Update On The Garden!

Well, so sorry for being so absent! Springtime has always been a busy time for me. I'm in the garden as much as  I can be. I'm busy with all my spring plantings!

I've been making some drastic changes to my garden this year! The thing about gardening is there are no mistakes, just experiments and sometimes things don't work out like you planned!
Here is what the garden looked like last year!

The Maple tree in the picture was going to be way too large for this small garden and I was afraid it would provide more shade to an already shaded garden. I also moved a Mulberry tree from another spot to the top of the stairs for added interest!

Added Rocks to keep the dogs from peeing on the plants directly! I love thos dogs but they can be a pain in my ass when it comes to gardening!!

Well I've come a long way since then! I've added new rocks to provide some consitency and to try to keep their balls and toys from falling into the gardens!!

Here is the result!

So I removed the maple tree from the centre garden. The hostas, Azalea, Japenses Grass, have been there since I started the garden maybe 3 years ago. So I expanded both center beds, double dug the beds to remove as many rocks as I could. I added rocks for interest, and then added, Astilbes, Adtrantia Majors, Salvias, Peonies, Yellow lilies, Woodland Phlox, Lady's Mantle, and 1 foxglove, and one Bears Breeches (rescued from another area where it wasn't doing so well!!). 

Astrantia Major!!

Then in front I expanded a bed, again, to make it more uniform with the other bed! In it I added a Japenese Grass, Blue Geranium (perennial),, Globe Thistle, 2 Salvias, 2 Lavenders, 1 Moonbeam Coreopsis, a Silver Mound, 3 dwarf delphiniums, a lily, 2 Campanulas Poscharakyana (very excited about those) to go with the Astilbe and hostas that were already there. Including the Creeping Phlox!!

Can't wait to see what it will look like!!

Campanual Poscharskyana

Dwarf Delphinium or Larkspur!
Very excited about this plant as well!!

I hope you like gradening as much as I do and enjoy when I share my garden experiences with you!!

We can all learn from one another! If you have any experiences with gardening you would like to share please do!!

Happy Gardening!!

Post Easter Redecorating!

it's a bleary rainy day in Nova Scotia today. Thought I'd changed things up a bit to make it cheerful on the inside!!

Missing a candle on the other side...but Oh well...was too lazy to go out in the rain to get one!!

Hope you like!

Gardening on a Budget!

Gardening these days is expensive. So finding inexpensive ways to garden and have the look you want in your garden, sometimes you have to get creative. You can divide plants you already have, you can plan a plant exchange with friends and family, or you can invest in seeds or packages of flowers. The problem I have with seeds is sometimes you never get the flower you want nor the prefered color especially in perennials. 

So recently, with my new gift card from Home Depot, I went shopping and decide to invest my money in a few packages of flowers, mostly peonies and the Daylily 'Stella de Oro', both plants which I love and you can't have enough of them in your garden! They are showy, and provide excellent cut flowers as well! Who doesn't love peonies! For $10. you can get a package of 3 or 4 plants. Just make sure they have some life to them and look healthy. 

When removing them from the packages be careful not to damage them. You can soak them or as I did I temporarily put them into pots, covered with good soil, and prayed! I leave them out for the day, in order to start climatizing them, and bring them in at nights to avoid the freezing temperatures common in April. So if all goes well I will have 7 Daylily 'Stella de Oro', and 7 peonies for $40.compared to if I bought them in pots at the garden centre I could be spending anywhere from $10-$30 per plant! The downside is the peonies may not bloom the first year. But that's Ok with me! I know that I will have them and will plan accordingly! Just remember "There are no gardening mistakes, just experiments" . Happy Gardening!

Happy Gardening Folks!

A Celebration of Spring!

I have no children! Well...I do but he's 35 and hasn't provided me any grandcildren yet, so I find Easter isn't celebrated with easter hunts and chocolate bunnies.

It's celebrated more as the beginning of Spring!

Here are some very pretty and  inspiring photos that just say Spring so well!

Have a very enjoyable Easter Weekend!

Spring is here!!

After a freaking long and extradorinary winter finally Spring is here. It's been a real hardship these past few months, one reason I haven't blogged much is because I lost my job. Thank fully I found another. And even though it's only part time, it provides a little relief nonetheless.

So to relieve some of the stress, I turn towards my garden and this weekend is perfect! 

I have a few problems with my garden. For one my backyard is sloped. Also I've accumulated some trees over the past few years, standards mostly, that if I leave them where they are I won't be able to move them so now is a good time to do that. They are not too big that they can't be moved.

So here's the problem! I created steps that go up the backyard. They are made of wood instead of stones, which sometimes I regret but the folks that built the deck, were handy at the time and they built them for me. It was probably cheaper!

Here is what it looks like in the summer!

I have a standard  Japanes maple to provide some height and a lovely orange azalea. Then I added lots of hostas, and Japanese Grass or as someone referred to it as Fiber Optic Grass (kind of a crazy name!) to cover the hardlines of the wooden stairs.

Anyway, I love the look of this grass. It just sweeps over the stairs, and adds that lovely yellow to the garden that compliments the dark purple blue salvias, and and blue lilies among other plants I have there!

But what I didn't like it the way the maple tree was growing, It would be better if it was turned around. I would rather see the trunk than all those leaves! Anal, aren't I! Also what bothered me is every garden should have a focul point and I wanted something for the top of the stairs! I really would have liked a colection of 3 tall thin cedars, like in Italy, but this year it's not in the budget. So I decided to take a mulberry tree I have and plant it at the top (where the clock is!

What do you think? And then I plan on moving the Japanes  maple to the other side of the stairs but turn it around so I can see the trunk more than just all the leaves!

So I've been gathering some inspiration from these photos.

I have a lot of work to do but I have some time. Working with no budget means that I'll have to get creative. Probably divide many of the plants I already have, but that's Ok as it's good to have some consistency throughout the garden. I'm more formal then informal, and although I love a lot of plants I'm not a "cottage" gardener. but by creating a good solid plan, gives me something to plan and look forward to.

There is always a silver lining when times get tough.

Happy gardening folks. Thank God Spring is finally here!!!

Adding Architecture To Your Room Or Garden!

I have these lovely church windows I bought years ago in a yard sale. They actually came from a church here in Nova Scotia. I believe they said they came from Parrsboro.

 

 

There are in fact 2 of them, that I joined with some antique hinges that I got at Restoration Hardware. I got them to use as a room divider to seperate the living room from the dining room. Like everything I do I used it for awhile and then I got bored and tried something else. My current home didn't have room for them. At least not yet until I finish the basement and then I may actually have a place for them.

 

I have often thought of putting them in the garden but they meant so much to me I was afraid I might ruin them. Plus they are really heavy, I mean REALLY heavy!! Can't drag them around willy nilly, especially since I would always have to bribe my son to help, and you know that can always be costly!!

 

Anyway, I'm trying to sell them!

 

So I thought I'd show some great examples I collected where church windows were used in pleasing and architectually inspiring ways!

 

Have a look!

 

After looking at these pictures I'm having second thoughts as these are such lovely examples!

 

But I'm pretty sure they have to go!

 

Contact me if your interested!!



Proud Canadian!

 

So proud of our Girls Hockey team. 4th in a row for Gold!!

 

Congratulations and we are so proud!