Project 1: This has been in the works on a small scale for the last couple years, but I think this year it will actually begin to look like something; plus I am going to actively work on it.

Because of the hedge, a "real" garden can't be grown here. Where the hedge already intersects the rock garden, it is a royal pain to trim. So, what I am doing is making a combination grass/ground cover garden. I have planted things like sedum yellow acre, pussytoes, creeping jenny and thyme amongst the grass. These ground covers can be walked on and mowed right along with the lawn.

Project 2: Integrate my marsh garden to the existing garden.

Project 3: Integrate my wishing well to the existing garden.

Project 4 (general): Add my many Rock Pets into the garden as decoration.

Well, it's obviously much too early to start on any of my projects. At 9 a.m., January 7th, it is minus 22C with a windchill of minus 30. Hey! It's warmed up!

January 15 - A pic of poor Pelé, parked in piled powdery precipitation (of the white variety).

May 5, 2004 - Well, a couple of emails have prompted me to put in a spring update, although nothing much is going on. I've only worked out in the garden 3 days, and only 2 of those have been nice. We've had a cold and windy spring, so far. I love gardening but a lot of it is enjoying the weather, the sun on my back, puttering... it's just not as enticing if I have to wear a parka and have the wind howling in my ears.

The plants must believe better weather will actually get here. They are coming up nicely, especially high already are the flax. Campanulas, lady's mantle, lychnis... all doing well, as usual. The odd hosta is poking through. The wild violets will be gorgeous again, they are so thick. A couple extra trips to the cottage for more trunkloads of them is definitely required.

Where the 4 big trees were cut down last year, the garden is already nicely mulched with the sawdust... I also saved 2 big bagfuls to spread around the rest of the gardens. I have to get out my notebook and see what needs to be moved around. And wait for better weather in which to do it.

Happy gardening!

May 11 - Here they are! The first gardening pictures of 2004...

The funny thing is that there is a movie filming in Winnipeg (The Big White starring Robin Williams) and on Monday they had to put down fake snow for the shoot. It snowed again on Wednesday. The snow lasted the rest of the week, because it was so cold. Finally, Monday, May 17th was a nice day. I was able to go outside and work on my gardens in a t-shirt. With all the lousy weather, I am WAY behind. The weekend before the snow, I brought home 1 load of wild violets from the cottage, as well as some motherwort.

May 24 - All the really dedicated gardeners go planting in the rain. And look really spiffy while doing it. It's handy to have an old rain poncho from Niagara Falls. I had dug up another trunkload of wild violets and motherwort at the cottage yesterday. (Where the heck am I finding room for all these new plants??) They had to be replanted today or I wouldn't be able to get to it until Thursday and that's too long to sit in basins.

One area that's allowing a lot of plants is the very back corner. MTS dug up a trench and trampled my perennials to bits. If I had KNOWN they were going to dig, I could have potted the plants up. I was pretty angry and am composing an itchy (add whatever consonant you like to the front of that) letter to them. I expect compensation.

Projects - #2 is completed. For #3, I've now decided to place the wishing well elsewhere, so that garden expansion is no longer necessary. For #1, I've planted a bit more creeping jenny to add a bit of colour variation. The grass is getting pretty long and uneven, though. Once the area is mowed, I'll take a picture.

May 25 - Rain
May 26 - Rain
May 29 (evening) - Rain
May 30 - Rain
May 31 - Rain

OK, how many words can we make out of "rain"?
ran, I, an, a, air, in, pain-in-the-@$$.
I think that about does it.

Disappointments!

A lot of my sundrops didn't make it. I used to have such a nice big patch. Also, more than half my penstemon froze. So I have to pretty much re-arrange that whole area.

The 'red dragon' that was growing so well last year (that I thought I had not left a big enough area for) has not returned. Neither has my Joe Pye weed. **update** I think Joe is starting to poke through (beginning of June).

Perennial alyssum did not make it through its first winter and the silver lace vine did not make it through a second winter.

New Members of the Garden!

Campanula 'Dickson's Gold' (planted in the back) The campanula I already have does so well for me, thought I'd try this one with a different leaf colour and pointier flower petals.
Heliopsis 'Loraine Sunshine' (planted where the 'red dragon' was)

June 5 - It suddenly turned warm (and stopped raining). I took a leap of faith and planted out all my impatiens on Wednesday. I worked out in the garden all day yesterday and got a lot done. I wanted to fill in the rest of the front garden with perennials. After having to force-yank-out and shake all the dirt off the roots of the marigolds I planted there last year, I remembered why I prefer perennials.

The first 'for real' gardening pictures of the year.

