rainy day musings

It's still raining, so I can't finish filling my outside containers, or wander around talking to the plants, so here I am again.  Here are some recent pics of what's happening in my garden.

Even though I knew not to buy a plant in full bloom, I brought home this iris last year anyway, not able to resist the fine tracery of brown on the falls.  It rewarded me with three perfect flowers this year.  And they smell heavenly.

Solomon's Seal never fails to amaze me.  After buying and killing at least 4 specimens, now they have finally caught on and I've even divided them. 

A lovely blue centaurea from Carolyn is doing very well.

a late May garden

So much to do in the garden this time of year.  There is hardly time to get all the weeding and deadheading done.  And the pictures don't make it to the blog until a rainy day keeps me inside.  So even though it's a month late, here's what the garden looked like two weeks ago.

This tree peony has been in my garden for at least 5 years.  It wasn't blooming, so I moved it, and waited with much anticipation and no luck until this year, when 2 big fat buds appeared.  They bloom before regular herbaceous peonies, and are much bigger.

15 years ago, I planted three ferns upside down in the fall, and had to dig them up and flip them around in the spring.  Now they have taken over two beds, and are invading the lawn.  I dug up a bunch last year, just to make room for everything else.  But they sure are beautiful as the fronds unfurl.

piggish hogweed

In late May, we were travelling through Quebec and at a picturesque roadside I saw something I had only ever heard about.  Giant Hogweed was brought to North America by avid gardeners who admired the huge, toothed, tropical-looking leaves and white umbrels of flowers that look like Queen Anne's Lace on steroids. 
But this is the stuff of nightmares.  The leaves and stems contain a sap that can burn the skin and even cause blindness if it get in the eyes.  The sap can't be washed off, and the effects can last for years.  The skin becomes super sensitive, and will burn over and over again when exposed to light.  What's more, this plant likes to colonize stream beds, and it produces thousands of seeds, which drop into the water and float on the current to colonize new areas further downstream.  Removing the stuff requires extreme care and a haz mat suit, so beware!

Purple spines along the stem are a sure way to identify this hazardous invasive.

throwing in the trowel

Again this year, the red menace has struck in force - scarlet lily beetles, to be precise.

I fought them in the last few years by hand picking and drowning in soapy water every day.
Last year I added coffee grounds to my arsenal, and it seemed to work for a while.  But when I went on vacation, the beetles took over and the lilies were chewed, pooped on, and destroyed in an ugly way. 

So I have given up, thrown in the trowel, so to speak.  With great sorrow, I pulled out every one of my beautiful lilies.  I had creamy orange asiatics, martagon, strongly scented orientals.  Now I have two wheelbarrows full of dead stalks.  I'm afraid it's the only way to convince the bugs to find another home.  Because now they are moving on the the fritillaria. 

The leaves are chewed, and there are holes in the flowers.  But because the plants will fade and disappear in a few weeks, I'm letting them stay.

serpent in the garden

The garden has quickly progressed from a cold, brown, dead looking thing to a vibrant, colourful, lovely thing.  Solomon's seal is popping up like alien worms.  Fritillaria is showing off checkered flowers.  The daffs are laughing.  And if you look closely, you can see the tree peony I planted 5 years ago is finally going to produce two buds.  I should be happy.  But the serpent in the garden is the dreaded lily beetles.  The lilies are barely out of the ground, and they are already striking in force, eating big holes in the leaves, and ready to do a summer's worth of damage.  Last year I kept them at bay with hand picking and liberal doses of spent coffee grounds applied EVERY DAY.  And when I returned from holidays, the lilies were an unholy mess, the leaves and flowers chewed off, and gooey beetle larvae and their poop all over the plants.  I have made a very unhappy decision.  As unfair as it is to blame the victim, I'm going to dig up all the lilies, even the creamy orange Asians I love so much.  Maybe some year the bugs will run their course, and I will be able to enjoy lilies once again.

hidden worlds

We definitely have the worst lawn in the neighbourhood.  My back yard has lovely grass, but the front, where everyone can see it, is scrubby and stubbly and covered with everything but grass.  My theory is that when the house was built, they stripped the top soil off the front and planted grass right on the hardpan. 
I spread lots of lime last fall, which killed the moss and the mushrooms, but it has not helped the grass grow.  Even though it's in full sun, there's lichen, wild strawberries, hawkweed, and even little evergreens are popping up from who knows where. 
I was down on my hands and knees rooting out the shrubs when I stopped to take a good look at what is growing.  It is actually a miniature world with a host of tiny delicate plants.  It is much more interesting than plain old boring grass, and I have decided that I like it just the way it is. 

In amonghst this tiny world is my reward for letting things be:  wild strawberries are already blooming.   I'm looking forward to a treat in June.







my island in ice

A few weeks ago, as the temperatures rose and the snow was disappearing, I found in the grass the icy outline of my province - Prince Edward Island.
It is Easter Sunday today, and suddenly the snow is back.  Today we had high winds, and snow blowing sideways.  It has covered the brave crocus and iris reticulata, but they are tough enough to stand up to whatever nature throws at them. Winter doesn't let go easily.  It will be another month before we can be sure that snow is finished for the season.