End of June in the Sandbox

Is it just me or is spring and summer just rushing away.   It is already the end of June.   Ontarians always consider July and August as summer and then it starts to snowball towards the s...... word.     Every year that I get older the time goes faster.  I feel like a poor hampster on a wheel that is spinning and I am trying to keep up.     This week a beautiful little pink waterlily appeared on the pond.   There is a white one out there as well but it has not opened yet.  If you look closely you can see the fish just underneath the lilypads.  

This little pretty is a Stokes Aster "Blue Danube".   The plant likes a sandy soil and is drought tolerant.  The tag says that they should be grown in groups to give a good display but this gardener has never learned the lesson of buying more than one.   Planting in drifts  101 went right over my head.  

Here is the bud of another Stokes Aster.  I like to photograph plants in bud too.  Sometimes they are more interesting.

Just off the drive way I have Tall Meadow Rue or Thalictrum Polygamum a native of North America and probably seeded itself there thanks to a bird eating the mulberries in the tree above.   I love its airy little flowers.

I can never say that I grow roses well but this lovely little rose called the 'The Fairy' just blooms and blooms away during the season.  It has lovely little delicate pink blooms. 

Astrantia is growing out front on the northside of the house.   It has lovely pink flowers and grows intoa nice little clump.  It seems not to have any issues with insects or disease and seems happy enough out there in the flowerbed.  Next to it is the Hydrangea Endless Summer that has lovely folliage on it but no blooms.   I am disappointed in it.

As a member of the Garden Writers Association I am given items to try out and if I think they are worthy I am to write about them.   This is my new favourite tool.   I have made good use of it this week digging out all the grass that has been creeping into the flowerbeds.   It is great for getting in close to the plant and pulling out stubborn weeds.  It is even a good tool when you are planting as it digs a nice hole easily  to slip in the new plant into.   My husband used the CobraHead when we was putting edging in around the bog garden.  It dug a perfect channel to place the edging into.   I think it is a winner and I will be using this alot.

As I was taking photos of the various flowers I almost bumped into this little baby Dove sitting on the fence.  I could have reached out an touched it and it did not flinch.  So I took his or her picture.  They are kinda cute.

Happy Canada Day

A Garden in the City for Mosiac Monday

Lake Simcoe South Master Gardeners had the priviledge of visiting the garden of Paul Zammit and his partner Uli last week.   Paul Zammit is the Director of Horticulture at the Toronto Botanical Gardens and Uli wields her expertise at Plant World, a huge Nursery in the west end of Toronto.  The tour began in the driveway with Paul explaining to us that the soil on this property is sandy.   You could see my jaw drop.   I garden on sand too.   Their sandy soil is amended heavily with leaves in the fall.  The neighbours drop bags of leaves on their driveway and Paul mulches them up with the lawnmower.   The front lawn was packed with flowers and shrubs and a big SweetGum Tree.  The garden extended right out to the pavement of the street.   Up by the house were huge planters.   Paul Zammit is the king of the container.  He plants all kinds of varieties of plants and even vegetables and herbs in planters.   The sides of the house were planted with Hostas.  The backyard had a huge deck and it was filled with planters and shelves of planters.  A large gate divided the backyard from the deck.  There was every kind of Japanese Maple and huge Hosta.   In the lower left of the bottom corner of the mosiac you can see the Podophyllum or Mayapple 'Spotty Dotty' that was in flower.   Paul explained about all the plants and was gracious to answer all our questions.   Janet, our Social Convenor had a lovely spread of goodies to munch on while we ogled the plants.  She had picked strawberries that day and hand dipped them in chocolate.  Oh Heaven.    It was a wonderful evening in a beautiful garden.   Paul gave us all a piece of purple plantain from his garden to try in ours.  I hope you like the photos of the garden.  Have a great gardening week.  Valerie

More mosiacs can be found at Mary's DearLittleRedHouse.

Just Fresh Today for Straight Out of the Camera Sunday

I know I just posted two daylilies yesterday but I just had to show you this one.   We were away today and when we got home we were out wandering around the yard when I spotted this little beauty.   Last year I was given a clump of this daylily (of course I do not know its name) in a gal's garden from my Horticulture Society.   I drooled over it as it was such an incredible colour.    I am sorry I am gushing.  Anyway, she gave me a piece and tada......

