January 26, 2002 - Nothing to report, yet. Just getting the page set up in anticipation. End of January and -18C (0F). Yes, I'm sure I'll be gardening real soon!

March 2, 2002 - We have been feeding Bunny this winter. Bunny has his own dish on the patio that I fill up once a week. He usually shows up every day after sunset. Occasionally, we have seen 2. Our backyard looks like there was a bunny party with all the tracks in the snow.

March 25, 2002 - It is colder than ever out! The "first day of spring" missed us, that's for sure. Last week, I bought myself a digital camera. I have been craving one for a long time. With it, I believe I will be able to keep my garden pictures updated. I still have many pictures from previous years that I just simply never got around to scanning, and many pictures that I wanted to put on but never got around to taking. I have been using my camera so far to update pictures of my collections.

April 7, 2002 - I bought this metal cat for my garden. His whiskers are nails, his feet are washers and ball bearings, etc. The trouble is, "Rusty" is so gosh-darn cute, I want to keep him in the house. Maybe he will reside outside in the summer and inside during the winter. UPDATE: Rusty ended up being an inside cat.

April 12, 2002 - This is a cool idea we saw at a flea market. I just had to make my own. OK, since I am accident-prone, hubby did the drilling. It is a fancy old cup and saucer (picked up at a second-hand store for $1), which is then bolted to a 1/4" by 3 ft. threaded rod. (2 each bolts & washers, total $.24 - rod, $1.76). The big expense was the glass/ceramic drill bit ($7) but that will be defrayed because I plan to have many of these. Anyhow, the rod is stuck into the ground so the cup hovers above flowers in the garden. The original intent was for either a mini bird feeder or bath. However, my cups will be filled with dirt and a little plant will be planted inside. I anticipate the biggest problem to be frequent watering.

Today was our first real taste of spring! We got to 21C !

April 13, 2002 - First day of yard work. Just picked up garbage. Our yard seems to be a vacuum for all the neighbourhood garbage blowing in. The gardens are still soggy and, in the case of the shade gardens, frozen. Can't do anything there yet.

Projects 1 & 2: The grass doesn't grow in these two areas - at #1 because it's too hot (and too dry because of the house overhang) and at #2 because it's too shady. So, of course, they will become gardens hosting plants at opposite ends of the spectrum. The two shrubs in Project 1 are Lilac, Little Leaf (Syringa microphylla 'Superba') that I bought last year.

April 29 - Bought 2 new plants:

Silver Lace Vine, Polygonum aubertii (Fallopia aubertii). Strictly speaking, this isn't quite hardy enough for our zone, but sometimes can work in the right spot.
Loosestrife 'Alexander' (Lysimachia punctata). Nice variegated foliage.

May 5, 2002 - Mostly the weather has been cold and windy. Yesterday, at least the temperature was nice. This morning it is snowing out! I did the first quick clean-up of the backyard gardens on Friday. Yesterday, the grass was cut out for projects 1 & 2. This was a relatively easy task because mostly the grass was pretty sparse or growing poorly.

1) A "before" shot of Project 1 (I love my new digital camera!).
2) With the grass cut out.
3) At 1:00 this afternoon.

4) May 7 - Project 2, with the grass cut out and rocks moved. Needs to be topped up with soil. Yes, the snow has melted.
5) May 9 - It snowed, AGAIN (20.5 cm). Crappy spring.

May 12 - Snowless again, at least for the time being. Worked on the gardens Saturday and today. At the backyard end of the rock garden, I was thinking how I would have to somehow clean up the leaves and garbage from between the air conditioner and the wall (space of about 2 inches). Then I was thinking something didn't look quite like leaves. My next thought was, "Oh, no, a dead mouse." But it wasn't. It was the sweetest little baby bunny, all nestled down in the crud. He stayed there all afternoon; didn't budge. After we came back from Mother's Day supper, I checked on him again. He had turned to face the other direction but was still there. I have named him George (from one of my favourite Bugs Bunny cartoons - do you know the one? - "I want to hug you and squeeze you and pet you and call you George....")

Anyhow, the white box indicates where the baby is snuggled. Click anywhere on the picture at left to see an enlargement of George.

May 23 (early morning) - What's that white stuff falling from the sky? Could it be... snow? Well, it's just barely visible amidst the rain and it's not staying on the ground - but still!! It is wet and FREEZING out there. Everything was finally fine until late yesterday afternoon. I had accomplished some major work outside: edging (in some places grass had creeped in about 4 inches); dividing and transplanting; and screening 20 gallons of compost to sprinkle around. After a few days of acceptable weather and ever the optimistic gardener (I don't know why because I'm not generally an optimist), I planted out some impatiens in pots. They are about the only annual I still plant because they grow in shade. So, when the weather suddenly made a turn-around, I had to haul all the pots into the shed for the night. That'll learn me.

