Merry Christmas!

   For the first time in two or three years we have snow! So I went outside to see what looked interesting in my December garden. I also took some pictures of my cats helping me wrap Christmas gifts, sometimes wearing their Christmas collar. I think they will need a new one next year because Oliver thinks it's fun to pull the white balls off. Oh yeah, and the cats aren't supposed to be on the table, ha ha. There's also a photo of the patio of one of my miniature gardens. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a blessed new year!

Skimmia Berries in the snow

Persicaria with snow

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Red Rose Branches from Therese Bugnet

Mini Garden with real mini autumn leaves 

Anna's hummingbird protecting her supply

Curious Chester

Oliver checking out the box

Oliver 

Chester wearing the dreaded Christmas collar

Oliver and my lovely birthday roses

Autumn Colour

        "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower"  by Albert Camus is one of my favorite fall quotes, and so very true. By now, most of the leaves have fallen, so some of these photos were taken a few weeks ago. A few years ago I bought a little maple to grow in a container on my patio, but after several years of the leaf tips turning brown every summer, I decided to plant it in the ground. It is much happier now, and no brown leaves! This spring I bought a new shrub to replace my elderberry that died, and even though it is still small, I love the colours of the leaves, both in the summer and now. 
  I attempted to grow cantaloupe this summer, even though our summers are too cool for them, and what did I get? One little cantaloupe that I babied with a cold frame into early October and wasn't quite ripe when I picked it, but we sure enjoyed it! There's also a few blooms left, and a picture of our kitten Oliver who is six months old now. What are your favorite plants for fall colour? 

Maple

Maple leaves

Burning bush

Burning bush and Chester

Ninebark and Viburnum

Cantaloupe

Choisya ternata

One Last Cosmos bloom

Oliver with some summer annuals still blooming

Still Blooming

     September is one of my favorite times of the year and while there are a lot less flowers blooming in my yard, I still found quite a few. The dahlias and zinnias are especially blooming well now. I decided to dig up my beloved Hansa roses, which makes me a little sad. The leaves have been plagued with a mysterious problem for three years in a row, and this year they had black-spot as well so they were looking less than lovely, to say the least. They had also outgrown their space. I am trying to save a small section of it that looked healthy and will see if that carries over the leaf problem or not.

     Last year I grew two tomato plants from seed that I had saved from store bought grape tomatoes, and they all grew and tasted like the original tomatoes. Since I still had a few seeds left, I grew them again this year. While one of the plants produced grape tomatoes, the other one produced larger tomatoes. They are pretty tasteless so I am saving them for recipes instead of fresh eating. I knew that I was taking a chance on that hybrid seed coming true but it is fun to experiment. 

Dahlia 'Blue Boy"

Dahlia Crazy Love

Figaro Dahlia grown from seed

Grape tomatoes

Balloon flower

Bleeding Heart 'luxuriant'

Chrysanthemum

Cosmos and Sedum

Feverfew

Hibiscus 

Hollyhock

Soraya Sunflower, the blooms are all small now

Morning Glory

Perennial Sunflower

Persicaria

Russian Sage, not sure what's in the back

Sedum

Spirea

Zinnia

Oliver with Chester in the background

August Garden

    Last fall my husband finally gave in to my idea of putting a shrub border along our back fence. So over the winter and early spring, I worked on digging out the grass a little at a time. I made it nice and wide, unlike the east border that came with our home. I forgot to take some before pictures but I have some pictures from later on. Unfortunately, by digging up the grass in this area, it sent out an invitation to our neighbor's horsetail collection to just come on over to our side. So between that and the bindweed that's creeping in, this border will keep me busy, ha ha. I've also added some pictures of my Soraya Sunflowers, Zinnias and our new kitten Oliver. I am looking forward to the cooler days of autumn ahead and happy gardening!

New Border

Practice run of laying in the edging

All done

Right corner of the border

Soraya Sunflower

California Giant Zinnias

Zinnia

Oliver our new kitten

July Garden

     The weather in the first half of July was more spring like than summer but we have finally hit a stretch of summer weather now. Some flowers have completely finished for the season, while others have just started, like my dahlias. I grew dahlias from seed this year, for the first time ever. They were easy to grow but I wish they came in single colour packets. I only grew a few plants since my space was limited, so mine all turned out to be light pink and light yellow.  The two that I gave to my mother were red and yellow. There's also a new dahlia that I bought from the store, and you can see how the colour looks different depending on the weather. Feel free to ask any questions that you have about any of my plants. Happy Gardening!

Dahlia figaro

Dahlia figaro

Dahlia blue Boy

Dahlia Blue Boy

Cosmos

Cosmos with a random stripe

Hibiscus bud

Hibiscus

Perennial Sunflower

Persicaria

Yarrow leaves and Thyme