While Dave was busy painting things for my garden, I was busy doing a little painting of my own.
Samantha and I have a mutual friend named Sarah. Like us, she loves plants. She’s also a big Tim Burton fan, so I thought it would be fun to make her a Burton-themed plant pot.
It took me a while do decide what exactly to paint, but in the ends, I settled on a simple. Jack Skellington…
Or three! I chose three fun Skellington expressions and painted them all around the pot. And, I got an appropriate Burton-esque plant to put in it. A funky, spikey aloe! It’s so cute I’m going to have to make one for myself.
We were at Samantha’s for her birthday on the weekend, so I took this along to give to Sarah. She loved it just as much as I did.
For a man who tells me (frequently) he couldn’t care less about having gardens, he’s sure keeping working on projects for them…
First, he painted up the small planter boxes we got at the start of the month. He coated the inside with liquid rubber, and painted the outside white.
I found some clearance plants to fill them…
Pink and white impatiens, and calibrochoa.
The front porch was a little plain, and I think they dress it up nicely. Come fall and Christmas, I can also put fake floral picks in them to decorate for the holidays.
Next up, he dressed up the larger garden planters we got.
Green of course! They won’t get planted until next year, but now they are ready to withstand the cold and snow until they do. Like the other planters he did a coat of liquid rubber inside and paint on the out.
Then he moved onto the garden bench we brought from his Grandma’s place. All that was left was the ends. They got a fresh coat of paint, and we got new wood for seat. He cut, painted and reassembled it all.
In our signature green…. of course!
But that’s not all…
On our way back from Home Depot (to get the bench wood), he made me stop at the side of the road to pick up a few road treasures.
He only saw the bench at first, but someone was also tossing the plants stands as well. And you know I can always use plant stand or two. He’s already given the white one a fresh coat of paint. (That’s all it needed). He’s removed the wicker from the black one and it will get new wood shelves next time we hit Home Depot.
And the bench… it’s already been dismantled, and the frame painted.
He’s got new wood drying, all freshly painted with green, and this one will be back together in no time!
The daylilies are doing nicely. I’ve got a mix of new this year and old (from the townhouse)
This first one is a new one…. I can’t remember the name… purple something. Which is why I bought it. I’ve been trying to get purple daylilies for ages. I bought a mix a few years back, but the never bloomed.
So I was thrilled when I saw this at the garden centre… but has you can see… it’s not really… well, purple!
It looks like a very wine burgundy here, but leans even more toward red in real life. Don’t get me wrong… it’s very pretty. But it’s not purple!
This is one issue I have with gardening conventions… it’s not unusual for names to not quite match expectations. Things labelled as “blue” are often actually purple (the purple bee balm I bought years ago was called “Blue Stocking). “Red” is frequently pink (my Royal Red Butterfly bush is an example), and sometimes, like above “purple” actually means red or pinkish. It’s frustrating. And don’t get me started about pictures on labels vs reality. I know sometimes printing inks don’t quite match, but it’s frustrating when you’re expecting one thing and get another.
Then there are the different varieties that are soooo close to each other, there’s almost no point in calling them any different. Standard purple coneflower vs Ruby Star coneflower is a good example. The colour isn’t much different, but Ruby Star’s petals don’t drop like other coneflowers – they stay more straight out.
That’s enough of a rant… there’s still plenty to lift the spirits…
Stella D’oro is a common sight in gardens all over North America. And there’s a good reason. It’s low maintenance and a prolific bloomer. Day after day it’s bursting with gold flowers. This came with me from the townhouse.
As did this one – Night Embers. It’s actually a deeper red in real life, and it’s probably my favourite daylily.
Although Catherine Woodbury may be a close second. I love this pale pink. It’s another townhouse transplant.
As is this one. It’s called Crimson Pirate. And it’s aptly named. It’s also VERY close to another daylily I have called Autumn Joy. Happily, that one doesn’t usually bloom until later in the season.
This one is called Stella Supreme, and it’s a lovely light lemon yellow. It’s also proof that I’m no good at No-Buy-July. Home Depot had a clearance on and I came home with not one, but FIVE new daylilies. This is just the first one too bloom.
