Starry Night Pansy

This "stellar" specimin of pansy has helped me to add a bit of yellow in all the places I've needed it. I don't think it blooms as long as some other pansies, but hey... you can't win them all, hopefully some of the others will step it up later. I'm pretty much on thesis duty from now until the end of June - so - I probably won't have any pictures that weren't taken in my own yard and even those maybe kind of few and far between. So, my apologies in advance. I accidently cut myself a month short of time when I took this job, so I'm going hyper speed. Things are well on their way at any rate. I have a few things to plant, but I'll saved them for a few timed breaks here and there. Last night I managed to get one of the two annual beds done, all the plants for the shade garden in the front planted (hopefully not too late for some), all the tomatos in and a few more border plants in the sunny perrenial bed. So, my next move is to get the rest of the hostas in and the other annual bed. I think I'm going to delegate a bit of the digging to my strapping young brother. So far I've hit it lucky with the asian lilies - two new ones have started to flower and they were different colours than the ones that have already opened - so I have one pink, one dark orange, one light orange and one yellow. Not bad... it'll be interesting to see what the last two are. Some of the plants in the woodland garden are starting to get a bit bigger and the hostas have definately put on a growth spurt this week. The yarrow flowers are starting to form and one of the echinacea from last year has its first flowering shoot formed. The other exciting gardening news is that the last hosta - the one I bought for full price and that I thought had died - has shown its head. There are two small hosta like shoots pushing up in its place. I'm crossing my fingers, it was a really nice one, but it suffered from excess attention from the evil squirrels of doom and destruction. I'm still trying to figure out how to discourage them. I like squirrels, but they always dig up the plants that I love the most. Last year they utterly destroyed a hanging basket of fan flower. This year I've found one digging about in the woodland garden (grrr). Of course, it picked a favourite struggling plant to dig right up - my one trillium. It wasn't expensive, but I was excited about having one. I tucked it back in the ground and it seems no worse than it was before, but I'm ticked. I'm going try hanging nylon stockings full of dog hair in key locations and I might try adding a bit of bone meal.

Okay.. back to thesissing.

JP

Johnson's Blue Geranium

This is one I planted last year and its come back in quite big. This is the first flower I've seen on it - but I'm glad to have some in this shade of purple.

Lithodora enLIGHTened

Well, some days you just get lucky with lighting. I was lying on the ground taking a picture of the nearer flowers on this plant when I noticed that the one on the other side was well - as seen above. :D

Roses Are Red, Poppies are Hairy

This is the first poppy I've ever grown - I think it is an arctic poppy or and icelandic poppy - Perhaps it is just a northern poppy, trying to stay warm.

Lily Up Close

I've been considering going up to a DSLR in the next few months. However, one of the things I'm finding is that its really hard to find one that has a lens that can do both zoom and macro as well as mine can. My alternative is to get a zoom lens and eventually get a macro lens. But I think that just means that I might have a fancy camera and still use my kodak. Still - it took me 7 years to pick out my last camera - so I guess it isn't too early to start thinking about it.

Red Lily

I don't think the picture does it justice - but the red is a really rich shade.

Lillicious

Sigh - I can't wait for the day lillies to get started - but these will hopefully tide me over for a bit.

Asian Lily, Columbine, Pansy Border

Here is the newest bed in the garden decked out with Asian Lilies, Columbine and Pansies. I'm going to fill in the front, possibly with some more pansies or maybe with some annuals (mimulas? Bogonia? Snap Dragons? Million Bells). I still don't know what colour 3 of the six are. One that isn't open yet will be a light orange and I think there is a second dark red one. I perhaps should figure out a way to deal with the spring heavy blooming in this bed, but even the foliage will be nice when the flowers are done. The Asian Lilies that I planted last year are coming in surprising strong considering that I had to battle the lily beetles last summer. I've already had to pick of 5 of them today.

Clematis Flowered Columbine

This one surprised me by having clematis-like flowers. Its still pretty, but I have to admit that I was really hoping for the columbine ones.

Columbine Choas

Today was a beautiful perfect day - it was warm, sunny, breezy and somehow I lucked out and was put on shadehouse duty organizing and facing flats. (which meant I spent the afternoon outside with plants and people rather than inside with cash registers and debit machines. Not that I mind being a cashier, but it would have been a shame to be inside today.

This one is mine - not planted yet. Its a hybrid columbine. Columbine have exquisite flowers, but they have a short blooming period. I probably have too many of them, 9 all told. But six are the wild variety that I grew from seed last summer. I'm excited to see them bloom in the next week or so. This is giant hybrid. I have two others I bought after they flowered last year and I was surprised to discover that one of them was a clematis flowered columbing. The other, is a pale purple columbine with flowers much like the one above.

I also managed to plant 3 hostas, 2 mallows and get all my watering done. I've got a plan for the remaining 3 hostas, but I'm going to have to think about what to do with the Peonys. Saturday I hope to plant the bulk of my annuals in the front. I'm doing snap dragon's and Bogonias. Next year - the garden won't get dealt with until mid June - but hopefully all it'll need is a few annuals, some topping up of soil and a few new additions.

