Wednesday, July 2, 2008

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!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

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!

Monday, June 9, 2008

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'?

Saturday, June 7, 2008



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?

Sunday, May 25, 2008

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!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

It's Spring!

It takes forever for spring to arrive in Canada, or so it seems. Day two of blessed rain, which is why I have time to write a blog. Everything is greening up quickly. Hmmm, I've made up a new gardening term, 'greening up' - to turn green after a good rain in the spring. It's early in the morning, what can I say?


Draba rigida - Cool alpine plant. Obviously it has settled in quite well. Last year there were about half a dozen flowers, this year there are a few more. ;-}


Fritillaria meleagris - One can never have too many of these bulbs! I've started more from seed this spring, they've sprouted and I will plant them out in the garden next spring.


Pulsatilla violacea - I put this in 2 summers ago, it's blooming for the first time. I've never grown pulsatilla before, but now I want them all, every color on the planet. They are beautiful little plants, must get more!


Aquilegia saximontana - It came from seed labeled as such. I have several in the yard from this batch of seed, three of them look true to form, the two in the front rock garden do not. I'll have to do an aquilegia blog.


Aquilegia saximontana again - a close up of the flower. Aren't they simply divine!


Aquilegia grahamii - First bloom from seed started last year. Oh, I do like this one. Very tiny plant, very tiny blooms, very, very pretty. I've never met an aquilegia I didn't like!