The last couple of weeks have been sort of an in between time for the garden. The last of the spring blooms were fading, and the summer ones not quite ready yet. But things are starting to ramp up again

The hibiscus will bloom off and on all summer. I have to keep it in a pot, because it’s not a hardy hibiscus (they do exist, but I’ve never come across one). I’ve yet to be able to keep one all the way through winter (they always seem to kick it a month or two before it’s warm enough to put them outside), but I keep trying. I bought this one at the grocery store garden centre, and put it beside the cat hut. My baby banana is right behind it, so I hope the cats feel like they are in a bit of a tropical oasis.

I didn’t think I had any chives here… I purposely didn’t bring any with me from the townhouse. While the bees love them, I found they have a tendency to take over, and I had a hard time keeping them in check at at the townhouse. But… it looks like this one hitched a ride in the dirt with the Shaker’s Prayer iris. My neighbour has a big pot full on her deck, so maybe that’s a better way to keep them. I will have to look into it.

When I said all the roses died over winter, that wasn’t quite true…. all the roses I brought from the townhosue did, but the mini roses I bought over summer/fall last year survived just fine.

They are still in the catio (though I may move them out front at some point) and the yellow one is blooming nicely.

One plant that did survive the move well was the white bell flower.

It’s so pretty and it blooms on and off all summer.

The native version if it was added to the garden out front.

The flowers are smaller, but still very pretty.

None of my lavender survived the move, but I bought THREE new plants this year. Basically three different colours. Dark purple, light purple, and this pretty pale pink.

I also added a couple delphiniums, and the largest of them has bloomed.

Such a gorgeous deep purple.

Another exciting thing is the honeysuckle I planted outside the catio.

It’s still small, but it is blooming. My hope is that eventually it will grow up that corner of the catio and be covered in blooms.

And last – it’s berry season!

I’m getting a few fresh berries every other day, and so are the birds. Next year, I will plant a proper food garden, but for now I’m enjoying the tiny bounty of this one.

You may recall that when we lived in the townhouse, Relic had a habit of striking some rather… risque… poses while cleaning himself. Usually in full view of the neighbours.

However, when we moved here, he stopped doing it suddenly. Maybe because he no longer had an audience?

But then the other day…

The peepshow started back up again…

And clearly, he is not at all ashamed.

While Dave wanted my help in the yard on Sunday, I told him no way… no how. I hadn’t been at the sewing machine in ages. I was taking the day off and doing NOTHING but sewing.

I started just after 10 a.m. I put the second, third, and fourth quarters together on the black star scrap quilt. Then I added a couple of borders, and just after 5 p.m…

I had a completed top, ready for quilting!!! I just love how this turned out! Totally scrapalicious! It finished up at 72″ square, so it’s a decent sized one too.

I’m hoping to get it quilted this weekend (along with the Motorcycle quilt). And then I want to make another one – I think this would be really fun to do with a charm pack, and baby-sized!

With everything growing in my yard, and I wanted to do another wander around town and see what was happening in other people’s gardens.

This house is just around the corner from ours, and Dave has made me promise I won’t do this with ours…

I had to laugh, because it’s not terribly far off from my eventual plans, though mine will be a touch tidier. There’s lots of wonderful plants in this yard, but there’s also a lot of wonderful weeds too. Here’s a close up of one of the beds.

As a side note: I just love daisies. They (and strawberries) are the ultimate symbol of June to me.

And remember the house with the Hellebores… it looked like their yard had serious potential. I could tell there were lots of gardens, but who knew what they held.

I went back last week and….

Hostas. Just garden after garden full of hostas! There were a few other things mixed in.. I saw some Heuchera, a few irises, and of course the hellebores… but it was literally 95% hostas. It looks like they might sell them – I saw a “sale” near the side of the house, so I’m guessing they are some sort of backyard grower.

Sadly, I’m not a big fan of hostas, so I was little disappointed.

But there are a lot of other lovely gardens in this town. This place reminded me of my townhouse gardens.

This is a little townhouse complex similar to our former one a few streets over. It’s much smaller than ours (maybe 15 units vs 120 we had), but obviously there’s some one there like me… willing to garden ever square inch available.

I love it when people make use of tree stumps in their garden design.

This house has TWO, and a barrel/water spout planter to boot!

Another house had THREE beautiful clematis growing over their fence.

A delight for both the homeowner and passersby. I am still deciding where to put the clematis I bought. I hope it will be as pretty of these!

A few houses away there’s this beautiful hedge…

I love the ombre effect of the leaves. The lighter/greener ones are under a tree, so they don’t get as much sun.

