Sand River Falls for Watery Wednesday

This photo was taken during our summer vacation earlier this month.   Sand River is one of the beautiful rivers in Lake Superior Provincial Park.    I love water falls and this one was very pretty. 

Please join us for more captures of watery  wonders .HERE   Valerie

Rose of Sharon for Mosiac Monday

The Rose of Sharon is my plant of choice at the moment for photos.  The plant is two years old in the garden but this is the first year  that has bloomed.  The flowers are a violet-blue with a raspberry centre.  

Join our host Mary for Mosiac Monday.    Have a great gardening week.  It promises to be very warm week here this week.  I guess we need to enjoy it because the weather will cool off come September.  Valerie

Don't Do This At Home Kids

I have in my usual fashion learned a very valuable lesson this morning.   I was quite upset because I could not upload a photo from my files.  I was given the error message that my picassa web album had reached capacity and if I wanted to add more photos I could pay for the priviledge.  Being frugal I decided I would just delete all the pictures in the album.  What you see on my blog this morning is the result of being impulsive.   I have lost many photos that you should see in the various posts.   It will take me hours to restore them to the blog and for that I am really sorry.   Please bear with me today as I clean up.  Valerie

White Datura for Macro Saturday

We have several White Datura that come up from seed.   Because the compost pile does not reach 160 degrees F the seeds of any plant or weed that we through in there does not become cooked or pastuerized.  So, any compost that you take out in spring and put on the flower beds has the potential to sprout.  I know these plants are poisonous if they are eaten but because we have no small children or pets we leave a few to flower because they are so pretty and interesting.

I am joining Flowers-Macrophotography for Macro Saturday.  Happy Gardening.  Valerie

End of Summer Pinks for Fertilizer Friday

I am not the gardener who decides that I should have a pink area or a white area.   I just plop a plant in the flower bed wherever I have room or I think it might look nice there.   At the moment I seem to have a bevy of unplanned pink in the garden.    When I planted the cosmos I did not give any idea that the pink of the cosmos would go with the buddleia 'Miss Ruby' but wow I really like this combination.

I was given this Rose of Sharon by my husband's Uncle a couple of years ago and it sat in a pot for the longest time until I decided where to put it.    I planted it in 2009 and this year it put out its first blooms.   It is a mauve-pink.   I have seen the hummingbirds in it this week.  That is a nice bonus to the pretty blooms.

I could not leave you without showing you what I learned quite by accident on photoscape.  I sit here and push all the buttons to see what happens.   I really do need to get a life.   Anyway, this is a picture of the perennial sweet pea in a cube.  Thanks for stopping by my blog for Fertilizer Friday with TOOTSIETIME.   I hope you will look at the other wonderful entries posted.    Happy Gardening.  Valerie

August Natives for Wildflower Wednesday

Great Blue Lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica  is the first wildflower I want to share with you today.  This is its first year in the bog garden.  It has just started blooming and will form a spike of blue flowers with deep green leaves. This plant is perfect for the bog garden as it likes moist soil.  It will grow in sun or partial shade.

Little Blue Stem, Andropogon scoparius is looking just great out in the garden along side its big brother Big Bluestem. This grass is grown for late season interest and warm rich colouring.  This is a clumping grass that does not travel by rhizome.  In the fall it turns from green to bronzy orange.  Grows in average well drained soil in sun.

The shrub Potentilla fruiticosa is just glorious with its bright yellow flowers.  This is a tough little shrub good to a zone 2.  I have seen them up north just clinging to rock  and blooming away.   Is not fussy for soil and likes the sun.  It is heat tolerant.

Second year vine to the garden is Virgin's Bower, Clematis virginiana is in the family of the buttercup.  It has a reputation as an aggressive vine but so far it has not been in the garden.  I have had to tie it up as it climbs on the arbour though.  In the wild it grows over anything it comes in contact with.  This plant may be a problem for people that have sensitive skin.  I just think the tiny little white star shape blooms are so interesting.

Here isLittleBlue Stem's big brother Big Blue Stem, Andropogon gerardii.  It grows very tall at perhaps 8-10ft. At the moment it is leaning after all the rain we had last weekend. This grass is also a clump forming plant.  It has a blue cast to the foliage in the fall.   A moisture rich soil is recommended by it does not get that here in my sandy soil and I have seen them in the conservation area in dry soil doing just great.  This grass attracts birds and butterflies to lay their eggs.  A great specimen plant in the garden.

