On the Inconstant Lupines

We used to have a nice drift of Russell lupines as you can see from the photo below. "Used to" is the operative phrase. There are still a few lingerers here and there, but, on the whole, the lupines have disappeared. Here is the story of how we grew them in the first place, how they seemingly failed to grow, eventually prospered and then suddenly vanished.

Yours for the Picking

The Bruce Peninsula in Ontario used to be an apple growing area. You can still see old, long-abandoned orchards and, on each side of secondary roads,  many volunteer apple trees. These have been planted by the numerous wild animals who feed on the apples, mostly the raccoons and the bears. These "wild" apples have self hybridized and produce fruits that often are not tasty or are woody. However, among the lot, are some delicious ones.

A Bit of Chaos

Summer is poppy time, and our garden includes lots of annual poppies. I like the informality they create by sprouting in all sorts of unexpected places. Just like forget-me-nots in the spring, poppies in summer create a bit of chaos. They soften all edges and bloom generously - too generously all the neat gardeners will say! But they are easy to remove and are difficult to control as the annual poppy is a plant that does not take to regimentation.

Common red poppies

An Iris Grass cannot Crowd out

As gardeners, we tend to think that plants like best to grow in rich loam with no competition from other plants. Of course, this is the ideal setting for many, but not all. A  few years ago I noticed I had some small iris growing and even spreading in the grass just outside the garden proper. I did not know where that iris came from and what it was until last year when a friend identified it for me.