I will ask my friend what the name of it.  She is pretty good about names.   I hope you like this colour too.   More Staight Out of the Camera Sunday shots at Murrieta365.com.    You can participate too.  Just post a picture that you have not edited other than a crop.    Happy Sunday.   Valerie

Daylilies for Macro Saturday

My Daylilies are beginning to bloom.  I have to confess that I do not know the names of many of them.   I either picked them up from a plant sale or were given to me by friends that had no idea of the name either.  But,  I do love them.  They are so maintenance free and do not care that they are growing in the sandy soil.  The clump gets bigger each year.   If I want to divide them up it is easy to do.   This one is a burgundy colour and not as big as the large yellow below.

This large yellow is school bus yellow and is at least 5 inches across.  I will have more to show you in the next few weeks.  I may even know their names.    Have a great weekend.   See more macro photographs at flowers-macrophotography HERE.     Valerie

Cotinus Coggygria-Smoke Bush

The Smoke Bush at the front our house is now in bloom.  This tree appeared  as a seedling from a seed dropped by a bird some 15 years ago.  Our neighbours had one so I assume that it came from there. It is a multi stemmed deciduous shrub that has grown to approximately 15 ft tall and at least 8 to 10 ft wide at the top. We prune it annually and sometimes severly to keep the various branches from taking over the walk way to the front of the house.

The flower of the Smoke Bush is huge at approximately 6-8 inches long and 5 inches wide and made up of tiny hairs and seeds that can produce many new smoke bushes.  They are bushy and airy and appear as a puff of smoke in a pretty pink colour.  There are many new varieties of Cotinus these days with flowers of lime green or white.  The flowers last a long time.

Here you can see it as it sits at the front of the house.  Many of the plants under it enjoy the shade that it provides.  This shrub is not fussy on soil.  It grows in our amended sandy soil and is drought tolerant. A plus here in hot summers.  I have to giggle here because after reading many of your blogs I have to remember that a hot summer temperature here is just a normal day say in Texas or Australia.   We are hiding in the air conditioning on a 30C day here when the humidity is wilting this gardener.  

The leaves are a beautiful green colour with red stems on our shrub.  In the fall the leaves turn a beautiful red colour.

Here is what a mass of flowers looks like on the Smoke Bush.  We have not seen any problems with insects or disease on this shrub.

If you are looking for something different in your gardens and have room for this shrub I hope you will give it a try.  Happy Gardening.  Valerie

Reflections in the Pond for Watery Wednesday

My husband and I have been sitting out by the pond in the evening.  One particular evening I liked the way the plants were reflected in the water and snapped a picture.   For more watery wonders visit HERE.   Valerie

Peony Festival for Mosiac Monday

Last Sunday, June 13 on a drizzling and dull morning my friend and fellow blogger Judith at
LavenderCottageGardening  boarded a bus with other gardening lovers and hosted by Wendy Downing and Veronica Sliva of Garden Excursions bound for the Canadian Peony Society's Annual Show and Peony Festival at the Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens.  Rows and rows of beautiful peonies were on display outside.  Some were so fragrant and some either did not have a fragrance at all or smelled rather yucky.  All  of the peonies were stunning and glorious.   Inside the arena was the judged show with rows upon rows of peonies in vases that have been thoroughly looked at and judged for their beauty, form and condition.  The sun appeared at about noon and was a glorious afternoon.  Our tour took us to the Parkwood Estate, the former home of The McLaughlin family of General Motors fame.  We had a wonderful lunch in the Tea House by the pool seen in the pictures.  After lunch we were taken on a tour of the house.  Sorry no photos were allowed of the inside.   I can tell you it was huge and it was grand.  Needed a lot of servants to keep it running smoothly.   We had no time to look at the gardens after our tour.  We needed to board the bus back home.  But Judith and I said we would go back another day.  Hope you like the photos.   Have a great gardening week.   Join Mary at DearLittleRedHouse for more Mosiac Monday.   Valerie

An Apple A Day

This evening I spotted this perfect little apple growing on our apple tree.  I hope to take a bite out of it when he gets a bit bigger.    For more captures Straight Out of the Camera visit Jan at Murrieta365.com

Macro Petunias for Macro Saturday

When I went out this morning to look for a macro shots. I spotted the planter of colourful petunias.  They looked so fresh with a little dew left on them.

