Meconopsis & Other Favourite Things

 What a spring we're having here in Nova Scotia! Although today is chilly enough that I put a fire in the wood stove to take the damp and chill off inside, we've been treated to what I can only describe as a real, old fashioned, normal spring. You know, where May actually is warm and pleasant for most of the month? I don't know when we last had frost, but it was long enough ago that I feel confident in putting out the annual containers. More on those in a bit.

It's always nice to watch a plant flower in one's garden for the first time. I bought this spring clematis, 'Fragrant Spring' last summer at Bunchberry Nurseries and it's now covering itself in fragrant, softly pink flowers. And yes, it has a pleasant, spicy-sweet scent. This is the first clematis to flower here, but others are forming up buds and I look forward to a wash of colours throughout the growing season.

 The secret to growing great lewisias? Perfect drainage, and a gravel mulch to keep the leaves from rotting from being against wet soil. Since learning this, my lewisias have done brilliantly. The upper one is from the Rainbow mix collection; the salmony coloured one is 'Little Peach.' They bloom for a long time, too, and I'm hoping they'll multiply now that they're happy.

Betty magnolia is in bloom--and has huge blooms this year, about the size of dinner plates, with their long, sprawling petals. I love this shrub, though I may have planted it a little too close to the walkway for comfort.

'But you mentioned Meconopsis in the title,' some of you might be complaining. 'Why is this about pink and orange flowers?'

Patience, patience, everyone. We'll get to that, presently.

 As I remarked to someone recently, although I love irises in other people's gardens, I don't have a lot of them myself. But this one tried to seduce me at Briar Patch earlier in May, and I had to have it. It's called 'Cat's Paw', of all things. That's why I needed it. Yes, it is.

 I seem to have developed a fondness for pink-orange-yellow flower combinations, which is curious because I'm not normally fond of pink. But these plants in one container do please me--dahlietta 'Cherry Sunrise', lantana 'Sunrise rose' and there's another lantana peeking around the edges of the photo, but I can't remember if it's 'Sunrise Red' or another strain.

 Every year I think I have organized my plant purchases well enough that I can find their names and where I got them again. Hah! This is a double primrose, but I have absolutely no idea where it came from. None at all. It's pink and yellow, continuing with that curious colour combination.

 Aquilegia 'Firecracker' caught my eye at Den Haan's earlier this spring, and I bought two of them. I'm glad I did, as they are festooned with many colourful flowers, and have wine-tinged foliage to add to the pleasure.

Although we're barely into June, all of my tulips are in bloom. That may not be surprising to many people, but quite often, I have tulips flowering into July. But that isn't going to happen this year. So the garden is festooned with plenty of colourful tulips, including this delightful fringed tulip that I'm pretty sure I bought at Blomidon Nurseries last fall. I love fringed tulips, and they often flower for three or four years before they dwindle away. 

 All these hot, bright colours are getting hard on the eyes, aren't they? Let's cool down with some cool blue, shall we? Like this Gentiana acaulis, the spring flowering gentian. I bought this little plant last summer, recognizing it as a gentian but not sure which one it was. I whooped and did a happy dance when it started blooming several weeks ago. That rich colour is just soooooo...well, you know.

Equally delightful, although more contrary to grow for me, is California bluebell, Phacelia campanularia. I have several of these in containers, as they are annuals here, and cranky annuals at that, but Laura Budde of Glad Gardens said that they need a little sweeter soil than do many plants. So I've added a little lime to the containers they are in, and hope they'll oblige by blooming for a while. That periwinkle blue is wonderful, isn't it? 

And...here it is, what you've been waiting for. Meconopsis grandis, one of the blue poppy species. It's about three weeks earlier than it has been in other years, and it popped open on June 1...about 5 days earlier than I thought it might. I was expecting it tomorrow, which would have been my beloved's Lowell's birthday, but I guess he thought I needed a little cheering earlier, so he arranged for a much needed 'gift' from him. This meconopsis has several more buds on it, so the show will continue for a week or more yet. It'll be done by the time of my Open Garden on June 30-July 1st, but you can enjoy it indefinitely here. 

Happy June to all of you. Happy plant hunting and planting...

Bayport Plant Farm has a Sale!

May is always the busiest month in my working year, and this May is no exception. It's been made more entertaining by also being a real spring this year, as opposed to the cold, wet and unpleasant Mays we've seen in recent years. The gardens are blooming like crazy, including the native plants--which some refer to as weeds.

