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

June Blooms

Hello fellow gardeners! We've had an unusually dry June, with several temperature records broken. Other than a few poor seedlings that I forgot to water (oops!) and my sad looking peas that aren't enjoying the heat, my garden seems to be happy. I worked on my fairy garden and added the accessories my daughter bought me along with some blue rocks for the creek. I still want to add a little patio but the pebble one will do for now. Here are a few of my favorites this month.  

Daylily 'Strawberry Candy'

Daylily with unknown name

Dianthus just opening up

Feverfew

Nigella or Love in a Mist

Miniature or Fairy Garden  

Fuchsias with Lobelia

Spirea 

Buddleia or Butterfly Bush

Peas while they still looked green 

Christmas Decorating with Chester the Kitten

Decorating the house for Christmas has been a bit of a challenge this year. Our kitten Chester is five months old today, and he is very, very interested in the Christmas tree, and all the ornaments dangling on it. I collected some sticks from our backyard, and put them in an old milk bottle and hung up snowflakes from the branches, but Chester found the sticks to be irresistible to chew on, so I gave up on that project, ha ha. I also made a "window" from sticks and added berries but that has survived because it is out of his reach. There's also pictures from him hiding in my son's backpack, and a picture of him just before his workout. I'm also adding a few fall photos from my yard at the end. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Helping with the garland

The failed project

Inspecting the lights

Checking out the Tree

Getting stuck 

Playing with his Christmas mouse

Time for a nap

Guarding the tree

Relaxing

Stick Window

He fell asleep while I was wrapping presents nearby so this is what happens

My new hummingbird ornament :)

One of his favourite places, my son's backpack

Chester's workout 

Rocks and Leaves beside my house

Fall in the fairy garden

November Garden

     The dreaded first frost of autumn has yet to arrive, but it won't be long now so I took a few photos of my castor plants yesterday just to give you a chance to see how very tall they are now. The second photo was taken when I was standing beneath them looking up. The funny looking seed pods haven't turned brown yet, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to save any seed. I picked a few of the pods and placed them underneath our garden shed, in hopes that the rodents will find them tasty (insert evil laugh) since they are very poisonous. Don't try this if you have young children or pets that are likely to find them.  

     The Burning bush, or euonymus is a deciduous shrub with fiery red leaves in the fall and my only regret is that I didn't plant it in a location that I can see from the windows of my home. 

     A couple of years ago I decided to grow some plants in our unused fire pit, with Japanese blood grass in the middle for the fire. It's still a young plant but I am happy that it has survived with the shallow soil and nearly solid bottom of the fire pit. 

    My grape tomato plant is still producing tomatoes (photo from October) but I noticed a bit of blight on it yesterday so I have to say goodbye to garden tomatoes for another year. My bell pepper plant is still alive too, and I even found a red pepper on it in a couple of weeks ago, but I think that will be the last of them. 

    This past summer I had the pleasure of talking to Dave Ledoux from the BackToMyGarden podcast and you can find my interview here if you are interested in listening: BackToMyGarden 

Castor Bean Plant

Castor plant

Burning Bush

Burning Bush 

Burning Bush

Japanese Blood grass among hens and chicks

Chrysanthemums

Dahlias 

Tomato plant

Mini Bell Peppers

Maple Fairy Garden

Fairy Gardens!

A few weeks ago I discovered  my local Buckerfields store had a wide assortment of fairy/miniature garden accessories in stock. Not only that but they have an amazing fairy garden in their greenhouse out back.  I took some photos of their garden, and bought some cute little things to start another fairy garden because fairy gardening is addictive! It's kinda like being a kid all over again.

I just love the mini vegetable garden! 

Accessories I bought

My second fairy garden, and it even has real flowers in the bucket :)

My first fairy garden, with new plants.