Rose season has arrived and those roses that do well certainly do look great when in bloom. Unfortunately between the heat and humidity causing black spot and powdery mildew and the japanese beetles attacking blooms I find it just too frustrating to grow roses successfully in the country. I have over the last two years… Read more »
Lazy Man’s Composting
We compost everything at our house from garden waste to table scraps, unfortunately we are lazy composters. Given the size of our gardens I produce a lot of garden waste and my method is basically to keep piling it up on top of the compost pile. Unfortunately I never seem to get around to turning… Read more »
Peonies and Rain
One of my favourite times of year is early to mid-June due in large part to peonies. This year it seems we have had a lot of rain and thunderstorms in June, making for a lot of floppy peonies. This picture was taken just a day before a heavy rain. By the next day all… Read more »
Baffled Chipmunk
I came home today to my new Kitchen Patio garden and looked out hoping to find some birds on the feeder only to find our resident chipmunks chowing down on the new bird seed I just put in. Now don’t get me wrong, these guys are cute and relatively harmless. However I put up the… Read more »
More Garden Changes
While I am very happy with my overall garden plan, I am forever tweaking spots that, despite good planning, just don’t work. In 2006 I planned and planted my Kitchen Garden Patio. Part of the plan called for some Little Henry Sweetspire (Itea Virginica) to surround part of the Kitchen Patio. I was attracted by… Read more »
European Sawfly
I discovered another bug to contend with this year. Just as my mugho pine were putting on their new growth and I went out to clip back some of the candles I discovered these 1 inch long grey-green striped caterpillars with a small black head in masses throughout the pines. It was clear that they… Read more »
Hawthorn Grove Bursting
The Hawthorns are approaching full bloom, just in time for the long weekend! This is my favourite period in the back Woodland garden. The blooms only last about a week or so, but the fragrance is unbelievable. The hawthorns in this area were part of a scrub bush between two farms when our area was… Read more »
Frost Damage
Once again we experienced a week of cold and sometimes below freezing temperatures, heavy winds and rain in May. For the second year in a row, this cold snap came just as the late trees were budding (ginkgo, sassafras, flowering dogwood) and as many shrubs and evergreens were putting on new growth. There was a… Read more »
Another Cold May
I know it’s going to happen every year but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Every year we are teased with a couple of weeks of above seasonal weather in April to be followed, unfortunately, by a long cold snap in May. And this year was no exception. Once again, my Endless Summer… Read more »
Forsythia Signals Arrival of Eastern Tent Caterpillar
The forsythia have been in full bloom for about a week now, brightening up the spring garden. Sunny yellow blooms of the forsythia are not the only reason to have this shrub in the garden however. Forsythia can be used as an indicator plant for the eastern tent caterpillar. Indicator plants are often used to… Read more »