A walk around the garden today to enjoy what seems to be a rare sunny day this fall and I was thrilled to see some summer blooms still pushing forth.  It’s almost like they are seeking their last hurrah before winter takes over. Enjoy, for soon we will be looking at a blanket of white.

While red is a favourite foliage colour in fall brilliant burnished yellows can be easily as dramatic.  Here is Clethra alnifolia ‘Sixteen Candles’.  Sixteen Candles is a newer cultivar of the native summersweet shrub. A smaller selection, it reaches 3 to 5 feet tall. In summer, ‘Sixteen Candles’ is topped with aromatic, spiky, white blooms… Read more »

So I’m a little anxious, can you blame me? I just finished expanding the size of our second vegetable garden and surrounding it with a new fence to keep the deer and rabbits out next season. It looks so inviting, just waiting to be planted. I did get started by planting my fall garlic crop… Read more »

What happened to summer already???? We had our first frost this morning — way to early.

While August was still slightly warmer than normal there was a little relief from the intense heat and dry weather of July. Our average high in August was 26.5C just slightly above normal (25.1C). Rains in late July and early August helped bring back lawns and sustained the gardens. We averaged 77.8mm of rain in… Read more »

It was certainly a great summer to enjoy a backyard pool – hot, dry and sunny. July started out warm and just kept getting warmer. Temperatures were mostly above normal the entire month with little reprieve in the evenings. We experienced an unbelievable 13 days with temperatures over 30C, and that was before factoring in… Read more »

I think June has to be my favourite month in the garden for blooms. While the early spring bloomers are a sight for sore eyes, June blooms just pop with amazing size and colour. The dramatic effect of Beauty Bush, the deep colours of peonies and weigela and of course the scent of lilacs and… Read more »

May in the garden seemed to be a month lacking this year — lacking in sunshine, intensity of blooms and warmth — everything except rain. Despite that I managed to get out and take a few pictures of blooms in and around the garden. While not as plentiful as last year, here are a few… Read more »

It’s been a cold and raining spring and everything in the garden is almost a full month behind last year. This past week however we finally started to see some blooms on the early spring blooming garden shrubs including my Magnolia, Chanticleer Pear and several Serviceberries.

I’m starting to question whether or not spring is every going to arrive. While updating my 2011 garden journal I noted that last year at this time we had early greens and peas sprouting in the vegetable garden. This year we haven’t even been able to work the soil yet. But when you really look… Read more »