Garden Bloggers Bloom Day June 2014

I realize I am a few days early - Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is on Sunday - but I have a very busy weekend coming up so I thought I'd post early rather than late.

Well, it's a typical June after all in my garden. After months of snow and horrid cold, it got warmer and warmer and all of a sudden my garden is lush and green and loaded with colour. Yay!!

My peonies are blooming and look stunning.

The pale pink shrub rose is in full bloom

The dainty deep purple Siberian Iris has appeared in numerous places around the yard

I have several lovely yellow bearded iris that have fought off borer year after year

Ladies Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) is fresh with wide serrated leaves and bright chartreuse flowers

Yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata) popped up out of nowhere!

Gleaming screaming RED POPPIES!!

The weigela bush suffered quite a bit of die back so I pruned it back harder than usual - is that why I am being treated to such a mass of fuchsia flowers???

The Himalayan cinquefoil (Potentilla atrosnaguinea) has only two scarlet blooms but at least it hasn't died out. It's been around ever since I started this garden 27 years ago…...

I am so happy that my spring garden bounced back from a harsh winter and can provide me and my gardening friends with such a lush, wonderful show now in mid-June.

Please check my food blog for a delicious tart Chocolate Apricot Torte.

Identifying Plants in the Garden

Spring has finally Sprung in Southern Ontario! It's been a looooong wait.

But now that stuff is popping out of the ground, do you know which plant is which?

Here are some hints:

Bearded Iris

Monkshood

Ladies Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)

Daylilies - Hemerocallis

Peonies

Foxtail Lilies

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Bleeding Heart

Walk around outside - I'm sure "stuff" is popping up in your garden daily!!

Please be sure to check my food blog - the latest recipe posted is Pan-Seared Veal Chops with Rosemary.

Pink in the Garden

Sweet Pea

Pink is a very popular colour to use in the garden: some like soft shell pinks, others like bold fuchsias and magentas but almost everyone incorporates some pink into their flower beds.

Pink flowers and blooms are very easy to find. In fact, it's so abundant some may consider it common but most just love it.

Back in the 90's when I did garden design as a hobby business, clients, who had brown/camel brick homes would still cry and whine for me to incorporate pink into the design even their homes would have more complimented by yellow, red and orange shades. The pink would (so) clash but they insisted!

Here are some lovely plants that bloom PINK:

Deep pink Hyacinths will appear in my garden in April.

The magnolia tree flowers bloom with a deeper pink throat and then open to pale pink

A bold spiky fuchsia tulip will appear in May

The crabapple tree in the front yard provides gorgeous cherry pink blossoms and a gorgeous fragrance

What could be more lovely than a hedge of stunningly beautiful pink rhododendrons!

Dark pink peonies surround my deck in June

A deep pink climbing rose

Weigela is such a dark pink, it's almost red

My newly purchased Astilbe chinensis bloomed a deep pink inside with pale pink edging. It looked great near the Sweet William , which is many shades of pink.

Cheddar pinks really add a sharp pop of colour!

Please check my food blog - my latest post is a recipe for Cheese Fondue.

Top Perennials Part 4 (of many)

Peonies.
Gorgeous showsy, blowsy peonies.
When I first saw peonies as a teenager, I mistook them for roses.
You either love peonies or you don't.
I adore them.

When we first moved here 25 years ago, a friend's Dad brought me my first peonies along with other wonderful garden donations. He told me not to plant the peonies too deep and to give them support from heavy rain.
I have moved them several times and have supplemented the original 3 or 4 with many others. But my favourites of the ones he gave me are the deepest fuschia - I have never seen such a colour in anyone else's garden. He passed away long ago and I doubt he ever knew the names of the ones he gave me. Therefore I am sorry - I cannot tell you the names either.

So I just take care of them, fertilize them each year, chop out pieces for friends who ask and wire them up, to protect against wind and rain.

My latest location for them is all around the deck. Some years they barely reach the top of the deck - other years they rise a foot above the edge.

They get full sun all day so perhaps that's why they are so "happy".

Canadian Gardening magazine says: "Peonies are large, plentiful and easy to grow, many have sweetly fragrant flowers and are deer-resistant, drought-resistant and cast-iron hardy".
So true!

Why do peonies attract ants?
They don't actually help a peony open up (that's a myth). Ants are just attracted to the nectar from the peony buds as they open. To avoid bringing a lot of ants into the house when you cut the peonies for a vase, just dunk them upside down in a bucketful of water for 5 minutes after cutting. The ants will float out. Give the flowers a shake, bring them in and enjoy!

Peonies are best divided and re-planted in the fall. They love rich soil but also do very well in clay. They can take a bit of shade but do best in full sun.