plant matter

Oh my goodness (that's not actually what I want to say) I was 3/4 of the way done writing a post when my curser was jumping around the screen like it does and the combination of me hitting a key and where the curser was deleted the whole thing. Allow me to try again...

So, I have not yet planted my vegetable garden but my goal is to be done by the end of this weekend. I went to our sweet little green house at the edge of our village this morning before things pick up for the Canada 150 year celebration down at the community center. I purchased vegetable plants (tomato, cucumber, peppers, lettuce, basil, parsley) for immediate gratification, seed potatoes and onion sets.
I already had a big tomato plant and one cucumber from a fund raiser. They have been sitting on the back porch waiting patiently for me to get my act in gear.

The weather is supposed to be delightfully hot today ( I NEVER complain about the heat). Here are some pictures I took this morning of what is currently blooming.

This cranesbill is of medium - tall height and behaves itself pretty well, staying in a nice clump.

This cranesbill is low and spreading, but fills in spaces very well. It is hardy beyond belief.

Variegated weigela - this one is so pretty with soft pinks and white. Here is a closer look:

I planted this weigela a year ago (?) and it is just beginning to burst with colour.

It sits in front of what I call my lilac tree but I'm not certain of what it is. It was a gift many years ago. It smells amazing, and attracts bees and butterflies. We watched a swallowtail a couple of days ago.

I am always happy when the Siberian irises are in bloom. They are one of my favourite. I had them in my wedding bouquet 26 years ago.

Up close and personal -

As I was walking around the back, past the strawberry bed, formerly known as my vegetable garden, I caught sight of this!!

So exciting!!

Obviously, someone beat me to it. Snail? Bird? Don't know, but I picked it and washed it off and ate it anyway! I think I picked all of 6 or 7 berries, but I'm happy to know they're starting.

Tonight is Prom night. Tall skinny boy needed new everything: pants, dress shoes, black socks, belt, shirt and pink tie to go along with his girlfriend's pretty dress. Pants needed hemming, I've sent him to go pick up the corsage he ordered, I have meatballs in a crockpot for pre-prom gathering, and I'll have my phone at my bedside to pick him up from the after-prom gathering at god-knows-what-time. Mother of the year award.

Look at My Bloomers!!

Did that get your attention? But seriously folks, isn't June the best month for flowers? With the glorious heat we had on Saturday combined with the rain on Sunday, my gardens have filled in and started to burst, so with no further ado, come look at my "bloomers".

Let's start with the closest thing to heaven on earth: white peonies. I literally sink my nose in them and breath deeply. I also love how the petals are baby-skin soft.

My oriental poppies are almost all done, some of their petals hanging on by sheer determination. I love the shocking pop of colour they provide, but when they start to fade, they have all the charm of a mangy dying thistle so I usually cut them as far back as possible.

In addition to purple irises which I have already shown in an earlier post, I also have some pale yellow irises. I enjoy their large size and the combination of purple and yellow is lovely.

I am not very good at growing clematis so it always warms my heart when this Nelly Moser blooms in  a relatively neglected corner. The booms are quite large and a lovely blend of pale and medium pink.

I saw great healthy clumps of this plant at a magnificent garden  called Lark whistle on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario. Its more common name is spiderwort. It has lovely round petals of various shades of purple, and leaves that are quite like a day lily's.

Purple Salvia is a nice upright plant. It can also be a bit of pest if it is allowed to self seed.

I love this shrub. It is a wigelia (sorry, can't remember which kind specifically, bristol tuby? Little prince?)) When we  travelled through Prince Edward Island several years ago, I took note of how so many gardens or borders contained these beautiful flowering shrubs. I've  since planted a number of them around the property.

This Statue of Aristotle moves around from garden to garden. This year he is in an East - facing bed. The white plant beside him is a miracle in itself. It is a gas plant which seriously  did not bloom for the first  five years I even dug it up and moved it to a different location. Finally it started to bloom. It is not spectacular, but I still get excited when it does bloom. Beside it, you can see a very nice cranes bill called John son's blue which I have chopped pieces out of to plant in other locations. It does start to look stragglers when the blooms fade, so it gets  a severe haircut later in the summer.  (Husband's "project car" can be seen in the background... it is supposed to be tucked out of sight... grrr)

Oh how I love this flower, so slender and elegant. Siberian irises are definitely one of my favourite flowers. I love them so much that they were in my wedding bouquet.

I've always admired lupins, but a trip to P.E.I., where these gorgeous flowers grow wild in great multi-coloured waves made me adore them even more. Unfortunately, I am not terribly successful at growing them. They last only a year or two and don't self seed well. Other people seem to grow them with very little effort.

Our old century - plus house is not formal in design or detail. The setting of our home is rural and even somewhat wild to the west of us. Rail fences suit my gardens well providing structure and definition. The fence holds taller plants up and looks rustic and pretty when plants spill over its rails.

I was raised by an annual loving mother who bought and planted flat after flat of petunias, merigolds, begonias, and alysum. She kept geraniums inside over the winter, conjuring them back to life the following spring. Although I love the consistent colour  provided by annuals, it is perennials that provide me with the most joy. I have divided and transplanted hundreds of perennials. I have schlepped grocery bags of iris roots and hunk of cranes bill to work to share with colleagues. I have even ruthlessly cut out the bullies of the plant world and encouraged the timid and gentle to establish themselves and flourish. Perhaps the best aspect of perennials is the anticipation and then the celebration of old friends coming back for a visit because they, like you, have survived another long cold Canadian winter.