Van Dusen Botanical Garden

Since my world is covered in white these days I'm going to step back in time again and revisit a favourite garden.

While I was in Vancouver last spring I managed another trip to my favourite public garden.  I volunteered at Van Dusen Botanical garden for a couple years and it has held a special place in my heart ever since.  It doesn't seem to matter what time of year I visit, there's always something to see. 

It was still early in the season when I arrived and many trees were only just beginning to show their buds but there was still more than enough flowers to keep me occupied for hours.  Spring blooms carpeted the garden and there was something to see in every corner you cared to look.  A large grove of native trilliums was particularly eye catching.  White trilliums are always beautiful to look at but red ones add some amazing contrast.

Bulbs were prominent on this trip.  I particularly liked this combination of soft yellow tulips, pink hyacinth and blue forget me nots.

Many spring blooming trees, like these magnolias, were underplanted with spring bulbs to great effect.

Early blooming Rhododendron shrubs were also putting on a great show.

 

One of the things about Van Dusen that always impresses me is the scale.  Public gardens can do things that would seem outrageous in a small garden.  Like artwork.  The sheer size, not to mention the quality, of the artwork was impressive.

This giant minotaur was woven out of wire and towered over us.  In the context of the large trees though it appeared perfectly at home.

A grouping of stone persons gathered in front of a grove of white birches also seemed perfectly natural. 

In the heather garden a series of white figures gazes at you from across the hillside.

I don't expect I'll be putting any large sculptures in my garden in the near future but I really enjoyed seeing them here.  It really emphasizes the idea of scale and context.  Plant according to the size of space you have.  A large space can accommodate and will look more natural if large trees and gardens are planted.  Small sculptures will go unnoticed in a large space so take note of the context and place your art accordingly.

What is your favourite public garden?  Are there any garden lessons you've learned from visiting another garden?

Triumphs and Tragedies

It's been a long while since I've written a T&T post but it seemed like it was time after this past weekend.  There's been a myriad of good and bad now that I've gotten out and about in the yard.  Let's start with some triumphs shall we?

The sun was out this past weekend, and while there's still a bit of snow in places, it was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods.

This wooded stretch was snowy but it's the last snow we'll see this year

Although the golf courses aren't open yet there's very little snow left on our property creating a perfect opportunity to try out some new golf clubs.

These little flashes of green don't look like much now but they're a sign of things to come.

Those are daffodil shoots.  I planted dozens (I meant to write down how many but of course, forgot..) of a variety called Golden Echo last fall.  

Also appearing are the shoots of columbine.  

I've had a sudden strong urge to start clearing out flower beds and getting ready for the new season.  

Unfortunately garden chores got sidetracked quite quickly as there are other spring chores to attend to.

A splitter is absolutely necessary when you've got 8 cords of wood to get through

Splitting firewood isn't exactly a tragedy, but when it keeps me out of the garden I consider it a negative.  Unfortunately, if we want a warm house in winter it's imperative that wood gets split and stacked in spring so it has the summer to dry.  

Which brought us directly to another tragedy.  One of our maple trees has been in decline since we moved in.  Back in 2010 it looked like this.

Not quite alive but not yet dead.  Every year it looks worse and this year we found many broken branches scattered at the base.  It was time to take it down.

I hate to remove any trees but you can see on the top left of the tree how there is a dead branch hanging.  It was becoming hazardous to leave this tree standing with branches constantly falling.  The good news is we added substantially to our firewood pile with the wood we got from this tree.

Another unfortunate discovery was one of our newer trees.  I planted a native witch hazel in 2010 and it's been growing beautifully ever since.

Well until now that is.  It's located near the roadside and I'm guessing a load of snow from the plow might have hit it this year.  The main trunk now looks like the photo above.  My thought is that trying to fix it simply won't do any good.  A repaired trunk will always be weak so maybe it's better to just prune off one side.  Does anyone have any better ideas?

A Change of Seasons

It's dark when I leave in the morning and close to dark when I arrive home in the evenings now.

The rain has been continuous for weeks, turning the lawn bright green and bringing a flush of fall mushrooms.

In the last week the temperatures have become quite cold though and we have had fires to warm the house and take the chill out of the air.

In the garden the asters have already lost their lustre and are closing up shop for the season.  We spent time last weekend pulling the last of the vegetables out of the garden.  Tomatoes, beans, peppers, zucchini were all pulled from the vines and brought indoors.