And last…

I am extremely envious of this house and its tire swing. I don’t think my maple is big enough for one… but I will talk to Dave and see.

It’s not much progress, but my sewing cat project did get a little work this weekend.

I added a drawer to the machine cabinet, a little bit of blue fabric, and I’ve started on more decoration on the cabinet front. As I’ve said, I’m only getting an hour most nights to do anything stitching related lately. But as I said to Vera last week… progress is progress, no matter how small.

When life gets crazy, you’ve got to take joy in whatever progress you can make.

Much to Relic’s dismay, there’s not much sitting time to be had around here lately. After work, I’m always puttering about the house at some task, be it making dinner, chores, or some project outside. And you know how my weekends have been lately.

Most days, I’m lucky if I get an hour before bed to sit and relax.

And if I’m not sitting, I’m not knitting… (or making a lap for Relic)

That small bit of knitting is all I’ve accomplished on Dad’s Christmas sweater since I showed you the neck ribbing. I’m maybe 10 or 12 rows into the yoke. At this rate, I’ll never get it done by Christmas!

Hopefully, I can put a decent dent in it this week and have some real progress to show you next time.

… but not the parcel stealing kind…

No.. this is a hearty crew of two… the Double Ds, the Dastardly Duo of Daves…

My Dad and and my husband. (Yes, I married a guy with the same name as my Dad…)

You may not remember, but when we bought the house, the sun porch looked like this…

Can you see how that back right corner was sunk lower than the rest of the porch? Well all last year, we just dealt with it… using the porch, all the while it was listing like the Titanic. Doing something about it was on our to-do list, just not very high up in comparison to turning the living room and studio into usable spaces. Then winter set in and we had to wait for better weather to get a look under there and see exactly what was going on.

Well, yesterday was finally the day. Dad came out bright and early, and the pair of them got to work. It didn’t take them long to diagnose the problem. Whoever built the porch just put the support posts right on the dirt, and that one was rotted out.

So they got the corner of the porch jacked up, performed a little surgery, got some new wood in, and concrete underneath that.

And by noon, my porch was level, and my roof line was straight!

I swear, there’s nothing those two can’t do!

I spent the rest of the afternoon getting my plants and such set up on the porch. I still have some work to do there today, so you’ll have to wait for pictures.

While you’re reading this, Dave’s probably out there giving it a fresh coat of paint to get rid of the yucky oxide red. It’s going to be a lovely dark green, just like the shed!

I am disappointed to inform you that not one of the roses I brought from the townhouse made it through the winter.

I had four in total – White Lightning (White Hybrid Tea), Honey Perfume (Apricot Floribunda), Scentimental (Red and White Floribunda) and Ebb Tide (Purple Floribunda). Now I’m not too upset about the last two – Scentimental was never a particularly robust, and Ebb Tide was a bit of a disappointment. You only got dark purple flowers from her when the weather was cooler. When it was hot and humid, she gave you dark fuchsia flowers that opened too quickly and died off fast. In a place with more moderate summers, she’d be a great rose, but not here.

But White Lightning and Honey Perfume – those two were a big loss. I really thought they’d make it through when they started blooming again after the move. But I guess it was just too much stress to get them through the winter.

I wasn’t able to get replacements for them this year (though I will eventually), but that doens’t mean I didn’t get roses…

In fact, I got six. Some I’m familiar with, some are new:

Good as Gold (Hybrid Tea)

This is the only one that’s bloomed so far. The buds start out quite orange, but as it opens it becomes this beautiful, golden yellow.

The following pictures are not mine… but they are what I have to look forward to

Queen Elizabeth (Grandiflora)

Longtime readers will recall that this was one of the first roses I had at the townhouse. Being that’s it’s the Queen’s Jubilee year, it seemed appropriate to get it again. Plus, it’s a lovely shade of pink.

Chicago Peace (Hybrid Tea)

Long-time readers will DEFINITELY recall this one. It was my biggest and my best for about four years. It suddenly kicked off the year before we moved. I absolutely adored it! Prolific, BIG blooms, gorgeous scent, what’s not to love?

Double Delight (Hybrid Tea

This one is new, but I’m REALLY looking forward to it. I just love multi-coloured blooms.

Chrysler Imperial (Hybrid Tea)

This one I bought first, for the name (for my car guy), and second because it’s a classic red rose. It’s the only rose I have out front (the rest are in the backyard), and I suspect, will be the next one to bloom.