Anyway. I've written numerous times about Bayport Plant Farm and my friend the late Captain Richard Steele and his daughter Diana, who have worked the farm and developed many amazing plants over their years of working with rhododendrons, magnolias, and other choice ornamentals. Captain Steele passed away just over 2 years ago, and we miss him deeply, we plant nuts.

Today I made my way to Bayport, a few miles from Lunenburg, on Nova Scotia's picturesque south shore, to visit Diana, who continues to operate the plant farm. I didn't call before heading down to see her, and it was just good luck that she happened to be home. We hugged and wept a little over lost loved ones, but as we toured around the hilly woodlands of the plant farm, we found ourselves laughing over things her father would do, events that she and he shared in their work on the farm. And of course, I spent a great deal of time gawking at beautiful blooming plants.

Magnolias, evergreens, rhododendrons and azaleas, native plants, rare plants...all grow together in a lush and joyous celebration of horticultural heaven. I can't be sad walking around Bayport, not when the legacy of Dick and Diana's work is all around me. 

Diana doesn't operate a website for Bayport, so I decided to help out a little bit by creating an advertisement for her that links to this post. And if you drop in to visit bloominganswers.com, you'll find a downloadable file of some of the plants she has on sale this spring season. 

Naturally, I had to buy some plants, but this one she gave me...one of her father's crosses, with his beloved signature burgundy 'blotch' in each flower. "You have to name this variety," she told me. And right there and then I named it. "Steeles Legacy". 

For both of them, Dick and Diana, in gratitude for all the fabulous plants they have given us over the years. Long may they bloom.

Want to visit Bayport? Here's the coordinates and the hours:

Bayport Plant Farm

Diana Steele

2740 Hwy 332, Bayport, NS

902-764-2090

Hours Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 9-5;

Other days by appointment

Closed on Mondays

Rarities and Radio Shows

We're already well into May and there's been little time for posting. That's because this is the busy season for garden speakers, gardeners, and just normal life-living. I've been grateful to be so occupied with various events, including the Saltscapes Expo last weekend and this weekend's native plant sale at Acadia's Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens, plus appearing on Niki Jabbour's radio show, The Weekend Gardener. Still, I did get a little weepy when I noticed Lowell's trilliums are coming into bloom. I sure hope he can enjoy them, too. 

Slow down, Spring, you move too fast!

It seems there's a trend across the continent for a blazingly fast spring. I don't know whether we're starting to be like Australia (where this fabulous plant, Kangaroo Paw hails from, but is used for containers and specimen plants here), or just what is going on, but things are moving quickly in the nurseries and in our gardens.

The early warm weather is catching all of us off balance, but our local nurseries do have plenty of product to sell, and more plants arriving daily. Over at Blomidon Nurseries, there is a nice collection of heaths and heathers,

And some of the earlier blooming rhododendrons are starting to put on a show, like this beauty, 'Blue Baron'.
If you're thinking about annuals, it's plenty early to do anything with them unless you have a protected greenhouse to hold them in til the risk of frost is past. But with the Hort Couture plants (such as that Kangaroo Paw, above) we are going to see a lot of clever use of tropical plants, some with spectacular foliage or flowers, in container and specimen planting.

The staff and customers at Briar Patch in Berwick were all staring eagerly at 'Limelight' yellow magnolia, trying to will this flower bud to open. Probably on the weekend. There's just something about yellow flowered magnolias. This is my year to plant one.

Briar Patch has a great collection of hellebores, including this lovely 'Pink Frost'. I like this one because its flowers face outward and upward, not as shy as some of its cousins.

'April Mist' is a dainty double-flowered rhododendron, with delicate petals that look almost like tissue paper.

Today was the first day of being open for the season for the folks at Glad Gardens in Waterville. As always, they have a terrific collection of plants, annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees of all kinds.

Succulents in containers are popular both indoors and out, and Glad Gardens has a great collection of non-hardy succulents this year. These plants will overwinter nicely in a home, but don't leave them outside for the winter or they will be mush.

Things are blooming hot and heavy at Baldwin's Nurseries in Falmouth. Rob has always had fantastic trees and shrubs, and in the past couple of years he has become besotted with perennials, too. Including these fragrant and colourful dianthus. This variety is 'Black Cherry Wild' and it IS very fragrant.

'Golden Lotus' hellebore is just the prettiest double flowered beauty, isn't she? Actually, I personally have never met a hellebore I didn't love.

Den Haan's in Middleton is going full tilt too. Their greenhouses are filled with annuals basking in the heat, while perennials, shrubs and trees are in more ordinary climates. I love the cheery colour of this pink strawberry plant.

And this rhododendron, 'Janet Seleger' caught my eye because the flowers have a bluish tinge to them. I have been very good at resisting purchasing plants right now--it's not time yet.

