Spring Blooms

    I'm a little late with posting some of my April photos so I'm adding them now, better late than never. I'm also sharing a few pictures of my poor, poor black-lace elderberry. I first noticed some dying branches on it late last summer, but I thought it was related to the drought and my poor watering skills. Then this Spring after the leaves started to grow, I noticed that almost all of them started to wilt. So I started to investigate only to discover holes in the trunk, and holes in the stems probably made by elderberry borers. I was told that if I cut it way back, it would likely re-grow from the roots, so I am really hoping that will happen. On the brighter side, I found a cute little spirea for one of my containers, and I have been working on a brand new border by my back fence. Happy gardening!

Angelique Tulips

Tulips Angelique

Foxtrot Tulip

Tulip Copex

Chinodoxa

Anemone Blanda

Dicentra Luxurient (bleeding heart)

Iris

More Anemones with Ivy and allium greens

Phlox

Iris and hardy gladiolas

Leucojum 

Spiraea japonica 'Walbuma'

Elderberry

Most of the branches looked like this

Poor Elderberry

What it looked like a couple of years ago

Ladybugs on driftwood

A rugosa rose called Hansa

Many rose petals just from one day of deadheading two rugosa rose bushes

Welcome May!

Welcome May! This pretty clematis belongs to my neighbour but it blooms on my side of the fence too, lucky for me! In fact I wonder if I have even more blooms on my side than theirs, poor neighbour, ha ha. I bought some peonies a couple of years ago and I was really hoping they would bloom for the first time this Spring but they didn't. Maybe next year. I did however find huge peony blooms in front of my local library so I added a photo. My new geraniums are blooming in my front bed and the bees seem to love them. My Hansa roses started blooming earlier than ever before, with the first bloom opening in late April. My Veggie garden is all planted except for the cucumbers, which I need to buy because my seeds failed to sprout. That happens sometimes when the seeds get old. Happy gardening!

Clematis

Raindrops on Columbine Leaves

Iris and Hardy Gladiolas

Chives

Hardy Geranium

Hardy Geranium with Bee

Therese Bugnet Rose

Huge Peony blooms at my local library 

Hansa 

September Garden and a New Kitten

September is one of my favourite months of the year, and while the garden is certainly looking less colourful, there are still things worthy of a photo or two. It is also a great time of the year to visit your local nursery for finding bargain plants. The first photo is one of my bargain finds and it is called Malva sylvestris 'braveheart' and I just love the name. Next is a flower from my hibiscus shrub that I thought was dead this spring but obviously wasn't, and another hibiscus photo that I took at my local nursery. The dahlia is also a bargain plant that I bought earlier this summer, and it just recently started blooming. It came without a name but I think it will be one of my favourites. The hydrangea blooms always looks so nice, even though the flowers are basically dead. Wouldn't it be nice if all spent flowers looked this pretty? This is the first time I have ever been able to grow zinnias past the seedling stage. I don't know if it was our drier spring & summer or the fact that the slugs and snails didn't find them this year that made the difference.  My castor plants are still growing, and as you can might be able to see, they are taller than my tall sunflowers now. It is a zone 10 plant so it won't survive our winter but I might save some seeds. In other news we adopted a new kitten! His name is Chester and he has added a lot of love & laughter to our home, not to mention trouble. Chester loves to sit on the computer keyboard and turn off the monitor and do all sorts of other things that make life interesting. Our older cat Tiger is not very happy with this new intruder, but I hope she will adjust eventually.

Malva sylvestris 'braveheart'

Hibiscus Blue Satin

Hibiscus at garden nursery

Dahlia

Hydrangea Nikko Blue

Hydrangea Nikko Blue

Hydrangea Nikko Blue

Spirea Shirobana

Rose Hansa

Zinnia

Rudbeckias and Oregano

Morning glory

Morning Glory

Butterfly Bush Petite Plum

The Castor plants are now taller than the tall sunflowers!

Elderberries

Burning Bush (Euonymus)

Our new kitten Chester

The Wall

     Well, I can hardly believe it but our retaining wall is finally done! With our old wooden wall, we had a mini mud slide every time it rained, and that was even before it fell down. Keeping our driveway clean at the bottom of our front steps was next to impossible. Now that I've finally gotten the mud cleaned up, I hope it will keep the inside of our house a bit cleaner too. The heather plants weren't very happy about being moved mid-bloom, and I probably lost a lot of bulbs, but I still think it was well worth it.
     My roses are blooming earlier than usual, along with some other flowers that usually bloom in June. I'm also sharing a photo of the plant that I bought for my mom for mother's day. I found the colours quite unique and beautiful for a Chrysanthemum. I hope you all have a lovely long weekend whether you're celebrating this weekend or the next!

Rose Hansa

Rose Therese Bugnet

Chrysanthemums

Choisya

Chives

Tulips Blue Diamond

Tulips Antoinette

Tulips Dream Touch