New Dawn (Climber)

I’ve always loved climbing roses, but I never had a place for them at the townhouse. I’ve planted this one outside the catio. The idea is that it will climb up the far end, and provide some more shade inside the catio yard for the kitties.

Now honestly, four of them (Queen Elizabeth, Chicago Peace, Double Delight and New Dawn), were not the best looking plants I’ve ever seen. The garden centre I got them from was part of a hardware store (not our usual one), and most of the plants were pretty neglected. However, they were half the price of roses elsewhere. With some life visible, I figured it was worth the chance to get them and nurse them back to full health. They seem to be doing well so far, but it may be a while before I see blooms on them. You can be sure I’ll keep you posted.

The recent work I did in the catio seems to be quite appreciated by the cats. They are enjoying lounging about amongst the plants and pathways. But there was still one issue with the space. There’s just not a lot of shade. It’s good until about 10 am, but then the sun gets over the maple tree, and for the rest of the day, the yard is in full sun.

The only shade comes from the mulberry bush.

Or under the barbecue.

I’ve planted a climbing rose, and a honey suckle on the outside of the catio – once they grow up a bit, the will help provide a little more cover, but that’s going to take a while.

So… I splashed out on a piece of outdoor cat furniture. Yep.. that’s right, they make outdoor furniture for cats. Well technically, it’s for dogs… but whatever….

I found it on Amazon. I spent more on it than I have on furniture for myself (excepting my mattress)… but well…

Only the best for my babies, of course.

Since I put it up, it’s been a pretty popular spot.

I put some potted plants around it (my banana, a hibiscus, and a pot of colourful coleus) around it to dress up the area a bit.

I’m not sure the cats care, but I think it makes it look nice.

The mat is waterproof, and the cover is washable, but I do think I’m going to make a little quilt topper, just to keep it looking tidier than the white does with all the mulch they drag in.

I was hoping to have some sewing to show you today, but as I mentioned earlier this week, this weekend was too nice to stay indoors. It was not too hot, not to cold… the just-right kind of weather that will be long gone soon enough, as a blazing, humid summer takes over.

There were lots of little things for me to do around the yard, but first, I have to sing the praises of my amazing husband

For the last couple of weeks, he’s been busy working around the garden shed. He cut down all the branches of an overgrown mulberry tree that was taking over; he finished cleaning out the garbage pile/30 years of debris behind the shed that I’d started on earlier this year; replaced the plexi-glass windows; and then he scrubbed, cleaned, primed and repainted the shed.

The first picture is how the shed looked when we moved in. The second picture was from when he built a new wall and doors for it, and the last is how it looks now. I still can’t get over the transformation. It’s still a beat up old shed, but it’s just so much more presentable now. I am so thrilled.

At the side of the shed, you can just see the three pussy willows I planted last fall. Eventually they will get big and tall, and I’ve got the idea of creating a little “garden room” there. I’m calling it Willow Grove. It’s going to take several years to get it to where it is in my head, but it’s where I’ll have my birdbath, a few feeders, and maybe a small bench tucked in a corner to sit and watch the birds. And of course, some other plantings to compliment it all.

To get things going there, I needed to move the bulb box. It was only a temporary garden anyway, so I dug up all the bulbs and put them in paper bags. They will get replanted this fall throughout all the gardens (along with many other bulbs, I hope). I moved the box to the middle of the yard, because I still had need of it.

There wasn’t time to put in any big veg beds this year, but I still like to grow tomatoes for fun (I don’t actually eat them – I usually give away whatever Dave doesn’t eat). I also had my strawberries, which I’d already put in the section that used to hold the crocuses.

It was only supposed to be two tomato plants, but one of the pots I bought actually had two separate plants in it, so now I have three. With any luck, I’ll be giving away scads of tomatoes this summer. And my strawberries are just loving the raised bed.

There are dozens of berries coming, more than I’ve ever seen on the plants. I may have to put up some netting so I can get them before the birds do.

Hopefully next year, I’ll be able to build some proper beds, as I’d love to grow some more vegetables now that we have the room.

But back over in Willow Grove, I got my lilacs planted (I thought they’d compliment the willows nicely, plus there’s room for them to grow there.)

Where the bulb box was, I had some nice level ground for my beautiful new-to-me birdbath. I filled all the little planting holes with a rainbow of Calibrochoa. Then I brought over my antique bird cage and hung it near.

And there I had to stop, because the rains moved in. But that’s okay. As I said, this area is going to come together slowly – I’ll work on it as time, weather, and funds allow. But for now, it functions well enough for the birds to stop by for a little refreshment.