May 24 - Yay! I got to work outside again. I have finished filling in half of Project 1. Section "A" is now host to 4 new plants, a couple of single divisions, but mostly wallcress and purple coneflower. I put in a vast section of wallcress on the patio end because this is where the window of Robert's basement bedroom is, so I needed something low.

Although I would have more than enough in divisions to fill up Section "B", I have decided to defer this until next year and sprinkle an annual seed mix there. The reason for this is grass! Darned stuff doesn't grow when you want it to, but cut it out and it is determined to make a comeback, like the ultimate revenge. I will make sure all the errant roots are gone before I do permanent planting. ("A" is not as big a problem because most of the grass there was already dead.)

The Section 2 project is also coming along nicely. I have planted more hostas and many Lady's Mantle. I had to scrounge up more stepping stones in order to reach the back of this now-very-wide area.

More new additions to my garden plant family are:

Solidago canadensis 'Baby Gold' (goldenrod) - This seems like a no-brainer but I have never tried any cultivars before. It is a common, well-known wildflower here on the prairies so I think it should do well.

Astilbe: Simplicifolia 'Pink Lightning' - I love the looks of astilbes. I do need something taller for the back of one section of my shade garden. The trouble is, I have tried this plant twice before (years ago) with no success. That should be the end of it according to my rules. However, those other times I had bought packaged roots. I thought I'd try just one more time and broke down and paid for a 1 gallon pot.

The last newbie, I do not know the exact name of. It is a division from my mom who has had it survive now for a few years. It is a Cranesbill Geranium, not all species of which are hardy here. She got this one from her cousin in Calgary. Note: This is not the same cranesbill that I had listed as "new" last year. That one was bought and did not survive.

Which now brings us to this year's major disappointment. Just last year I was extolling the virtues of my Lychnis coronaria. My plan was to divide this amazing fast-grower and have a virtual sea of it in Section 1. Imagine my shock when all my plants were dead. I referred to my book and read, "Often biannual in habit..." Ah. Well, I still think this is a beautiful plant and there are seedlings galore but it will have to be relegated to second-class status instead of a feature plant. I just don't have the patience for a plant that will not come up and bloom in the same spot year after year.

June 1 - Two more additions! These are both from the cottage. The first is a wild violet. They were putting in a new road and these were dug up from the overturned sand on the new roadside. Further into the bush there was one area where there was a whole blooming sea of them under the trees. Just perfect for my shade garden! The other is also present in vast quantities under trees, near the lake. The nearest I can figure, it is called "false Solomon's seal".

June 5 - This bench is a present from my parents, "bought" with their Zeller points.

June 11 - It has been pouring for 2 days straight and the forecast for the rest of the week doesn't look much better.

June 13 - At this time, I have decided to add a separate page on all my Garden Pets (of the non-breathing variety).

June 30 - I got kiwifruit!!! And tons of it! I first bought and planted this vine in 1996 (1 each of male and female vines). I must say it is a beautiful and thick vine but this is the first time in all these years that it has produced fruit!!!

In other news, it's been an EXTREMELY hot week and weekend. The mosquitoes are now out in droves from all the rain we had, which makes it quite unpleasant to work out in the garden.

August 5 - Section 1B Update:

Way back in '99, I had mentioned a "secret" garden project that I wanted to try. Well, obviously I didn't get around to it... but, now, 3 years later I am ready for the unveiling. It didn't turn out as great as I had hoped but it's not bad, either. The sweetpea vines that were supposed to grow from the ground in front did not perform good at all.

The Background: Our son was born in April 1986 and just a few months later, the government issued new crib regulations. Old cribs could not be sold. The crib was still in perfectly good condition, I could not throw it away. So, this is something of what I had always had in the back of my mind.

What's Blooming Now!

May 18 - wallcress, pulmonaria, violets

May 25 - wallcress, pulmonaria, violets NEW: primrose

June 1 - wallcress, pulmonaria, violets, primrose NEW: moss phlox, periwinkle ALSO NEW: I don't usually add this in because it's a tree but it is in bloom right now and it's so fragrant and beautiful - Canada red chokecherry

June 2 - NEW (late addition) bergenia. Quite a lot of the buds have opened now, so I did not want to leave this until next week. The following pictures show the progress of one of my bergenia:

June 8 - wallcress, pulmonaria, violets, primrose, moss phlox, periwinkle, bergenia NEW: flax, forget-me-nots, chives, lily-of-the-valley