So my wallet is empty… but I’ve at least got lots to look at in the garden.
As I mentioned earlier in the week, last weekend, the catio was blocked off to the cats for a portion of a day. They were not happy about this… but it was with good reason.
On the catio-yard-side of the sunporch, there was a little porch and stairs that came down into the yard. Parts of it was old and rotting and needed to be replaced. It was also much bigger than it needed to be. We didn’t need a porch area at all, really – just stairs. Taking it down and rebuilding it would give us a little more “floor space” in the yard.
So Dave did just that. I don’t have before pictures, but this new set of steps is half the size of the old porch/steps, and twice as strong.
(The old porch/steps literally took up the whole area there – cat cabana space included)
And of course, everything was give an nice coat of the Agate Green we did the rest of the porch in. (It was supposed to be Billiard Green, but the kid at Home Depot messed up when we got the paint and I didn’t notice until we got home – the colorus are very close though, so it doesn’t really matter.)
It create a nice bit of open space at the end of the yard, and as you can see, the cabana fits in just perfectly. Ideally, I’d like to get the BBQ out of there, and replace it with a little garden bistro set, but I have to talk Dave into letting me put the BBQ on the parking pad behind the sunporch. There’s more than enough room, but he’s terrified I’m going to fill the whole area with stuff.
Still, even with the BBQ there, I think the whole yard looks just wonderful now all the plants are in bloom, and the sunporch has had a facelift.
It’s a beautiful little garden oasis for my furry babies to enjoy.
No Walkabout today – Work has been crazy busy to start with, and it’s been so hot and humid, it takes away all motivation to go outside during the day.
So… today I give you socks…
Or one sock, anyway. The first of the pair for my coworkers Godmother is complete. I finished it up Monday night. I’m very pleased with that, considering I started it mid-week last week, and didn’t work on it steadily.
The second one was cast on last night, so hopefully I can keep the momentum up and have this pair in the mail by then end of next week.
As I mentioned previously, l let coworker choose the yarn. She chose some of the new-to-me Hobbii Dolce that I bought earlier this year. This is my first time knitting with it. It feels quite soft in the ball, but it’s a little more scratchy worked up. Not terrible. I’d say softer than Kroy, but not as soft as Felici. Being a little more on the rough side, they will probably wear pretty well.
I love the soft gradient of the shades, and the little dots add a touch of whimsy. Hopefully they lift the spirits of the recipient.
More progress was made on the sewing cat cross stitch, despite a certain someone’s best efforts.
The catio was closed off to them for construction (more on that soon) for a good chunk of the weekend, so he was being extra needy every time I sat down. I’m more than happy to have him chill in my lap while I stitch, but he likes to grab at the needle and thread as it comes through on the back side. It makes for some slow stitching.
Still…
I was able to fill in some more of the background and some more of the iron work of the desk. I’d say this is probably a little less than half done. Not back for only working on it a few evenings each week.
The colour for this month’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge is purple!
And rather than leaving it to the last minute, Burton decided we should get it out of the way, right away.
We haven’t been in the studio since we sewed last month’s block, and I think he was missing the treats he gets from posing for pictures with the blocks.
Despite the fact that I feel like I use purple a lot, I had to dig deep to come up with enough purple scraps for this one. Still, I managed it. And once I had all the fabric pulled, these blocks go together in about an hour.
I’ve been toying with the idea of laying them out on point in the final top, and since I now have seven blocks, I thought it would be enough to give me and idea of how it would look.
I’ve got to admit…. I really like it so far. Though I’ll make the final decision when the blocks are all done.
Although it’s just Dave and I and the cats in this big house, we are always making new friends.
The bluejays are pretty shy compared to the ones at the townhouse, but I’m slowly winning them over with a steady supply of peanuts.
And of course, I’m steadily working on gaining Foxy’s trust.
If I sit very still, I can get him to come up and take a peanut no more than a foot from the camera. He always runs off with it to eat it, but never more than a couple of feet away. He’s already learned where there is one peanut, there’s bound to be more.
One thing there is no lack of here is toads. It’s absolutely toad city.
