Monday, June 30, 2008

Flowers in My Gardens

Bachelor's Buttons


Fragrant Yellow Lily


Fragrant Purple Iris


Hens and Chicks


.........Flowers need not speak to tell us of their Beauty............


Pink Yarrow


Ladys Mantle


Everblooming Bleeding Heart


Veronica


Perennial Sunflower... just beginning to open...


Columbine


Lovage


Onion Chives


Weigela


Siberian Iris


Spurge


Lilac


Creeping Thyme


Yellow Iris


Wild White Clover


Pink Lady's Slipper



These perennial flowers... and many more... bloomed in my garden and along my paths and walkways during the month of June...

Once established, they come up every year without much coaxing...

Oh... if only it could be summer ... all year long...

.

29 comments:

Sharon said...

Oh Gwen they are all so beautiful! I've never seen such vibrant pink yarrow. Thank you for that!!!

Janice Thomson said...

What a wonderful array of flora!
Your veronica though the same color is much different than mine and our bleeding hearts have come and gone.
Beautiful photos Gwen.

Gillian McMurray said...

I recognise so many of your flowers from my own garden. Many of them are used in herbal medicine too. What you call 'hens and chicks' ('houseleek' is my name for it) is useful for taking the itch out of insect bites. Just rub some of the juice from a leaf and it works great. Beautiful photos.

Marie Alton said...

Gwen...thanks for the beautiful pics! Perennials are my faves too. They certainly pay for themselves over the years...as they can be divided into many plants over time. That is precisely how I created the various beds at the co-op...starter plants multiplied and split have yielded 8 beds.

I love that Lady Slipper...always thought them so exotic.

Anet said...

Lovely tour!
I have tons of the Spurge, it was here when I bought the house. I never knew the name of it! It's really a great plant, I love the neon green flowers against the dark green spiky foliage. It sure spreads though! I don't see it very often in other gardens.
My Chinese Lanterns never took off and I only have one sunflower that took hold! But the squash, pumpkins and tomatoes are doing great.

Cynthia said...

the bleedinghearts, the onion chives, the purple iris, lady's
mantle are my favorite-favorite
out of this lovely testiment to
the spiritual beauty of Mother
Nature, THANK YOU, for sharing
your garden Gwen.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Hey Sharon! I really love the brightness of this yarrow too... Mom was visiting not long ago and she almost pulled it out, before it started blooming, thinking it was a weed.. but I stopped her in time...good thing too as I only have this one Yarrow plant...
....

Hi Anet, yes, Spurge is great and acts like a filler of all the empty places and goes through all these different stages so it is like having many plants all in one...

...the Chinese Lanterns(divisions) I planted last year I had written off and thought they must just be too difficult to grow... I wasn't too particular when I planted them though... just stuck my shovel in the sod and shoved in the roots... It's a wonder they lived at all!! ...I guess they were still developing their roots this spring and even now they are only about 4" tall... didn't help forgetting about them and John going over them with the lawn mower a couple times either... The thing was that I planted them in an area off by themselves so they could have room to spread and we could maintain them by mowing around them... I took a picture of them but they were rather puny and boring to look at so far so I'll post it later with some advanced stages.. I'm so glad they survived... But I have been warned they need to be kept an eye on or they will spread rampantly...Hope they do!!!
....


Thank you, Janice...The blooms on my Veronica are very fleeting.. they are all gone now with the recent rain...
many times I do yearn for a warmer climate, mostly because i believe or hope, it would lengthen the growing season...It seems here in this northern climate, we wait so long for things to happen in the garden and then they burst forth all at once!!!
...


Thanks so much, Gillian, I am so glad to know that our plants grow on the other side of the Atlantic too...
I never knew that about the "houseleeks/hens and chicks" ... That's a handy remedy!!.. So they must have similar qualities as the Aloe Vera.. both being succulents...
...

Hi Marie.. I would love to see the gardens you have created... perennials are great!!! and the more they fill in ... the less weeding too.. I hardly need to weed at all now but some are almost ready to be divided again...

laura said...

Oh my! What a variety you have--and all so beautiful and healthy. Everything in my yard, except the weeds, is just about dead! I'm thinking gravel ... I love you bachelor buttons and bleeding hearts!

denise said...

Wow - lovely. You must have an amazing climate to have all of those growing so lushly at once!

ArtPropelled said...

Even the names are beautiful!

Gwen Buchanan said...

Thanks so much, Laura and Denise, Wish you were here to paint it!!!

we did receive a tremendous amount of snow this year.... deep snow cover.. all winter long.. I think they really liked it..
or maybe it is the fog we receive that gives a little more moisture to the plants... cause our soil is very sandy... and even when it rains the water drains away very quickly... we did supplement the plants when we first planted them with manure, bonemeal, peatmoss and some mushroom compost

...When we made the beds. we dug them about 2 shovel depths deep and placed the sods back in, upside-down in the bottom with layers of cardboard and newspapers on top of them to try to retain the moisture... and filled it up with the good soil mixture.. It is working so far...

