All about spheres

Looking at photos of the garden, you might have noticed cement balls placed in strategic spots. These are chiefly ornamental, although they also serve practical purposes. Their use is even historical.

"Cherry Garden" - Portrait of an Iris

Iris pumila "Cherry garden" is a dwarf bearded iris.

I thought I would write a plant portrait of "Cherry Garden" because what I find in various references simply does not do it justice.

These references all neglect to mention what is most characteristic of it.

"Cherry Garden" a dwarf iris

Smooth Green Snake

The previous post on slugs brought back to mind the smooth green snake, because slugs are part of its diet!

I have mentioned that snake before, but not in detail. I wish I could convince this beautiful small snake to settle in the garden, but that leads me to a conundrum - perhaps it would if I had more slugs!

Smooth Green Snake

A "maximus" we could do without

Slugs!

Through my gardening years, I have had to deal with only two kinds of slugs, both a few centimeters long (I call them the whites and the greys, not having the required competence to identify these slugs by  their proper scientific names).

Cold and Snow

The news are full of comments about how bad the weather has been in the northern hemisphere, particularly in the American Mid West and in Eastern Canada, and we wonder how the snow and very cold temperatures will affect ours gardens. Although the intense cold is not welcome, a great amount of snow is good for perennial plants, if not for humans.

A very snowy winter

Rainy Summer

I mentioned in a previous post that the summer had started rainy. Well, it still is rainy. A few drops are falling as I am writing this, and the day before yesterday a downpour lasted several hours.

Lilium michiganense - native to our area though rare in the wild and now included in Lilium canadense

Raised Beds

We have always had raised beds in the southern half of the garden, but not in the other half.
The soil is very thin here in the Bruce, and so anything that can increase its volume is most welcome.
These first raised beds were made when the garden was first created, around 2007, and are very permanent, made of stones and concrete.

The existing raised beds made of stones and concrete

A Summer of Revenants

The last four or five weeks have been rather wet in our part of the world, and hot days have not been numerous (hot days for us are above 25 C).

 Even if humans do not enjoy that kind of weather, most plants do. In fact, a good number of plants I thought dead, some for many years, have made a comeback.

I expect the extra water is the reason for these "resurrections". The most spectacular is Camassia.

Bulb Query

I have some questions about two spring bulbs that some of you might be able to help me with.

The first one has to do the small daffodil, Narcissus bulbocodium, often called hoop petticoat daffodil.

Narcissus bulbocodium

When we find ourselves in the place just right

The majority of gardening jobs have to be done in spring and one that takes a lot of time here is moving plants. Finding the right spot for a plant might seem straight forward enough, but it is much more difficult than it appears.

The herb garden on May 1st