a visit to Kingsbrae

In June, the Garden Club of PEI hopped a bus and visited Kingsbrae Garden in St.-Andrews-by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, a mere 4.5 hour drive from home.  The long ride was worth it.  Over 50,000 perennials, shrubs and trees, goats, alpacas and ducks, and a wonderful restaurant.  It was a wet day, but the misty rain just added to the otherworldly feeling of serenity and magic.

So many varieties of Japanese maples I have never seen.  This one, Acer palmatum dissectum 'Waterfall' truly lives up to its name.

The red-leafed Japanese maple makes a lovely contrast with the pale varigated foliage.

Huge potted dracena dot the property.  I'm trying to imagine how much work it would be to bring them in for the winter.  

A big peony flower has been coaxed to bloom from a tiny plant.

Brugmansia, a tropical tree, produces huge drooping flowers.

Why is this tree in a cage?  

An interesting idea:  creating a "stream" with glass pebbles.

The resident goat reaches for a meal.

A lovely view with a bubbling water feature.

An old grindstone repurposed as a fountain.

A series of raised vegetable beds was covered with netting

 to keep the deer from munching the salad greens.

This obelisk mirrors the plants and the photographer.

A raised spiral is an interesting way to display a plant many don't like growing in their lawns:  wild creeping thyme.  

A fanciful sculpture of a hard-working gardener

a perfectly manicured knot garden

the perfect symmetry of culver's root (centre)

an enticing walkway

no - this isn't a tree.  It's a cast-iron frame crammed full of begonias.

another year, another visit to the Lieutenant Governor's garden

Canada 150 tulips at the PEI Lieutenant Governor's garden.

In June, Larry Hughes, the head gardener of the grounds of the PEI Lieutenant Governor, was kind enough to show me and my gardening class around the place again this year.  And what a magnificent place it is!

First of all, the grass:  thick, almost no dandelions or other weeds, and he uses no pesticides.  His secret?  Aerating every few years, applying the right amount of the right fertilizer (high first number for nitrogen) and cutting no shorter than 3.5 inches, which shades out the weeds and allows the grass roots to go deep.

Beautifully manicured boxwood hedges frame roses and other perennial plantings.

Larry crafted this greenhouse with a wooden frame and PVC pipe curved to form a dome that supports plastic sheeting. The plants are easy to access - just tip it up.







The greenhouse holds a surprising number of tomato, squash, pepper, and other frost-sensitive plants until the weather warms.

Hundreds of annuals are waiting for warmer weather to find their place in the many ornamental beds around the grounds.

A native North American weed, pale jewelweed (Impatiens pallida nutt.), has completely taken over the shady forest floor. This seems to be everywhere this year.  The stems are very easy to pull out, but with thousands crowding the area, it's a lost cause.