One of the things I noticed today, working at the greenhouse, is that its very rare (in spite of numerous carts containing small children and infants in carriers) to hear babies cry or people being upset in general. Its a very soothing workplace. I think when I retire, I might just work a bit at a greenhouse. Maybe specializing in woodland perrenials or something. :D Sometimes parents let their kids buy plants with their own money - african violets and gerber daisies are popular, although today I had a child who was looking for something yellow - whom I advised to try the Brown-Eyed Susan's. Oh yeah... and another lady with a young boy was looking for something tall, purple and sun-loving. I asked her if she was familiar with snapdragon's (one of my favourites) - when she said she wasn't I quickly took her over to a bench of them in shades from red-velvet to bubblegum pink - including several shades of purple. She was duly inpressed (because really snapdragons can sell themselves on their looks alone. But I when I showed her son the dragon's mouths (you can pry open the mouths of snap dragon's to show a very dragon-like mouth) - they were done deal. :D and the "WOW!" from the little boy made my day. Another couple, when I noted that they'd enjoy their plants all summer told me how they were actually buying them for their neighbour who could no longer garden the way she used to and that this was a gift for her - sometimes people in the world are truely wonderful and then she agreed that they were over visiting often and would indeed enjoy them all summer. :D Oddly, this has been one of the most fulfilling jobs I've ever had. Gardening is just good for everyone's soul or perhaps the folk who frequent real greenhouses - not ones attached to their grocery store - are the kind of people who find pleasure in nuturing and caring for others as well as plants and we are just lucky to have cooler than average customers.

Anywho - That's a tonne of writing for me. I'm going to throw up a few more pictures and then I'm going to be a busy bee and get a tonne of stuff done.

Due North - Baker Lake Bound

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I guess this is my official announcement - give or take some paperwork - I'm headed to Baker Lake to teach highschool! Right now, I'm feeling somewhere between exuberant and overwhelmed by the insane list of things to do before I leave. I've included a link to Treena's Travels - a blog which not only does a great job of describing life in Baker Lake, but has first-rate photos too. Up until I found this blog, I was having a tough time finding pictures of town.

I know almost everyone that I talk with regularly knows this "news" and I've obviously been hinting for the last little while that something was up. I was hoping to find some perfect picture in my stash to go with the anouncement, but I've mostly used up the best of my photos from Repusle Bay - so I settled on a satellite photo.

I'm sure I'll have more to write about this in the near future - but for now, I should probably get some sleep so that I can function at work and manage to get the dog walked.

Good night,

Jennith

Re-Enacting our Childhood Foolishness

My best friend from grade school, myself and her son are fooling around for the camera. Both she and I are blinkers, so I decided to pick one with my eyes open until my photoshop skills advance to the point where I can paste eyes from one pic to another. We had a really relaxed and fun visit - and I saw her mom for the first time in 20 years. Time flies doesn't it. Hopefully, I can catch them on the return end of their trip and spend a bit more time just hanging out.

Finally - some gardening weather

So, I'm nearly done the near term tasks in the garden. I've gotten most of my perrenials in the ground and I'm even starting to mulch parts of the garden. The lawn in coming in in most of the spots I reseeded and everything is just coming together. Above is a wonderful plant - new to me - called lithodora that is helping form the short edge of my sunny perrenial garden. There is still lots to do, but I'm going ot have to take a break from non essential tasks in order to deal with some other priorities.

A few more pictures from Repulse Bay

My teaching placement in Nunavut lasted about 5 weeks from the beginning of April until the first week of May. By the time I left, the sun was going down at about 11:30 pm and rising at 2 am. Which was altogether pretty cool. The top picture was taken the day that Peter (the other student that did a placement in the same community) and I went for a hike out over the ice to an island. We actually cut the hike short because the wind picked up and you can see how much it was reducing the visibility. You can just barely make out the town on the far side. The other picture we took when the adjudicator came to town. He'd lived in Pond Inlet for several years and took all of us including many of the local teachers and we built an igloo. I'm not sure if it was "up-to-code", but it was a really neat experience with a bunch of fun and interesting people. The parka used to belong to my Aunt Andrea from when she lived in Thunder Bay. I don't think it would fly in Paris, but it was plenty fashionable for the north, and functional to boot.

Mimulus

Here is the fun and funky - monkey flower. My perenials book says that everyone should try to grow one at least once in there life time. So far I'm duly impressed. They've got some annual mimulus at work - so I might try planting some of that instead of impatient's in the front.