Last Wildflower Wednesday I showed you Boneset, Eupatorium perfoliatum. At that time it had not fully bloomed.  It has been blooming since July and does not look like it is finished yet.  It grows in the bog garden with Joe Pye Weed and Swamp Milk Weed, Cardinal Flower, Great Blue Lobelia and Ironweed.   It does require a moist environment.

I hope that you have enjoyed a small look at the wildflowers that are blooming in August.  For more great ideas for your wildflower garden join Gail at Clay and Limestone  for Wildflower Wednesday.

August is Slipping By for Mosiac Monday

August just seems to slipping by so fast.   I panic because I think that this is the end of summer.  I know the fall is a beautiful time of the year but I know that I am going to be back in the sweaters and the long pants and before you know it it will be my least favourite season of winter.   I just want to hold onto the warm days for a little bit longer.  
My mosiac today is looking at what is happening in the garden now.   It was overcast yesterday (Saturday) and the backyard was so busy with the birds.   I caught Mrs. Cardinal, a baby Downy Woodpecker and a cute little Chickadee in the camera.  Other delights is the Cosmos Bon Bon that I started from seed from Renees seeds in California.  It is a double. The white snapdragons are doing well.  The Gaillardia had a busy bee on it.  A basket of the vegetables out of our garden.  The cup plant is looking good.  The blue datura plants are as big as trees and now that the seed heads are breaking open the plant will be cut down.  They are not something you want to reseed around.   One is nice but a whole bunch of them is trouble.   This pink echinacea caught my eye rather than the purple ones.  The sunflower looks good but this plant is aggressive and I spend all summer pulling out what I do not want.  The white Cleome are a nice annual to add to the summer garden.   There you have it for this week.    I hope that you are enjoying the waning days of August.

Please join Mary and the group of Mosiac Monday bloggers for  a look at what is happening in our world.   Join us. Valerie

Magpie Falls for Straight Out Of the Camera Sunday

My husband and I took a side trip during our vacation to Wawa, Ontario.  If you have ever been to Wawa they have a huge Canada Goose at the Tourist Centre and you can take your picture standing under it.  We did that but you don't want to see that.   I took this photo of Magpie High Falls just outside Wawa.  It was quite impressive.

The sign explains it all.  This waterfall can be magestic one minute and nothing another if the hydro company decides to change the flow.

Join Jan, our host at Straight of the Camera Sunday at Murrieta365.com.  Hope you are enjoying your weekend.  Valerie

Dewy Mornings for Fertilizer Friday

Have you noticed lately that the ground has a heavier dew on it and it has been cooler in the mornings? It has been this way where I live.   To run out and take pictures in the morning you need your "wellies" on to keep your feet and your pjs dry.  But, it does offer an opportuntity to get some artier shots.   I will show you one down the post.   The blue morning glory looked so nice I thought beside Coreopsis 'zagreb' in this photo.

I purchased Clematis Alternafolia 'alba' just a while ago at Lost Horizons nursery.  It is a bush forming clematis.   I did not expect any flowers this season but the other morning when I was out I noticed this little bell flower.  It is so wee.

Clematis microphylla or Virgin's Bower has little starlike flowers on it.   This is it's second year.  It is growing up an arbour to the vegetable garden.   I have heard that this is very aggressive but so far I have not found it to be. 

Clematis orientalis is an autumn clematis.  The little flowers hang down with a red-orange centre.  This plant is agressive.  I started it from a little cutting and I have one climbing all over the side of the house and this one is growing up the arbour by the deck.   If you want something that is easy to grow once established and want to cover something quickly this is the plant for you. 

This is the Clematis Orientalis in bloom.   They are loaded on this vine.  The blooms last a long time.  A very hardy plant.

This is my arty shot.  It is dew on the asparagras ferns taken with the sun in the back.   I thought it looked quite airy.  Hope you enjoyed a look at what I found interesting in the garden this morning.   For more great garden photos join Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday.    In the meantime...Happy Gardening.  Valerie

I have passed the one year Anniversary

I have just realized that I have passed my one year Anniversary of Gardening in the Sandbox.  This was my very first post.  I was so excited to be apart of this big world of blogging.  I hoped to make new friends that were interested in the things that I was and share stories and I have done that in spades.  To think that my words and humble photos would be read all over the world and commented on by new friends.  It makes me weep to think of it.   I have to thank you so much for joining me here.  I hope to do better this second year and give you content that will inspire you and give reflection of this wonderful world we live in.

