garden

Clearly they are enjoying their conditions and they look good together...so will I ever follow up on my plan to move the white/purple to the Monet Garden?

Not for a while anyway: I would need to be there in person to see them bloom in spring and mark the ones to be transplanted in the fall, which means at least a year and  half before they can be moved.


  
The Calla Lily my friends' gave me is doing well and according to my mother (and a contractor doing work at our house!), it is a real stand-out in the Monet Garden.

I can see why.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

GIFT FROM A FRIEND - calla lily

Despite working long hours in the garden and not shying away from big tasks, I am in some ways still a lazy gardener.  I prefer to do things once, so I tend to stay away from annuals and tender plants that need to be lifted in the fall.  This means I have missed out on certain plants but I have been okay with that...so okay in fact that I have wondered if people who do plant tender plants requiring all that extra care aren't a little bit cucko-bananas.
 Lucky for me I have a friend who is one of those cuckos and he gave me some Calla Lily which I have added to the Monet Garden based on sun & soil requirements rather than on colour. 

The Callas' yellow and orange tinged flowers should contrast beautifully with the purple/blue of the Hyacinths, Pansies, Salvia, Speedwell, Monkshood, Iris and Campanula.  No matter how well they might fit in, I still warned my friend before departing with his generous gift that this would likely be their last summer since I am a lazy gardener. I made sure to seek the acknowledgement in his eyes of what was at stake and gave him a moment to take leave of his babies which he did with nary a tear.

Now they sit in the Monet Garden, a full season ahead of them in which to beguile me so much that I add lugging them inside to my already long list of fall chores.
We shall see.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

Last year when I moved about all of my Iris, I was confident that all the white with purple falls ended up in my Monet Garden, while the full purples landed in the Sun Garden where they would contrast with the surrounding oranges and yellows.

The trouble with moving Iris in the fall of course is that they all look the same and at least one has ended up in the wrong place.  It is the first to bloom in the Sun Garden making me wonder if I have them all reversed or if this is indeed an outlier.

Stay tuned, I may learn tomorrow; with all the beautiful warm sunny weather we are having the rest look ready to burst.

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

END OF THE MONTH VIEW - may

Finally there are plants growing and flowers blooming for this end-of-the-month view after the coldest winter in living memory here in zone 3 Winnipeg.  As you look at these shots it is hard to imagine that there was still snow on the ground a month ago.

 Thankfully some of the Tulips were later-blooming so the deer did not get all of them, perhaps just over half.

I find Euphorbia interesting because I can't tell if the plants themselves 'bloom' or if the leaves just turn a delightful hue.  One had a rough winter but four of them are clearly back in fighting form.

 A single Marsh Marigold that was given to me blends in nicely with Leopard's Bane in terms of bloom colour, bloom time and even foliage.


 The Orange Hyacinths are decidedly pink. There was some salmon hues but not close enough to sell these as orange in my book.