I have lived at our home for 13 years, and know the land and the climate and the garden as intimately as I knew the body, mind and soul of my beloved Lowell. This year is the EARLIEST I have seen the plants blooming and breaking dormancy and flourishing. Pieris 'Captain Steele' is opening its cascades of fragrant flowers,

The puschkinia are competing with snowdrops, crocus, chionodoxa and early dwarf iris for attention in the 'small bulbs' category.

In the pond, the cattails are doing brilliantly, making the red winged blackbirds and the frogs very happy.
Wait a minute. These aren't my cattails.
They're the work of the fabulous Al Simm, metal worker and 'reluctant Artist, from Avon River Metalworks. Al will be displaying some of his work in my garden during my second annual Open Garden Fundraiser (this year, June 30-July 1). He will also be unveiling a special memorial sculpture to my long-suffering Lowell that weekend--it'll be a surprise for everyone.

Top Ten Easy Perennials

I know I haven't posted in a while, and for that I apologize. Grieving is hard work, as is the business of coping with life without my beloved. Some days are easier than others. What really works best is for me to work, talking about plants, writing about plants, working on bloominganswers.com, and so on. The hints of spring in the air are helpful also, although the surprise snowstorm we got as an Easter resent was neither helpful nor appreciated. However, we're not going to talk about that any further. We're going to talk about plants.

We all love Top Ten Lists, although I find they work best when there is some explanation to go along with the selections. Thinking about beginners who are nervous about planting, but who want lovely blooms and colourful foliage and tough plants, I looked through a big pile of photos from my gardens, and picked out ten plants I recommend quite regularly. Now, for me to pick ten plants is a challenge--I could do my top ten favourite day lilies, top ten sedums, top ten echinaceas, and so on. But for now, I've selected cultivars in some cases, or simply genus and species in other cases.

Here in no particular order other than they uploaded this way, are my Top Ten Easy Perennials

The spirit of dragonflies

Time moves on, whether we want it to or not, and while I'm still deeply immersed in grieving, it's important that I continue to write, continue to encourage fellow gardeners, and otherwise celebrate what is truly good in this world. 

We're over halfway through FARCH, that interminable time that starts on 1 February and ends usually at the end of March, but sometimes not til May or June, if last year was any indication. We've had an oddly mild and not-really-winterish winter, and whether that means we'll have an early, easy spring or something quite different, who really knows. 

Bouquets of Thanks...

It's been just over two weeks since my last post, though it seems like an eternity of things have happened. When one's world explodes, it's hard to pick up and put it all back together again. But since I'm the sole supporter of my world now, I have to keep working, keep focusing on the future, even as I grieve. It's not easy, but people do it all the time. And I will as well.

While grieving and functioning at the same time are not easy tasks, the process has been and continues to be made somewhat easier by the outpouring of support from friends and family, colleagues and associates, both as near as next door and as far away as all over the world. Your notes, emails, comments here, letters, cards, gifts of food and offers of help, are so deeply appreciated by me, by my family. Thank you, dear friends, dear family, for your love and support. There aren't enough words to share all my appreciation. It's both humbling to have such wonderful friends and amazingly comforting.

The way forward from here isn't clear to me yet, but I'm working, and tending my health, being nurtured by kittens and trying to figure out how to keep body and soul together without my beloved soulmate Lowell. I may take a bit more of a hiatus here from the blog but I am working on bloominganswers.com as well as planning out projects for the coming months. I'll drop in to visit other gardeners when I have time & spirit, just as I drop in to visit friends when I have enough emotional strength to do so.

The days are getting longer, and some days there's a definite hint of winter's surrender in the air. Forward we go together, friends. There is strength in numbers.

Fare thee well, Love

 There was no warning on Monday, just a phone call from Kathleen, mother of Lowell's son Darren. The news was horrifying in its finality. Lowell, the love of my life for 13 1/2 years was dead, stricken by a massive coronary event.

My world has shifted. Everything has come awry, and there are many uncertainties, bills, and worries.
But there is also the knowledge of his great love for family, friends, life itself.

Today, we said goodbye to my soul mate, something I had not thought to do for another 25 years--if even then.

I'd like to share part of the service with you.