As always have a great gardening day.  Valerie


Daylilies or Hemorocallis are not native to North America but rather originated in Japan, Siberia, Korea, China or Eurasia approximately 2000 years ago. The word Hemorocallis is derived from two Greek words meaning beauty and day. Each flower blooms only for a day although there could be many buds on each stalk and many stalks in each clump. The clump will flower for several weeks and some can be repeat bloomers throughout the season.

Daylillies like a sunny or partially sunny locations and will prosper in just about any soil except where it is consistently wet. In fact, if the soil is too rich they will not flower as well but put out more foliage. Daylilies are drought tolerant. You may lose blooms if a prolonged drought occurs. They really are a low maintenance plant.

Daylilies are available in a rainbow of colours, variety of shapes and sizes. They are easy to grow and suitable to all types of landscaping. Plants are for the most part pest-free with only an occasional visit from aphids or spider mites.

At the moment my garden is awash with colours of red, pink, peach, bronze, orange and yellow.

A Walk on the Wildside for Mosiac Monday

My husband (the pond boy) and I just came back from vacation.  We had 7 days away in our little pop up camper in Lake Superior Provincial Park-Agawa Campground with two days in the Chutes Provinicial Park.  We had a rest from the cell phone, the internet, the newspapers, the 6 o'clock news.  Just listening to the birds in the morning with a cup of coffee. We walked a lot (the bathroom is a block away) and we climbed all the trails (I have blisters to prove it), saw some amazing sunsets, went swimming in cold water, picked blueberries right at the side of the road and read three books.  Came back to grass as high as a wheat field and weeds in the flowerbeds and racoons that ate my tomatoes.  Such is life.

Thanks to Mary at DearLittleRedHouse for hosting Mosiac Monday.   Come see what else is happening out there.    Happy Gardening.  Valerie

August Bloomers for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

My husband and I arrived home yesterday from nine days away camping in Lake Superior Provincial Park.  We had our neighbours watering our plants while we were away but you always wonder what state the gardens are in.   We had grass as tall as a wheatfield and lots and lots of weeds in the garden.  There were some nice surprises though and that is what I am sharing today for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  My first photo is Phlox paniculata.  I do not know its cultivar.  It is so dainty with its blooms of white with a pink centre.

When we left for vacation the hardy hibiscus had loads of buds but not one had flowered.  When we pulled into the driveway we spotted the shrub just loaded with them and many more to come.  This one is called 'Pink Blush'.  The flowers are the size of a large plate.  The plant dies completely to the ground in the winter and becomes a shrub of at least 5ft by 5ft in one season.   Easy care.

The Japanese Anemone is not always a favourite due  its aggressive nature  of spreading  itself in the garden.  I love its pretty pink flowers.  In my garden it has not become a thug yet. 

The Cardinal Flower or Lobelia cardinalis was what I was anxious to see.  It is a new plant that I purchased in the spring at the North American Native Plant Society sale for the bog garden.   It had  buds on it when we left and this is what I found yesterday.  It has the clearest red colour.  I was very pleased with the blooms on this plant.

'Miss Ruby' Buddleia that was introduced by Proven Winners last year.  I agreed to trial it for my friend Judith at Lavender Cottage as we have two very different growing conditions.  She has clay and me sandy soil.  Miss Ruby is just glorious out in the garden.  I saw the hummingbird at it this morning.

Lastly I do not grow a lot of hosta as I have too much sun and not much shade along with the fast draining soil.  Hosta like a soil that holds moisture and some shade.   This fragrant hosta is a winner for me.  Our former neighbour was getting ready to move and my husband asked for a piece of this hosta.  I gets to be a good size and does have a lovely fragrant flower on it in August.  It does tolerate some sun on it.

I hope that you will stop by MayDreamsGardens to see more posts from enthusiastic gardens the world over. Happy Gardening.  Valerie

Late Summer in the Garden for Mosiac Monday

I don't know about you but the last few days I have been sneezing and my eyes are so itchy.  It must be the late summer pollens that are getting to me.  I was so stuffed up this morning I could hardly think.   My ornamental grasses are blooming now.  I have stuck in my mosiac the  Calamagrostis Karl Foerster, The Eragrostis spectablis Purple Lovegrass and Pennisetum 'Shanendoah' with Perovoskia or Russian Sage, Veronica spikes, Blue Clips Campanula, Brown Eye Susans, and Painted daisy.  The Fellow cellebrating his 90th birthday is my Dad.  We had a family bbq yesterday to celebrate with him.  He is still going strong.   Hubby and I are hitching up the camper for a little R&R in the wilds of Northern Ontario.   Catch up with you when we get back.    Happy Gardening.  Valerie

Join our host Mary at DearLittleRedHouse for Mosiac Monday.