Dave and I are always coming upon them as we are working out in the yard. This particular guy watched me clean up the holly branches I cut away.
And this big, fat fellow hops up onto our side porch every night (up four concrete steps) to catch bugs under the porch light. If we come home after dark, we have to remember to keep an eye out for him so we don’t step on him on our way in. He’s such a regular, Dave has given him a name – Anthony Hopkins…
He’s pretty used to us now, and is very easy to photograph. I can get the camera right up to him and he doesn’t seem bothered at all
This next guy was so easy to photo that I thought he was actually dead at first.
There are lots of backyard ponds around us, so dragonflies of all kinds are a fairly common sight in the garden. And I’m happy to report that this one was not dead – just very chill. He flew off after I snapped a few photo
There have been many butterflies checking out my garden progress, but they are hard to capture.
So far, I’ve only managed this Easter Swallowtail and a wee White Cabbage.
And speaking of wee….
Don’t ask me how I even saw this little guy
To give you an idea of his size, that wooden plug below him covers your average size wood screw. He was TEENY.
Likewise with this dude, who I found later that same day
He’s on a half-grown Lily bud. He can’t be any longer than my thumbnail. And check out that antenna… easily triple (if not quadruple) his own length.
There’s always someone new to meet in this big backyard!
July and August are probably the height of the garden. While the spring flowers are done, the summer flowers are coming full force.
And the soil here is so much better than the heavy clay we had at the townhouse. The tickseed is just busting out all over the place.
As are these fancy black-eyed susans
At the townhouse, these plants were small little mounds, with maybe four or five blooms at a time. Here they are easily 2 feet tall and so thick they’ve almost taken over one end of the catio.
I am in absolute awe.
This fluffy beauty is another type of Susan (Rudbeckia Maya). Twice I tried to grow it at the townhouse, and twice I failed. When I saw it at the garden centre again this year, I thought, maybe third time was the charm. And as you can see, it was! It’s doing beautifully.
I bought this scarlet bee balm at the end of the season last year, so this is the first I’ve seen it in bloom. It’s just stunning. And I love how some of the flowers are doing a double decker thing,
In fact, so are the pink one I brought from the townhouse.
It’s always bloomed well, but this year, it’s just incredible. I really think it’s the change in soil.
I’m also thrilled with this Veronica. I have both pink and purple, and both plants were in part shade at the townhouse. They did ok, but I knew they could do so much better here. The pink one is just starting to bloom, and it’s covered in buds. It doesn’t look like the purple one will be very far behind.
The ground cover sedums in the driveway garden have stared to bloom. The flowers are very tiny, but oh so sweet.
My Asiatic lilies, however, have had a tough time here. They got hit really hard with Asian Lily Beetle, and I didn’t notice until they’d done a lot of damage. Still, a couple managed to keep their buds, and the first one has just bloomed. There are plans to add lots and lots more, because I love lilies. But I’m going to have to stay on top of those darn beetles.
And as much as I’m enjoying everything blooming now, part of gardening is about thinking ahead.
I’m back on the wagon with No Buy July, but I want to share some of the really good deals I got at the end of June, especially on shrubs.
I was thrilled to discover I can grow Azaleas here. I always thought they (and Rhododendrons in general) were too tender to grow this far north, so I was delighted when I found one hardy to Zone 4. (We are Zone 5). It’s called Golden Lights, and I won’t get to see flowers until next spring… but when I do, they should look something like this:
I can’t wait. It’s out front beside the newly chopped holly, and hopefully the morning sun, and dappled afternoon light will help it thrive.
I also picked up another Butterfly bush. This one is called Queen of Hearts.
It’s my fourth Butterfly Bush and will not be my last. I put this one out front. It’s already got some buds on it, so it shouldn’t be too long before it blooms.
I also got a Nine Bark.
Nine Bark is actually a native shrub which is always a bonus, and this one is called Tiny Wine. Like the Azalea, it won’t bloom until spring, but it’s got gorgeous dark purple foliage the rest of the year.
So for now, I’m just going to enjoy every petal out there.
Wandering Cat Studio 