Prelude, read by our friend Ami McKay:

The fog's just lifting. Throw off your bow line, throw off your stern. You back out around the edge of the wharf, around the Shoe Bridge Rocks. Blow your airhorn and throw a wave to the younger generation of Huntleys, Steeles, Thorpes, Tuppers fishing off the wharf. Picking up steam as we roll past Clam Cove. Past Lady’s Cove where we used to play as kids even as our parents warned us to stay away from the water, watch the tides. Then the birds show up, black backs, herring gulls, cormorants and the occasional eagle, out looking for an opportunistic meal. The sun hits ya, you head west past Cape Split and the voice of the moon. .Open up to 12, steamin' now, wet exhaust thrumming the primeval beat.. The guys are busy, you're in charge. Ya know what? You're a lobster boat captain, fishing the waters of the upper bay of Fundy! Is there any thing better in the world?

Adapted from The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

Encouraging a spirit of fairness in the gardening world

The 6th anniversary of Bloomingwriter passed quietly a couple of weeks ago. I was busy with work projects and with developing the growing community of bloominganswers, and I needed some time to think about a retrospective post. Now into its seventh year, Bloomingwriter has long been one of my ways to give back to the gardening community. I've learned so much from other gardeners, other writers, over the years, made some terrific friends, some of whom I've yet to meet face to face but whom I consider close friends regardless. Some of you are cat fans like me, and some continue in the quest for the blue poppy.
Several of those friends are outspoken, frank, and honest, passionate about gardening in all its forms. Colleen Vanderlinden is one of those gutsy writers who stands up for what she believes in, and who works hard to educate people about the pros of organic gardening and the need for responsible stewardship. It's been fabulous to watch her develop from writing a blog to writing for some well-respected publications including Treehugger.com, and she has two books on gardening for midwestern US to her credit, one forthcoming.

Conifers to brighten your winterscapes

If you aren't a fan of conifers and other evergreens yet, you're missing out on some fantastic garden plants, to say nothing of a fourth gardening season--now, the time of winter interest. 

There are more to evergreens than ever-green, I always say. I think many people swore off evergreens because of the uninspired plantings found in many subdivisions. You know the kind I mean. A couple of tall cedars, some overly pruned yews and junipers, all standing huddled against house foundations, or slowly dying from being planted in the wrong location. 

Oh, there are just so many more choices, and more plant sizes, shapes, colours...

I can cheerfully say that my ongoing fascination has been encouraged thru several friends who happen to be nursery operators: Jill Covill of Bunchberry Nurseries, Rob Baldwin of Baldwin Nurseries, and of course, our mutual late lamented friend Captain Dick Steele of Bayport Plant Farm.

Wordless Wednesday: Dreams of Warmer Days

Mostly wordless, except to invite gardeners to join the discussions at bloominganswers.com And warm thanks to all who have already joined and are participating.

 

Happy New Year from Bloomingwriter and Bloominganswers

Here it is only the third day of 2012 and I've already managed to pull a bit of a post together! I learned some years ago not to make resolutions, so that I don't have to feel guilty about not keeping them. Instead, I do the best I can. As Master Yoda would say, "Do, or do not--there is no try." He had a point, didn't he, and not just his ears.

Mostly I wanted to take the time to say thank you to all those who have already signed up at bloominganswers. It's still very much a work in progress, with some facets that are confusing to me when I'm working behind the scenes to make things as easy to navigate as possible. I'm delighted that we have members from the United States and the UK as well as from across Canada--this is a site for any gardener, whether indoor or out, whether in the tropics or in the tundra.

It's been nearly six years since I started writing this blog, so actually it's entering its seventh year of posts. Much has changed during that time, especially in terms of my personal, physical abilities. Yesterday, since we were having yet another overly-mild day, I finally got the last of my bulbs planted, a task that would have normally been done by mid-late November, when I was laid up after my knee surgery. But bulbs are tenacious, and they were in good shape when I plopped them into the soggy ground, and they will mostly all bloom come spring. I remind myself that I'm also tenacious, and that others have far more serious ailments than I do, so I need to be grateful and carry on.

It's important to me to thank my readers, both online and in the publications I work with, and those who have bought my books. Also I thank everyone who comes out to the presentations and workshops I do from time to time. One of the greatest joys about gardening is the sense of community it fosters, and the sharing that goes on between gardeners, between friends across the miles.

I have several potential projects in the works along with the new website, and so I shan't promise to blog every couple of days, or even every week. Nor will I promise to get to everyone's blog as quickly as I used to. There are so many now, which is exciting because it's great to see the passions for planting and how people do things differently. There are also so many other social media demands on our time, from Facebook to Twitter to Google+ (whatever that latter is--I don't know yet) and it can become overwhelming. I remind everyone that we garden for pleasure, and that reading and participating in garden sites ought to be for fun too. No stresses, please--we have enough of those in the other parts of our lives.