Green tomatoes brought indoors to ripen

Frost hasn't struck yet but it has been oh so close on more than a few nights.  I have been busy continuing to clean out vegetable beds.  Pulling plants and weeds, adding lime and compost to the beds and finally adding a protective layer of straw for the winter.

The straw will keep the cats out of the beds and keep the soil from blowing away in the winter wind.

All around us leaves have begun to turn colour and drift to the ground.  And off in the distance calls can be heard.  Searching the internet I finally discovered the source.

We have been hearing the second set of calls in the above video.  At first we thought it was children in the distance but it quickly became clear the sound was not human.  Perhaps there will be pups in the back field next year?

Gardening OOPS

When I came home from vacation in August I realized something was amiss.  In all honesty I think I knew before then but denial is a wonderful thing.  After a spell away though there was no denying it, I immediately thought - oh GOOPS.

Thank you Joene for adding a new word to my vocabulary.

On the first of every month Joene shares with the blogging world a Gardening Oops (aka GOOPS).  Moments in the garden where something didn't quite work out the way it was planned.  It's a way to inform other gardeners and share a bit of your misery.

Back in the spring I discovered that my new flower bed had a low spot that collected water.  Rather than try and fix this problem I decided to work with it.  Building up the bed on either side and allowing water to flow right into this area.

The area left of the old stump sits slightly lower than the rest of the bed. 

Then I planted with water loving shrubs and perennials.  Goatsbeard, Siberian Iris, Ligularia and a Red Osier Dogwood.

These bare stems were red in spring leading me to
believe this was a Red Osier Dogwood

Dogwoods are common here, growing in ditches and fields.  Rather than purchase a plant at a nursery I decided it would be quite easy to relocate one.  So I found a likely specimen, dug it up and brought it home.

I have been quite pleased with the result.  Despite a dry summer this plant took to the spot like glue and has been growing a mile a minute over the past 3 months.  I was so excited by how well it was doing that I completely disregarded the fact that dogwoods don't grow in an upright vase shape, or that their leaves are slim and silvery.

Crowded by flowers the shape is hard to see
but it is distinctly tall and vaselike

It wasn't until I had gone away and come home again with a fresh set of eyes that I finally understood the mistake I had made.  OOPS.  This was no dogwood, it's a willow.  I guess the moral of the story is know what you're digging out of the ditch before you put it in your garden.

I have nothing against willows and this one is not without its charms.  The shape is lovely and the long whippy branches wave beautifully in the wind.  However, there are over a hundred varieties of willow native to North America and I have no clue which one this is.  Or how large it will eventually grow.  When this shrub was planted in spring it was approximately one foot tall.  Now, after one season, this plant is standing at close to 5 feet tall.  My fear is it will become a massive shrub, quickly taking out any perennials in its path.

These rudbeckia are tough but I'm betting the willow is tougher.

Other issues have developed as well.  Crowded conditions in its present location are causing rust spots.   As well,  I suspect aphids have made a home here as swarms of wasps cover this plant most days.  I believe the wasps are sipping the honeydew created by the aphids as the wasps can be found drunkenly lolling around on the ground beneath the shrub.

Wandering dazed in the mulch under the willow

So now I'm faced with a choice.  Do I leave this shrub, knowing it will likely grow much larger?  I can always move a few perennials and prune the willow to try and keep it manageable.  Or, do I find it a new home and go looking for the dogwood I had originally planned on?

Wildflower Wednesday - High Bush Cranberry

Our first spring in the garden we purchased a number of trees and shrubs with a mind to begin filling in the vast amount of lawn we had.  I hadn't anticipated purchasing High Bush Cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) but a kind lady at the nursery suggested this would be a really nice addition and so two specimens came home with us.

Since then I have thought countless times how lucky I was that this native shrub was suggested to me as it provides so much interest in several seasons.  It is not a true cranberry but rather a species of Viburnum growing approximately 15 feet high.  They prefer full sunlight and slightly moist conditions in woods or by streams but they are tolerant of some shade and slightly drier soil.  After purchasing my two plants I did find a wild specimen on our property. Tucked away under a poplar it is growing in slight shade in a damp spot next to the roadside.

I discovered this plant as it is easily identifiable by its leaves which look like that of a maple.

