I’m glad you all enjoy my garden adventures, because I have more for you…

Before my vacation kicked off, Dave and I had a mid-week playdate. Last week, we had a French Drain installed in the basement (so it won’t leak again), and this past Wednesday, the basement guys came back to spray foam insulation throughout the crawlspace, and in the basement.

We had to be out of the house while they were spraying, so I booked the day off work and we hit the road. We headed down to Chatham (a town about an hour south of us) to do some antiquing. There was a little antique market we’d visited last summer, and Dave was keen to check it out again. Amazingly, I bought nothing! Dave found an old bakelite radio and a box of tubes, so he was a very happy camper.

Since we still had time to kill, we decided to check out Chatham’s Re-Store. And it was there that I found something cool!

And you can probably guess what I was thinking… “OMG that would look great in the garden!!!!” She just needs her flower sash removed (which is quite nice and can probably be re-purposed), and a fresh coat of rust paint.

By the time we finished in Chatham, it was only noon, so we decided to head to Strathroy (a town 30 minutes east of home, and about an hour and a half north-east of Chatham) to pick up one of Dave’s prescription. On the way there, I talked Dave into stopping at one of my favourite nurseries to see if could find a pretty vine for my new garden lass.

I didn’t find any vines, but I did come home with:

Two new Columbine – a stunning purple/yellow combo, and lovely pale lavender. There are so many colours of Columbine and I want them ALL!!!!

I also came home with two new shrubs. These aren’t my pictures, because neither is in bloom. But the first is a lilac called Tinkerbelle – a pretty pink, because I don’t have a pink lilac. The second is a Rose of Sharon. Normally, I’m not a fan of Rose of Sharon…. I kind of feel the same way about them I do about hostas…. Everyone has them and they are as little bit boring… But….

This one is called ‘Marina’ and it’s the most interesting shade of pale blue/purple. Like the Veronica I showed yesterday, it almost glows a little in the sun. I saw it at the nursery two years ago, and have contemplated getting it ever since. And now I have it!

After the nursery, we made it to Strathroy, picked up Dave’s prescription and had a late lunch. But we still had a few hours to kill before we went home. So we hit the road again, and headed to Sarnia (which is an hour west of Strathroy).

There we hit the Sarnia Re-Store. Still nothing for me, but Dave found some more speakers that got him pretty excited. Then it was finally time to head home. And on the way home, wouldn’t you know it… we were driving right past one of my other favourite nurseries. And I still needed a vine for my pretty garden lady!

And there I got my vine! I lovely new Honeysuckle! I have “Golden Flame” growing up the catio fence, and it’s doing really well. This one is called Mandarin, and it’s a lovely golden yellowy orange, where the catio one is yellow and pink.

I also came home with these. The Catchfly is new to me, but it looks pretty cool! Long-time readers will remember Cupid’s Dart from the townhouse. It was one of the plants that didn’t make them move well. I’ll be happy to have it in the garden again.

I also got two more Spanish Thrift. The white one did so well, I was hoping I’d be able to get some pink ones. These too, I’d tried at the townhouse, but they didn’t appreciate the clay soil.

I also snagged these two natives to add to my native plant collection. I really want some Trilliums, but haven’t seen them in the nurseries I’ve visited for a couple years.

Now… I just have to find a place to put them all! I see more digging on this vaction!

As of five p.m. yesterday, I was officially on vacation for a week!!!! With the workload at the day job lately, I really need some time off! And what better way to start the vacation with a tour of the garden…

There are still quite a few tulips blooming – but I planted a lot last fall! Still, they’ve done way better here than they ever did at the townhouse.

Now is the time of the iries. I have several cultivars. This white one came from neighbour Krista (who is coming for a visit this weekend!!!!). It doesn’t show in the pictures, but they have the palest touch of blue.

This beautiful yellow and white one is called Blessed Again. I bought it in 2018, and it has magical properties… if you’re lucky (and we don’t get an early frost) it blooms again in fall!

The Spanish Thrift (Armeria) is starting to bloom. It will bloom on and off right to fall. It’s such a pretty little plant.

All of the ground covers plants in the driveway garden are doing great – spreading and filling the area just like I hoped. But my favourite is this little Veronica – called Waterperry Blue. It’s a sweet little mounded plant just covered in the most delicate little blue flowers that practically glow in the sunlight. Like the Spanish Thrift, it will bloom on and off until the frost. And it has reseeded it’s self – I had just two little clumps of it last year, but now I have four or five!

In the catio, it’s snowing! This is summer snowflake… its similar to snow drops, but has a slightly different flower, grows taller, and blooms later. There are several of them sprinkled throughout the catio yard, though a few have had a hard time thanks to Lemmy and his disregard for anything in his way.

And we are moving into Columbine season! I’ve got several throughout the gardens (and planted a few new ones this year). My favorites are the double colours like this one.

And last…

All around us, the lilacs are in full bloom. My little Bloomerang is covered in buds, but they are only just starting to open. Next week I should have a better show for you!

“Mooooooooom….”

“He’s invading my personal space again!!!!”

Now I don’t feel like I’ve had much time to knit, so I’m not sure how this happened…

Yeah… that’s an almost completed first sock! They are anklets, and I do have small feet… but still, I can’t quite believe it.

