Purple in the Garden

Columbine (Aquilegia)

Purple in the garden! So formal and dignified, so royal and honourable. 

So many shades to choose from: mauve, lavender, violet, plum and aubergine.

Purple adds depth to light colours and stands out brilliantly if massed. Playful when it's a light tint, powerful when it's deep.

Big pom-pom heads of early spring Allium are a pinky-purple.

Aren't these pinky-mauve rhodos exquisite? Wish they were mine… (taken while on garden tour in Niagara-on-the-Lake)

Incredible picotee Iris - so many shades and colours within a single petal.

Siberian Iris can only be described as blue-ish purple. So dainty on tall skinny stems.

There are so many varieties of lilacs but the shrubs I have are a pinky-purple, very pale in colour. And ohhhhh so very fragrant!

Some gardeners cut hosta flowers off before they bloom but I adore them. I am careful to cut them off when they have expired, though.

Deep purple bellflowers hang heavily on their stems

Many clematis blooms come in deep purple.

Lisianthus comes in many colours, including purple.

Finish the year with lovely autumn crocus!

Please visit my food blog - latest posts are recipes for Spinach and Lemon Risotto with Shrimp as well as Swedish Meatballs with Dill.

Garden Year in Review

Dianthus - name unknown

I spent this past weekend cutting down the garden. I would have done so sooner except for the rain, our Florida vacation, rain, lots of other stuff to do and the rain. Putting the garden "to bed" pretty much signifies the end of the garden season for this year. Today the high was 5C and it's going down to -2C overnight (that's 41F and 28F respectively). It's darn chilly out there now, which isn't conducive to spending many pleasurable hours in the garden.
This past year I have started following a lot of garden blogs and besides having made many new "virtual" friends, have also learned to be more attentive to how I take garden photos. Many of their blogs and photos are so outstanding, they should be winning awards!! But I just observe and attempt to imitate.
So as a finale to autumn 2012, I would like to present 15 of the pictures I am most proud of.

Peony - a gift (therefore, name unknown)

Red trillium

Daffodil 'Tahiti'

Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum'

Autumn crocus - Colchicum autumnale

Violets - name unknown

Old-fashioned Bleeding Heart - Dicentra spectabilis

Parrot tulips - a gift - name unknown (maybe 'Starfighter?')

Clematis probably 'Multiblue' seen on a garden tour

A vase of Ladies Mantle, Coral bells, Euonymus, Stachys byzantium, and Columbine

Climbing Rose - New Dawn

Petunias and Browallia

Pink Gerbera daisies

Polyantha rose 'The Fairy'

Pin Oak - Quercus palustris

June 15th Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

Today is June 15th, Garden Blogger's Bloom Day!!

What's blooming in my garden today?

Yellow Iris

Perennial Geranium macrorrhizum 'Variegatum'

Perennial Bachelor Buttons - Centaurea montana

Climbing hydrangea

Siberian iris and allium moly

Climbing rose

Climbing rose

Climbing rose

Feverfew - Tanacetum parthenium (frantic self-seeder)

Serviceberry - Amelanchiar canadensis (the robins are making pigs of themselves over these!)

Coral bells - Heuchera brizoides x

Astilbe japonica 'Deutschland'

Shrub rose (buds are apricot - flower is white - so sweet!)

1996 Perennial of the Year - Penstemon digitalis 'Husker Red'

Clematis jackmanii

Shrub rose (that's grown 10' high this year!!)

Lysimachia punctata - Yellow Loosestrife

Lysimachia nummularia - Creeping Jenny 

Lady's Mantle - Alchemilla mollis (which is really more famous for how raindrops shine in the cupped leaves after a rain shower)

Climbing rose 'New Dawn'

Climbing rose 'Blaze'

Perennial geranium sanguineum (that I got from a dear friend)

The very very VERY last of the peonies

This is kind of cheating because the Oakleaf Hydrangea is barely beginning to bloom :)

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day is a Meme created by May Dreams Gardens http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/

Gardeners post images of what's blooming in their garden on the 15th day of every month. All are welcome to participate.