Turning over a new leaf - Raspberry Ice Heuchara

In the last few months my life has sort of taken a paradigm shift and I've (to overuse a cliche) turned over a new leaf. The Heuchara leaf (aka fancy coral bells - a fun and exciting perennial plant now located as the centerpiece of my woodland garden) above is doing well in its new home. I got a good chunk of my remaining perennials planted last night and I hope to finish the rest of what I have already purchased in the next day or 2. I'm also hoping that everything will get a move on it when the weather turns sunny and seasonally warm over the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted. The new grass is starting to look like lawn and everything planted is coming together nicely. I expect the columbine to flower in the next few days and I'm starting to see germination in the wildflower garden. I do have a few plants that tipped over in the wind and therefore got a bit dried out in spite of the rain last week. I've planted most of them and they seem to be perking up a bit. I'm more than half done the edge of the back and probably 3/4 done the centre of the back. I do have one more bed to dig in the back, but I'm going to wait and let the new grass get settled a bit before trampling it. I also have 2 more beds to dig on the side, but I'm waiting until I get the ladder out and clean the gutters so that all of my work doesn't get pummelled the next time it rains.

Tonight is the 2nd anniversary of Andrew Desmond's fatal motorcycle accident and a bunch of us are going out for a candle light vigil and dessert. Its strange the impact that Andrew has left on us. I'm really glad that Geoff organized the memorial. It'll be good to have some folks to share Andrew stories with.

Anywho - back to thesissing like a madwomen - :D Look for more pictures soon. I'm also contemplating getting a new camera of the DSLR type (yes, honest I've been taking all of my pictures with a nice point and shoot.) Any advice would be appreciated. I'm going to take a few months to research and stuff - so no hurry.

Cheers,

JP

Johnson's Blue Wild Geranium

Looking cool in the shade, this geranium is brightening the woodlands.

Bilberry Ice Spiderwort

I haven't been much in the garden between working and some interesting news that I'm waiting to post for just a little while longer. I have a bunch of perrenials to plant still, so hopefully I can work on that a bit tomorrow. I've mostly filled in the central bed and the woodland bed, although a few more pansies mingt be in order. The rest is mostly ground cover. The lawn is filling in nicely, but I should tackle some new ground, just as soon as it starts to look safe to walk on the new stuff.

Geum - and other exciting garden news

The geum, above, is still blooming in its new home in my sunny perrenials bed and there is quite a bit of action in the garden including:

1. The wildflower seeds I planted have started to germinate.
2. I'm nearly done reseeding the back yard and the grass seed has also started to germinate. (The only down side is that it has gone in germinated in a spot where I'd decided to enlarge one of the beds... so now I'll have to leave it or kill the new grass.)
3. The wildflower bed is basically planted and it turned out pretty nice. I'll have to see how it fills in.
4. I'm struggling with the sunny bed which I extended all around. But that means I need to mainly plant short plants that preferably bloom for a good bit of the summer/fall and so now I have some tall plants needing new homes.
5. 3 of my overwintered geraniums are starting to bush out while the remaining ones are hanging in.
6. I got most of the plants photographed for my garden journal/handbook and a few more of the sunny perrenials planted today. I still have way more to do that I figure I'll find time for, but I'm sure I'll work it out as I go. I'm usually not even started yet.
7. The hostas in the front are up and starting to look like plants.
8. The transplanted spearamint survived nicely - although I fear it'll be a while before I have time to deal with the bag of fresh mint in the fridge... maybe too long. I'll have to think of something.
9. The larger animal damaged serviceberry has some good leaves out now and the smaller one is making a valient effort. I'll have to research what I can do to help it (i.e. fertalize or no).
10. The lillies of the valley in the front are finally thriving, although unfortunately they've popped up right under my bleeding heart this year.
11. I've been planning which branches to prune, but I'm still missing my shears :S.
12.I'm not allowed to buy more plants until the ones I have in are in... except maybe some of the monkshead that is on for very cheap.

And now it is time for sleep. :D

Then in Naujaat (Now-yat)

a) Jenn, Intrepid Arctic Explorer
b) Sunset, near midnight, April, Naujaat (Repulse Bay), Nunavut
c) Boats in winter
d) Sunrise at 2 am, April 2000, Naujaat (Repulse Bay), Nunavut

I remembered that once upon a time I took pictures that didn't go directly on my computer and so I dug up my old photo album and scanned in a few pictures from my teaching placement in Nunavut. They say that once you go up north, it gets in your blood, and calls to you every time the northern lights are in the sky. Even if it is the low point of the solar cycle (i.e. the northern lights have been pretty quiet lately), I still hear that call... sometimes its as quiet as the sunrise on a windless day and other times, like today, its like the roar of a skidoo engine speeding across the ice.

The Woodland Garden

So, it still needs a few plants and some finishing touches and I have to work on the boarder and mulch and add some rocks... and you get the idea, there is a long list of tweaking before I'll call it finished, and so of it has to wait until the season is in full swing before I dare planting it, but here is the basic layout - in a few years I hope this is an impressive spot.

Do my armpits smell?

This little chickadee is giving itself the sniff test as its chickadee dating season and you wouldn't want to put off a potential mate with smelly pits :P?

Dicentra in focus

Sorry.. here it is in focus. I love the shape of the leaves. I'll have to get around to mulching soon.

Dicentra Planted in the Woodland Garden

Here it is... planted in front of an old chunk of wood I found kicking around.