Kolkwitzia amabilis is commonly called Beauty Bush, and you can sure see why. This is probably my favourite flowering shrub in the garden right now. With arching branches amassed with pink flowers in June (about the same time as the peonies start to bloom), Kolkwitzia needs a lot of room to show off. I have… Read more »
Best May Blooms
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 »
Shade For Tender Seedlings
After a week of not too bad weather, the prediction called for another 5 to 7 days of rain again in our area. Between the cold temperatures and rain, we are, unfortunately, very behind this year in planting out the vegetable garden. Given the prediction for more wet weather I decided I needed to get… Read more »
Spring Blooms Finally Arriving
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.
Treehouse For The Birds
My dad made me a new birdhouse for Christmas this year. It was originally to be mounted on a tall post left over from a tree cut down in our front walkway unfortunately the post did not make it through this past winter well. Not to be deterred, I found a cool wood stump out… Read more »
My New Mini-Greenhouse
Last season I searched everywhere for a sturdy multi-purpose protective cover that I could use as either a moveable row cover or as a cold-frame. I have some small 2 foot by 1 foot plastic dome covers that I use as row covers in spring but I wanted something larger and better suited to extending… Read more »
What A Difference A Year Makes
I knew we were having a late start this year but was not aware of just how different until I started looking through some pictures from last spring. Last year tulips were out, serviceberries were blooming and everything was flush with green growth by today’s date. This year, not so much. Even the lawn was… Read more »
European Sawfly Eggs Are Here
I noticed one mugho pine about two weeks ago fully covered in white specks which are the eggs of the European Sawfly. I first noticed this pest last May when the eggs had already hatched and they had begun to do some damage. This year I checked my plants earlier, in the hopes of catching… Read more »
Pruning For Foliage
Wearing my winter coat and ear muffs, I managed to start my spring pruning today. I have a lot of shrubs that I prune back hard for better foliage, brighter stem colour or both. One of those is Cornus mas ‘Aurea’. Aurea has bright golden foliage that looks striking against deep red stems. I also… Read more »
Vegetable Starts Thriving
While spring might be having difficulty arriving this year, my vegetable starts don’t seem to know it. Our intent this year was to start some lettuce very early indoors and then transplant the small starts under cover into our new cold-frame sized greenhouse. Unfortunately continued snow and freezing weather have made that impossible this year.… Read more »