So here's to 2012, and more garden adventures, wherever you are, whatever you plant. For me, I'm hoping winter will arrive soon, to cover up the wet yucky yard, and to bring on the snow buntings!

Bloominganswers: A present for fellow gardeners

You know you're pretty busy when nearly a week past Christmas you still haven't had time to write a Merry Christmas card to family, friends, fellow gardeners. It's been that kind of a crazy year, though, all the way around. So belated but still heartfelt wishes to everyone, and I hope that Christmas was a kind, happy, and peaceful time for you and your families.

At our house, it was a lovely Christmas, made more entertaining than usual because of the five kittens of various sizes that have taken up living here since the summer. They are unable to knock the tree down, it being fastened securely to two walls as well as being in a durable stand. But they've enjoyed removing unbreakable ornaments from the bottom of it, batting at garland, climbing into bags and boxes, and otherwise being quite charmingly cute.

 This has been a curious year for me, blogging-wise. Because of the publication of my book, Plants for Atlantic Gardens, earlier in the year, I was really busy with book promotion work, touring, signings, garden talks, research for articles and potentially other books, and so on. Then there was my brainwave to have an open garden fundraiser for the Captain Dick Steele memorial scholarship at my alma mater, the NSAC. Then there was the arrival of the itty bitty kitty committee, which grew from 3 to five very quickly, and seemed to octuple the amount of work to be done around here. Then of course I had my knees scoped, and although they're still sore and limiting me somewhat, they're improving, thanks, and the first one will be replaced next year.

So not only did I not blog nearly as much as I normally do, I didn't visit blogs as often as I should. But I answered an awful lot of email, many of them asking questions that could be answered somewhere as a collecting site, so I wouldn't have to answer them over and over again, right? Hmmmm....

I decided to start a new website, instead.

It's called bloominganswers.com and it's written for gardeners, by gardeners. It's all about gardening. There are no posts to like, no popularity contests to play with--it's a forum, a garden table, where people can share their experiences, their wisdom, their challenges and their solutions on all things pertaining to gardening. And while it's based here in Atlantic Canada, it doesn't matter where you live--you're welcome to join.

Bloominganswers is free to join. I bought the domain and signed up with a company for a paid service, and there will be advertisers coming on board in the coming days and weeks. For now, there are some Google adsense ads, but if you use an adblocking service you won't even see those.

This is, of course, a work in progress. I'm chattering about it on Twitter, on Facebook, and anywhere else I can think of. It's early days yet, but we're throwing open the door to all comers. The wallpaper isn't all hung, the curtains aren't all up, but we're here, and we hope you'll find this site useful.

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy, Blooming New Year!

Decking them halls...

It's that time of year again, somehow! I've sort of lost the past few weeks as far as much productivity is concerned, because I had knee surgery and it slowed me way, way down. The good news is I'll be getting new knees; the bad news is, not sure when, but hopefully starting next year.

The other good news is, even if you're challenged by mobility, time or other issues, you can still do some effective and wonderful Christmas decorating without a huge amount of effort.

Amaryllis make spectacular decor when they're in bloom, but even when they're just preparing to bloom they can be highly effective simply by adding a couple of sprigs of greenery, real or synthetic, or a decorative seasonal pick. (those ready-made, corsage like clusters of flowers, foliage, accents, wrapped and wired to a wooden stick).

Nothing Subtle about November in Nova Scotia!

Today was one of those weather-perfect days that are rare gems in my province during the month of NO-vember. Regular readers of my writings know that I regard this month with about as much enthusiasm as I do filing my taxes or cleaning out the cats' litterboxes, because it can be such a dreary month, full of storms and grey drabness.

This November has been a month of bombast. We've had several wicked wind and rain storms, and when it hasn't been raining, it's still been blowing gales of wind. Enough wind happened this weekend that it knocked down my blue pergola (since repaired and uprighted by Longsuffering spouse), flattened some perennials not already flattened, and just generally created garden mayhem. But it's getting to be that time of the season, when things are truly winding down.

Not so Wordless Wednesday: Hibiscus for Curing Winter Blahs

It comes as no surprise to readers of this blog that I am not a fan of NO-vember, surely the worst month of the year in the really Northern Hemisphere. Between the cold winds, the grey bleak landscapes, the lack of sun, the lack of daylight, the fading gardens...it's just not a happy time for those of us who like long mild bright days of the gardening season.

Happily, I've long found that a relief for the NO-vember blahs is to surround myself with colourful tropical plants. One of my all-time favourites is the hibiscus, which makes a great patio plant in the warm months, and is well suited for a bright indoor location in many homes.