But I’m going to take it, because I love how they are working up. Nothing fancy for the pattern (as usual) – Just a 2-2 rib on a three inch cuff, than plain vanilla on the foot. But those colours just look so great knit up together. I can’t wait to finish this pair!

After getting all the ornamental plants in the ground, it was time to turn my attention to the veg beds. It mostly involved slogging a lot of soil – Forty-eight 25 Litre bags of soil to be exact.

Once the beds were filled, it was pretty simple to get them all planted up. From front to back – catnip (in the left pot), strawberries, chives (in the right pot), squash, carrots, beans, garlic, asparagus, grape tomatoes, cucumbers and snap peas.

It’s mostly seeds…

But I did buy the grape tomato plants. And there were a few seedlings (beans, peas and one small squash plant) from my attempts at starting early.

And those pops of colour you see…

Some natural pest control thanks to some marigolds.

Now I don’t have a tonne of experience growing vegetables, so fingers crossed it all works!

After yesterday’s post, you won’t be surprised to learn that, once again, I didn’t get many stitches in the thistle this weekend

But I did managed to complete the green bits, and get a start on the second thistle flower. I’m actually probably about half done – this just isn’t a big piece. But it’s definitely going to be a pretty one.

Remember all those plants I ordered in Winter? They all arrived an this weekend was time to get them all in the ground.

Time for a plant-a-thon. It doesn’t look like much, because they are all bulbs and bare root plants (basically roots with no growth yet).

The bits of green you can see are plants I dug up and moved from other spots in the gardens, plus a few perennials I got at the garden centre when I was buying soil, because I really appear to have a plant addiction.

Most of the plants went in the new front garden, and the borders surrounding the raised beds. In about a month or so, both spaces are going to look totally different.

I was thrilled that the garden centre still carried the two poppies I had at the townhouse.

These two look so great together. I got two of each, a set for out front, and one set for out back.

The spring bulbs in the front porch boxes were pretty much done, so I got a few new plants to go with the pansies… a couple calibrachoa, and these beautiful carnations.

And hanging above them…

I have always loved fuchsias, and this particular type just blew me away! And now the porch has a lovely pink and white theme.

And I love fuchsias so much, I got some for the bird bath.

I bought 10, but the birdbath only holds nine so…

One ended up in this cute little solar light/planter I found a few months back. It’s joined by some dahlias, because who doesn’t love dahlias!?!

And as if all this wasn’t enough…

I decided to use all the empty nursery pots to plant some more seeds.

Nothing to do now, but sit back and watch everything grow!

I’d like to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to Mother’s of all kinds, but especially my Mom, who is the absolute best mother of all time.

Here’s a virtual bouquet for you all – fresh from my garden!

We are approaching a bit of an in-between time in the garden. Most of the spring bulbs are starting to fade, though I do have some later blooming daffodils and tulips coming.

Some of the fancier tulips bloom a bit later

Can you believe this big fluffy thing is a tulip??? If you didn’t see the stem and leaves you could easily mistake it for a peony or a even a rose.

These little ground-cover tulips are new this year. They are basically a short, mini tulips. And these ones have such an incredible shade of bright pink! I’m completely wowed!

And remember I told you I got a bonus colour in my Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) mix?

Well I got two others! That first, some what mutant-looking one is a type of “Double Muscari”. I don’t know which type, but it’s pretty wild. The second one, I’m pretty sure, is “Night Eyes” – a deep dark purple with those pretty white edges. I had it on my to-buy list, but didn’t buy it because it was a wee bit pricey. But it seems a few bulbs snuck into my mix anyway!

My first iris has bloomed! This is a very special iris and long-time readers will recall it. I don’t know the name of it, (though I suspect it’s one called “Superstition”. It came from Mom’s She gave me a piece of hers when I moved into the townhouse. It did beautifully there and I had several clumps.

I only brought one clump with me, but it’s done just as well here and I split it up last year so now I have it in both the front and back yards.

There are many more irises to come too!

Most of the Daffodils are done, but this one has just started

It’s a Poet’s Daffodil, and it’s one of the first daffodils to be cultivated. I’ve believe that started around the 1600s. It’s not a big daffodil, but it’s certainly a pretty one. I have several throughout the gardens, though this one is the first to bloom

In other news… there are a couple things that have happened, but shouldn’t have.

The first is that a couple clumps of snap dragons survived the winter. Not re-seeded (though that’s rare enough here) – but are actually growing from the same plant!

The second is a re-seeding. When I first saw sprouts in the garden, I thought a foxglove had reseeded. And that’s pretty normal for fox glove. I left the little sprouts, because I absolutely adore fox gloves and I’m not about to turn down more.

But I a few weeks later I checked on them…

I’m pretty sure those are Cosmos seedlings!!! I have NEVER had Cosmos re-seed! I’m going to let them grow a bit, then I’ll dig them up and move them about to different places in the gardens. The Cosmos looked amazing last year, so I’m quite happy to have more.

I’ve got some big gardening plans for this weekend, so stayed turned for more dirty fun!

His Lordship would like to remind you that this coming weekend is the perfect time to get outside and enjoy the flowers!

I would like to remind his Lordship that the Pearly Everlasting is FINALLY growing nicely, and he really needs to stop laying on it!!!