Our youngest son and his girlfriend gave me a lovely container of petunias for Mother's Day.  I put them out on the deck.  The next day I came around the side of the house and I looked at the planter.  The petunias on one side of the planter were eaten off down to stubs.   I could not figure out who would have done a thing like that.

The next day after that I came home from somewhere and the whole planter was levelled.   Just stubs.  I was mad.   The culprit made his appearance later that day.  It was a groundhog.  He had dragged all the flowers down into his hole under our deck.   Needless to say I put the container up on a pile of rocks out of harms way.  The container is again nicely filled out with petunias.   We have had more plants eaten by Mr. Groundhog.  He especially likes my cosmos.  He is fast as lightning if we spy him in the yard. 

For some spectacular macros visit Macro Saturday.   See what else is going on. Have a great weekend and Happy Father's Day.   Valerie

Oops! Wrong bug

I must confess.  I have been blaming the Japanese Beetle for the destruction of my roses over the years.  I may have to hang up my Master Gardener badge as I have misidentified the pest.   The voracious destroyer of my roses and peonies is none other than the Rose Chafer.   I have to appologize to fellow blogger Carolyn at Aiken House and Garden for my blunder in a recent email conversation about them destroying my peony bloom.


The Rose Chafer or Rose Curculio or Rose Weevil drills holes in the buds.   I usually find a big mound of them copulating all over my blooms and having a gay old time.  I give them the two finger squish that eases my frustration.   My friend an fellow blogger A Garden of Threads told me that Organic Raid will work on them.  I will also try my spray of neem oil, dish soap and water.  


Since the Rose Chafer overwinters in the soil I will look for planting companions such at catmint, chamomile, lavender, rosemary, thyme to underplant around the roses.  These plants act as a repellent. 


I feel better now.  I humbly apologise for my error.    Valerie

My June Garden for Bloggers Bloom Day

It is a beautiful morning here in the Sandbox with it being cool for the moment.  We expect a rather warm day.  I am happy to participate to day in Bloggers Bloom Day and show off what is growing in the garden at the moment.  The Silene above is a favourite of my husbands as he remembers this flower growing in his Grandmother's garden.

This is the Mock Orange.  The flowers are quite delicate and almost look like a rose.

The Rugosa Rose is lovely and fragrant.  This year it has not been spared the scourge of my roses the Japanese Beetle.  They burrow into each new bloom and destroy it leaving you with a mess of disgusting petals.  

I always add the annual Cosmo to the garden.  In large drifts it is spectacular as they swing and sway in the breeze.  At the moment the ground hog has taken the heads of many but he missed this one.  There are many colours to choose from.   I like them all.

Please join us at MayDreamsGardens for more gorgeous blooms today.    Happy Gardening.   Valerie

A Lovely Evening Mosiac

Last week was the last meeting of our Naturalist group for the summer months.  We went on a hike at the Koffler Scientific Reserve in York Region.   It is a lovely place to visit.  It is owned by the University of Toronto and is used by many science students for their projects.  You see all around coloured flags that you are to stay away from as they are some students summer project.   The night was lovely with few mosquitoes.   I thought you might like to look at something elese rather than what is growing in my garden at the moment.  I will bore you with that later in the week.  Visit Mary at DearLittleRedHouse for more mosiacs.   Have a great gardening week.   Valerie

A Trio of Gerberas

For Straight out of the Camera Sunday I chose a photo of three gerbera daisies that were used as a table decoration at an event I was at recently. For more inspiration in photography visit Murrieta365.com. Valerie

Fresh and New for Macro Saturday

This is just a close up and not a macro of a new rose to my garden. I was just too lazy to change lenses.  It is a floribunda called Fairy Tale.  I love the salmon coloured blooms

This lovely bi-colour blueIriis in the front flower bed.  It had just stopped raining when I took it so you can see a few raindrops on the petals.   Please visit flowers-macrophotography for more wonderful closeups.  Have a great weekend.  Valerie

Evening Sky at Skywatch Friday

The other night our group of Naturalists met for a hike in the Koffler Scientific Reserve in York Region as it was the last meeting till start up again in September.  It was a lovely night but the clouds were promising rain.  I took this shot from a location up on a hill looking out to the  Niagara escarpment in the distance.  The Koffler Reserve is on the Oak Ridges Moraine so lots of hills and dales to cover..   Look for more interesting skies on Skywatch Friday here.
Have a great weekend.  Valerie