June 15 - pulmonaria, moss phlox, periwinkle, bergenia, flax, forget-me-nots, chives, lily-of-the-valley NEW: sweet woodruff, rock soapwort, thrift, kiwi vine, lilacs, pussytoes, dame's rocket

June 22 - pulmonaria, moss phlox, periwinkle, flax, forget-me-nots, chives, lily-of-the-valley, sweet woodruff, rock soapwort, thrift, lilacs, pussytoes, dame's rocket NEW: bugleweed, painted daisy, Solomon's seal, sedum yellow acre, Irish moss

June 29 - flax, chives, sweet woodruff, rock soapwort, thrift, pussytoes, dame's rocket, bugleweed, painted daisy, sedum yellow acre, Irish moss NEW: matricaria, honeysuckle vine, Jacob's ladder, bishop's weed, helianthus (sunflower), penstemon, lychnis, sundrops, tradescantia, campanula

July 1 - Happy Canada Day!

July 6 - flax, thrift, pussytoes, dame's rocket, bugleweed, painted daisy, sedum yellow acre, Irish moss, matricaria, honeysuckle vine, Jacob's ladder, bishop's weed, helianthus (sunflower), penstemon, lychnis, sundrops, tradescantia, campanula NEW: creeping Jenny, yarrow, Stella d'Oro daylilies, orange lilies, baby's breath, loosestrife (new this year), filipendula, daisies, lady's mantle

July 13 - flax, thrift, Irish moss, matricaria, honeysuckle vine, bishop's weed, helianthus, penstemon, lychnis, sundrops, tradescantia, campanula, creeping Jenny, yarrow, Stella d'Oro daylilies, orange lilies, baby's breath, loosestrife (new this year), filipendula, daisies, lady's mantle NEW: veronica, blanket flower, hosta (white), lavender, various other lilies

July 20 - flax, thrift, Irish moss, matricaria, honeysuckle vine, helianthus, lychnis, sundrops, tradescantia, campanula, creeping Jenny, yarrow, Stella d'Oro daylilies, orange lilies, baby's breath, loosestrife, daisies, lady's mantle, veronica, blanket flower, hosta (white), lavender, various other lilies NEW: another lily, phlox (white), spirea, more hostas, more yarrow

July 27 - flax, thrift, Irish moss, matricaria, honeysuckle vine, helianthus, lychnis, tradescantia, campanula, creeping Jenny, various yarrow, Stella d'Oro daylilies, baby's breath, daisies, lady's mantle, veronica, blanket flower, various hostas, lavender, various lilies, phlox (white), spirea NEW: tiger lilies, daylilies, purple coneflower, liatris (purple)

August 3 - flax, Irish moss, matricaria, honeysuckle vine, helianthus, lychnis, tradescantia, campanula, creeping Jenny, various yarrow, Stella d'Oro daylilies, baby's breath, lady's mantle, veronica, blanket flower, various hostas, lavender, various lilies, phlox (white), spirea, tiger lilies, daylilies, purple coneflower, liatris (purple) NEW: more lilies & daylilies, elephant ears, monkshood, obedient, German statice

August 10 - flax, matricaria, honeysuckle vine, helianthus, campanula, various yarrow, Stella d'Oro daylilies, baby's breath, lady's mantle, veronica, blanket flower, various hostas, lavender, various lilies, phlox (white), spirea, tiger lilies, daylilies, purple coneflower, liatris (purple) elephant ears, monkshood, obedient, German statice NEW: bellflower, pearly everlasting, phlox (purple), more daylilies, liatris (white)

August 17 - flax, matricaria, honeysuckle vine, helianthus, campanula, yarrow, baby's breath, lady's mantle, veronica, blanket flower, hostas, lavender, lilies, spirea, daylilies, purple coneflower, elephant ears, monkshood, obedient, German statice, bellflower, pearly everlasting, phlox, liatris NEW: black beauty lily, goldenrod

August 24 - flax, honeysuckle vine, helianthus, campanula, yarrow, baby's breath, lady's mantle, lavender, lilies, spirea, daylilies, purple coneflower, elephant ears, obedient, German statice, bellflower, pearly everlasting, phlox, liatris, goldenrod NEW: nothing

August 31 - flax, honeysuckle vine, helianthus, campanula, yarrow, daylilies, purple coneflower, obedient, German statice, pearly everlasting, goldenrod NEW: hydrangea, sea lavender

September 7 - helianthus, campanula, yarrow, purple coneflower, obedient, pearly everlasting, goldenrod, hydrangea, sea lavender NEW: nothing

balance of September - purple coneflower, obedient, pearly everlasting, goldenrod, sea lavender NEW: sedum 'Autumn Joy'

October - 'Autumn Joy'

Use the navigation bar below to move around my garden pages.