New Beginnings - Again!

Did you ever think that something was going to last forever? And then something minute and almost not even noteworthy happened and it set off a chain of events so insane, so crazy, and yet so wonderful and life altering.
My last blog entry was July 2008 and I was whining about mosquitos. Today, April 2, 2009 I am in a new house in a new city with a whole new wonderful life. And all because of an email sent by an old friend. Life is a funny, funny thing!

So, here we are in Red Deer, Alberta now. Beautiful Blooms and I have ripped out our roots from Okotoks, Alberta and moved north to the gorgeous city of Red Deer. It is a very pretty, very friendly city and so far I really like it here.

New gardens are being dug and I almost hate to admit it, but I think I'm getting older. The old body isn't quite as limber as it used to be, but maybe, just maybe it's also due to moving furniture and boxes as well. Two, maybe three more trips back to Okotoks and I'll have the bulk of the garden moved. It's very good timing, this move, plants are just starting to wake up and not as resentful about being moved. They settle back in quite nicely.
Tomorrow's trip to Okotoks will be to pick up the cold frames, we were able to pick up some old storm windows at Habitat's ReStore and they will make great covers for the old cold frames.

Stay tuned, more to come.
Happy Gardening.

I hate mosquitos!

As soon as you step outside they swarm and dive in looking for blood. With all the rain we've had, a gazillion skitters, all in my back yard!

Surprise! Some more aquilegia.








Geum rivale var album, very pretty.






Iris variegata ? I love the smell of this iris, grape kool-aid, cool.


Allium obliquum - One of my favorite allium, one of many.


Polemonium pauciflorum - Silver Leaf Form - one of the prettiest of the polemonium I grow so far. A short lived perennial in the yard, easily seeds about where ever and is easy to pull out where not wanted.

One can never have too many aquilegia!


And another one.


Siberian Iris blooming for the first time, not sure where I got this one from?


Lewisia I've had this plant for a long, long time. It's nice to see that it is finally settling in from the move.


Argemone polyanthemos before blooming. This is such a cool plant, more of a short lived perennial in my garden so far, easy enough to make sure a couple seeds drop to the ground.


Alpine Poppy


And another aquilegia from the garden!

June 19, 2008

Some of the aquilegia blooming in the garden at the moment. They are all so pretty.

















This is one of my favorite iris. I got this through a trade from a lady in the US, long before 9/11, long before the border closing. It was so long ago I can't even recall her name. My camera makes the beard blue, really it is a bright mauve, otherwise the colour is fairly accurate.
(I want a new camera, saving up the airmiles.)




Funky mutation on this one. I like it!

June 9, 2008 Monday morn

Here are some more pics from the garden. Maybe if the rain stays away for a bit this morning I can get some more.
It's supposed to rain again this afternoon, tomorrow and then the day after. It feels like this is day 87 of rain, I'm tired of it and I want to dig in the garden. Being stuck inside sucks!



I really like this one, before the blooms open they look like little spurred balloons. This has been added to my favorite list.


Simple purple bloom but look at the foliage!




More of this little beauty, isn't it just gorgeous.


Aquilegia viridflora 'Chocolate Soldier' Stunning! Seed came from Chiltern's. If I could only have one aquilegia in my garden, this would be it. Thankfully I can have way more than one.


Myosotis from Montburg Gardens in Australia. I'm very pleased with all of my seed purchases from this company, I will buy from them again.


Delosperma aff. congestum, I really have to get the name of this figured out if I'm going to harvest seed from it, or I could just label it a Delosperma beats the hell out of me'?

Iris suaveolens 'Rubromarginata' purchased from Holes a couple of years ago. It's one of my favorites in the small iris category.
These are also quite easy to start from seed.


Aquilegia grahamii - unfortunately my camera makes this little beauty pink, and it is definitely not pink but a pretty red. Very nice addition to the rock garden, I'm very pleased.


This is a stunning little beauty of an aquilegia. This one came in a clump of thyme I received in an exchange, thank you Leslie!


Geum 'Mrs. Bradshaw', I do love this orange. 'Mrs. Bradshaw' is one of my favorites, oh who am I kidding, I've never met a geum I didn't fall in love with.


And this is a ?. It was supposed to be cortusa, but it's obviously not. Hmmmm?

May 25

Day 5 of rain! The water started coming in the basement yesterday. That must mean the water table is still fairly high? I don't completely understand it, considering we face water restrictions each summer. In 2005 the Sheep River flooded, I'm a stone's throw from the Sheep, maybe 3-4 blocks. However I'm on a hill!



There is supposedly an underground spring in the hill back of the house, and that is fairly evident when one looks at the amount of moisture in the back yard. So when it rains for 5 days straight, a good hard rain, the water comes up through the cold joint in the concrete, right into our basement. What's more odd, is that it comes in in opposite corners, front right and back left. The water is crystal clear and doesn't smell, so if you want to look at it positively, it's a good scrubbing of the floor.

We need a sump pump!