Long Blooming - Erodium Manescavii

 Do you grow this plant in your garden?  Our Master Gardener group had a sharing table one night.  We had to bring a favourite plant to share.  We then took turns picking a plant for our garden.  I chose this one grown by a gal that likes to try unusual and different plants.  The Erodium is not a common plant that you find in many gardens and is difficult to find in many nurseries.  I do not know why.  It is maintanence free and bug and pest free. In my garden it starts blooming in spring and stops when the frost comes along in the late fall. It overwinters just fine without any particular fussing.   I have never know it to not have flowers blooming on it.  The Erodium or Heronsbill is a relative to the geranium.  The flowers are a lovely pinky lilac much like a geranium but the leaves are different.  They are quite ferny and fuzzy.  It grows in full sun or part shade in ordinary soil.   In my sandy soil it does just fine.  It does not sulk if it is without water.   I never water it in my Zone 4B garden.

I have tried unsuccessfully to divide it many times but somehow I must have been lucky as I do have a new plant that I only noticed this year.  You can purchase seeds but I have not tried that.  When I go to the plant nurseries I am always on the hunt for another one.

If you want to try something different in the front of your border look for this little winner.  Happy Gardening.   Valerie

Hot Colours in the Garden

My mosiac this week is a chance to show off a couple of plants that give a good show and bright colours in the garden.   The Coreopsis is drought tolerant and because they self seed I get a good large clump of them. They can be cut right back and will rebloom later on.  The other is the Gaillardia another drought tolerant and self seeder.  They just say happy happy happy in the garden.  My wild rose is prolific this year.  Another bright flower is the Johnson's Blue Geranium in the garden.  Its iridescence colour is striking.   I hope you like them.   More mosiacs of splendor can be found at Mary's DearLittleRedHouse.  Join us there. 

Happy Gardening Week.  Valerie

A Pretty Clematis on Macro Saturday

I do not know the names of this clematis.  I thought it was perhaps Josephine but it does not have that huge double centre in it.   This clematis was planted several years ago at the base of our arbor.  It comes up very nicely each year and then promply wilts never to be seen again.  This year I suspect it did better because we had over the winter the niger seed feeder just above it and the seed that was strewn by the birds piled up on the ground just above the sleeping clematis.  The heat or insulated properties of the seed created a suitable environment for the spring sprouting.   Anyway, I am just happy to see this pretty little thing in bloom.  I hope I get more than one bloom but I will just enjoy.   I hope you are having some surprises in your garden too.  

I am contributing this clematis as my humble offering for Macro Saturday here.

Valerie

A Necessary Item in Every Garden

It rained a wee bit last night.  Not a hard rain that we could really use after two weeks of lovely hot temperatures. In the sandbox two weeks without rain can make the difference between plants that are flourishing and doing well and those that are beginning to show stress.  The soil here is sandy, although we are constantly amending it with compost and triple mix. Sandy soil drains like a sieve. It holds no moisture or nutrients for the most part.  Most plants after getting established here survive quite nicely.  We do not grow anything that needs to be babied along.  That means very few roses or pretties as I call them.  Good stout, serviceable and drought tolerant is the way to go.

The reason for my rant today is to introduce two necessary items in my garden.  They being the water barrels that occupy space, one in the back and one in the front of the house.  In summer if it is hot and dry over a period of time we are subject to water bans.  That means no unnecessary watering allowed. Grass, gardens, car washing are no nos.  The water barrels come in handy then.  Of course it matters that we had some rain to fill them prior to the dry spell.  There is always a but to every argument isn't there?

The blue water barrel was scavenged by my dear husband from somewhere and fitted with a tap at the bottom and a piece of hose to fill the watering cans.  I have a few of these too.

The second one was kindly offered to me last summer by Fiskars to try out. They have a gizmo on the downspout to divert over flow to the ground and has a cooler shape than the blue one.  I tried two of them and unfortunately they both cracked and drained all the water collected.  Fiskers readily replaced them.  The third try Fiskars gave me a newly designed one.  I am happy to report that it is holding water perfectly so far.

So, in summary I have to give a thumbs up to my water barrels as a necessary part of this garden landscape.  A bonus is nice soft rain water and not hard clorined town water for my babies.   Happy Gardening. Valerie