LEFT: Pulmonaria CENTER: Cypress spurge RIGHT: False Solomon's seal

LEFT: The front grass/garden. You can see how poorly the grass is doing. All those white flecks are the blooms blown off the chokecherry tree.
CENTER: The marsh garden and surrounding area. Pelé now has a perch on one of the tree stumps.
RIGHT: Behind the shed. I've set this old tub (from my parents) on the double tree trunk stub and planted it with impatiens. In bloom (foreground) is periwinkle.

LEFT: Behind the maple tree. Sherman on his tree stump.
RIGHT: My painted fake koi/goldfish pond (front yard).

June 21 - Nothing but cold and rain. And mosquitoes. The daytime highs are what the nightime lows should be for this time of year. Never mind a couple of nights of only +3C.

June 26

LEFT: Wishing well, now located in the middle of the kidney-shaped garden; the centre of the well houses impatiens. My siamese rock cat sits on one side; a small tabby is on the other side. My rock rabbit is near ground level.
RIGHT TOP: Shelf my husband made me, for displaying more of my garden 'accessories'. It is a 2x6 cedar board between two notched-out tree stumps.
RIGHT BOTTOM: Dame's rocket in bloom. (Back short stretch of shade garden, where two trees were cut down; those stumps remain for displaying more rock pets.)

LEFT: Sherman's area again; the hostas are more filled in now.
RIGHT: Another mishmash of plants in front of a basement window. Pink rock soapwort in bloom.

July 24

LEFT: Patio planter, lined with painted rocks (primroses).
RIGHT: West sun garden, looking north. (To get your orientation, Pelé (the pelican) is in the marsh garden, where the #2 box is on the map.)

Two views of the front yard, from house towards street.

LEFT: Motherwort (from cottage) in bloom. Not the most showy blooms, but they make a nice background. Nothing else seems to grow here in this deeper shade. Impatiens in pot, on tree stump, in background.
RIGHT: One corner of the patio garden. Can you make out the pump fountain? The pinks are, starting from foreground, baby's breath, yarrow and lilies, followed by orange lilies.

September 30 - I think I'm closing up. Basically it's been non-gardening conditions most of the time, rain and/or cool weather. The plants looked nice enough, but I did not go out in the garden even 1/4 as much as usual to putter, or move things around. I did grow some incredibly tall weeds. On the 'plus' (?) side, the whole summer, I only had to drag out the hose and physically water TWICE. That was during our 2 weeks of summer. So, I'm writing this year off. Speaking of writing, I haven't yet taken notes for next year... something I really need to get to.

I did make some tufa garden ornaments which I will try to get around to putting up on my "Garden Pets" page in the near future. They haven't found permanent places in the garden to live yet.

We cut down the 4 big cedars that were around the house, obstructing windows, although that wasn't the impetus for doing so. We just finished having the outside of our house repainted. Here are pictures of 'Before' left and 'After' right.

What's Blooming Now!

May 15 - wallcress, violets, pulmonaria, primrose
May 22 - wallcress, violets, pulmonaria, primrose NEW: wild violets
May 29 - wallcress, violets, pulmonaria, primrose, wild violets NEW: moss phlox, cypress spurge, chokecherry tree

June 5 - wallcress, violets, pulmonaria, primrose, wild violets, moss phlox, cypress spurge, chokecherry tree NEW: periwinkle, false Solomon's seal, pussytoes, bergenia (virtually), lamium, chives, snow-in-summer

June 12 - missed recording.

June 19 - wallcress, violets, pulmonaria, primrose, wild violets, moss phlox, cypress spurge, periwinkle, false Solomon's seal, pussytoes, bergenia, lamium, chives, snow-in-summer NEW: forget-me-nots, yellow archangel, flax, lilacs, lily-of-the-valley, dame's rocket, pussytoes, (real) Solomon's seal, yellow acre, bugleweed, tradescantia, cranesbill geranium, Siberian iris, soapwort

Yikes! Not keeping up-to-date, am I? I'm fired! Let's just say, things continued to bloom and skip right to....

July 24 - lamium, flax, dame's rocket, yellow acre, tradescantia, all kinds of lilies, Jacob's ladder, penstemon, loosestrife, helianthus, honeysuckle, matricaria, sundrops, lady's mantle, baby's breath, lychnis, phlox, creeping jenny, campanula, filipendula, daisies, thrift, Stella D'oro daylilies, regular daylilies, creeping thyme, yarrow, spirea, veronica, goldenrod, motherwort, heliopsis, arrowheads

OK, forget it. Debbie's a wash-out this year, much like the weather...

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