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.

Elaine and the Gnome

"Elaine and the Gnome" is not the name of a summer blockbuster movie. They are both stone statues in my backyard.
Elaine is my beautiful statue on the west side of the yard. I purchased her years ago at a lovely nursery near Kitchener. Her tag said ELAINE so I have always referred to her as that. Her head is bowed, as she feeds the birds seeds from her apron.
I leave Elaine out over the winter even though she is made of cement. She is on a slab of flagstone so has never suffered frost damage or cracks.

Over the years, the Elaine bed has filled in and is now lush and full. It contains some of my favourite combinations as well as 11 hostas.

When we moved here, my friend gave me a white gnome as a "joke" housewarming gift. She knew I didn't care for gnomes but I have kept him over the years (well hidden away!). Still, the garden bed he's  in bears his name: the Gnome Bed. It also contains a few lovely combinations.

Let me show you how the Elaine bed looks right now

We have had enough rain that everything is plump and lush and full. Most hostas are mature enough that they have reached their maximum height and spread. Some are 3-4 feet in diameter! And many have just started to bloom.

I am really enjoying a new type of plant I bought in the spring: Chinese Astilbe (Astilbe chinensis var. Pumila). The leaves are similar to regular Astilbe but the flower heads look puffy and soft. They are a gorgeous shade of fuschia.

The Brunnera 'Jack Frost' continues to look lovely and the annuals fill in the faded bulb areas.

The Bergenia cordifolia has put out fresh, glistening leaves.

And a wonderful dainty deep pink clematis (maybe "Princess Diana"? I have lost the tag) winds its way through the pussywillow branches.

The Gnome bed is just inside the gate as you enter the backyard. You'll notice the Gnome himself is tucked waaaay back into the foliage :) This bed consists of Japanese Painted Fern, a perennial geranium, phlox, a small leaf blue Hosta and some annuals. The bed is surrounded by junipers, climbing roses and euonymus.

I leave you with a few more parting shots of Elaine……..

Please check out my food blog - the latest recipe is for Peach Pie.