Easy to mistake these for maple leaves but they appear on a bushy shrub

And like a maple the leaves turn a brilliant colour in fall.

The tips of the branches tend to die back over winter thus promoting bushy growth each spring making it quite dense.  Birds apparently like the dense nature of this shrub as it provides great coverage for them but they also appreciate the red berries this plant sports in fall.

In June the flowers begin to form

Which then turn to berries in July

By August the fruit is fully formed

and continues to ripen throughout the fall

While the berries can hang on throughout the winter my shrubs have already been well picked over by the birds now at the end of October.

The two shrubs I purchased have been placed front and center in the middle of our circular driveway next to a mature birch where I can see them throughout the seasons and watch their progress.  They have been a beautiful addition to our yard and I'm glad to have them.

If you would like to see more wildflowers or participate in Wildflower Wednesday please pop on over to Gail's blog, Clay and Limestone, where every fourth Wednesday of the month we celebrate the wild side of our gardens.

Wildflower Wednesday - Mountain Ash

It may not be a wildflower exactly but Mountain Ash does have beautiful flowers in May and June.


Unopened buds on a Mountain Ash

This native shrub is not an Ash at all but rather belongs to the genus Sorbus which is part of the Rose family.  I actually thought it was a tree until I looked it up and realized it is classified as a shrub.  It can grow as high as 30 feet tall and is common all over Prince Edward Island, growing in full sunlight and rich soil in forest clearings, hillsides, windbreaks and roadsides.


Classified as a shrub but as large as many of our other trees

It is at home throughout our property with several large specimens along the roadside and numerous saplings appearing in cleared areas.  In fact I find it somewhat prolific on our open property and have found saplings in the oddest spots including this hole in a birch tree.

After the blooms have faded in summer this tree begins the process of berry production and this is where most people recognize this plant.  By August the berries are visible.



In fall the white flowers have changed to fruit clusters

In early September the clusters were orange.

And now in late September they have turned to dark red.

Not only are the flowers and fruit attractive they also are an important food source for birds such as robins, bluebirds, cedar waxwings and grackles.

It makes a lovely landscape plant due to its many seasons of interest.  Flowers in spring, attractive foliage in summer, and red fruit in fall that can often be found hanging on throughout the winter.

If you would like to see more wildflowers or participate in Wildflower Wednesday please pop on over to Gail's blog, Clay and Limestone, where every fourth Wednesday of the month we celebrate the wild side of our gardens!

A Walk Through the Meadow

Since we're touring the garden we can't leave out the meadow can we?  The grasses have long since dried and spring flowers have changed to fall.  In the last week the asters started to bloom.

The large flowered white aster with the yellow button

The tiny white Aster lateriflorus or Calico Aster with its horizontal branches and pink buttons changing to yellow.

And the large purple asters.  They flower with such abundance and everywhere I look there's another plant.   How lucky we are that this lawn turned meadow should be so full of this quietly beautiful flower.

Also flowering in abundance is goldenrod.  Last year there was not a single plant in the meadow and I wondered how that could be since the hedgerow is full of goldenrod.  Perhaps the plants just needed an extra year to grow as they are showing up in great numbers now.

Another plant I don't recall seeing last year in the field is this funny plant.  This year it is turning up everywhere on the property it seems.  I suspect it is Hemp Nettle, a weed introduced from Europe.

Although I noticed this next plant last year it seems to have covered more ground this year.

Common toadflax is another invasion from Europe, brought in as an ornamental plant.

I have really struggled to identify this next bloom.  I found a group of them hidden in a shaded patch tucked between my neighbours hedge and the roadside.   

They appear to be a double flower and are quite pretty.  Does anyone have ideas about what it might be?

As it happens I discovered this bloom's identity is while looking for something else!  It is an ornamental plant from Europe, traditionally used in cottage gardens.  Saponaria officinalis is often called Bouncing Bet.  This particular flower is a double form called Rosea plena.

In that same secluded corner is my native Witch Hazel, Hamamelis virginiana.  This plant has grown by leaps and bounds since being planted last spring and is beginning to put out tiny yellow flowers now this fall.

And what would a trip into the meadow be if I didn't show you the progress of my little red oak?

I simply cannot believe how much this tree has grown this year.  It is close to the size it was when we first bought it last spring.  After being gnawed to bits by voles this past winter all that you see here is brand new growth.  That's several feet of new growth in one season.  Truly truly astounding.