...now we are waiting for the July flowers to come into bloom... thank you for coming over!!

Gwen Buchanan said...

Oh, Thank you Robyn, your garden is a inspiration to me!!! with that special feature of the "Monkey tree"!!!

Anet said...

It's Canada Day! I just found out because I had tried to call the Indian Reservation at Walpole Island to check on Caleb's tuition papers and they didn't answer the phone all day. My husband came home and told me because it's Canada Day. So tell me what you do on Canada day?
Fireworks, BBQ's ???
Thanks for being such a wonderful person Gwen and Happy Cananda Day!

Gwen Buchanan said...

Oh Thanks Anet!!! Happy Canada day... 141 years old!!!

beautiful and sunny now... So far John's been working on the old shed/max's to-be-new-camp and I've been doing housework...
But Hopefully if the fog stays out there will be fireworks... and beach bonfires to stroll by tonight... and since I am not a vegetarian... I am really ready to celebrate with a BBQ... been waiting all week...

Hey Anet, you have some Canadian roots.. so good excuse to celebrate!!!

Anet said...

Ooooo! Sounds like a lovely evening ahead! You're right Gwen, Both my Husband and I have Canadian roots! His is Native North American from Walpole Island and mine is French Canadian. Just like the Indians and the fur trappers. We shall celebrate!
Caleb keeps telling me we should move to Canada, he says he's headed there when he's done with school! Oh, you should stop by Noah's blog he wrote you a special story.:)

Ruth said...

I didn't realize Canada Day is so close to our 4th of July! Fireworks all around I guess.

Each and every one of your flowers is one I am personally fond of to, although I don't grow most of them. I have that hot pink yarrow too!

I do wish you could enjoy your summer longer, but it's great to get out and live in it for as long as you can, and I know you do.

Don said...

I heard a Canadian say that if summer falls on a Saturday they go on a picnic and play some ball. It looks like you've got all of my favorites! I saw a moth today that had a body the color of your bachelor buttons. It had carbon black wings, and when it flew, I could see the blue-est blue! Now I have to go and find out what that is.

Gwen Buchanan said...

hey Anet, lots of room up here.. Canada has a lot of empty space... Caleb would probably like it..

Noah wrote a beautiful story.. you have a sweet little fellow there...

....

Don and Ruth, have fun this week at your family retreat...

William Evertson said...

Very beautiful Gwen - your photography is wonderful. I've been so busy, I'm afraid to visit our gardens because I know they need weeding. I'm sure k has my weekend planned out after looking at this post.

Lovethiscottage.blogspot.com said...

Oh, I need to come over and see your ladyslipper! I have never seen any in NB. When I was about 12 growing up in Nova Scotia I was all concerned because they were on the endangered list and people were picking them like daisies... I spent weeks digging them up from populated places and lugging them home to transplant in our 4 acre woods, They bloomed every year for about 20 years before they died out. Ladyslippers and mayflowers are my favorite wildflowers. The heavenly smell of mayflowers sends me right back to childhood in the Nova Scotia woods.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Thank you Bill, I have been starting a new perennial bed and that is where the weeds are the worst.. I was weeding there last evening ...But the established beds mostly take care of themselves...they could probably use some compost though...

Great story, Kathi!! love the childhood memories... oh please come but I can only show you the stem and the withered flower of the ladyslipper as it was taken in earlier June.. I am always surprised what we find in the woods up on the bluff.. not much soil but so much growth!!!

Jazz said...

Wow, what a beautiful garden you have!

Louie In Seattle said...

I thought you said you lived on the East coast of Canada. It looks like you live in Stanley Park, or the Butchart Gardens!

I only have a few roses out front, but they are incredible this year. I'll have to see if I can get some good pictures for you.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Thanks Jazz...I have a hard time to say no when it comes to flowers...

Hey Louie, I'd love to see your Roses!!! Quick, go take some pictures!!!

rivergardenstudio said...

Oh, what wonderful flowers and colors! I especially love the sunflower and the bleeding heart. I have come home to a jungle! How a garden can change in two weeks! Thanks for stopping by, your comments have welcomed me home! Roxanne

Nekonezume/Katie C. said...

Oh my, what a stunning garden you have! Beautiful!

Gwen Buchanan said...

Oh Roxanne you must see such a change in 2 weeks... cause I can see a difference in only one day!!

Thanks Nekonezume, It must be all that Fundy Fog, mist and sunshine!

Arija said...

Just discovered your lovely blog. Am green with envy and long for a cold climate garden.I live in arid South Australia but my heart longs for Canada or the Austrian alps.Due to an ufortunate heart condition flying is out so I can't pick any more wild strawberries and must content myself with soaking up blogs like yours.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Hi Arija,
So happy you came over for a visit... I have a scared-to-death thing for flying so I am pretty stuck in my part of the world too... unless I sprout wings and can control the whole journey with a tilt of my tail... I'm sorry you can't fly due to your heart condition though.

But it is so great to make contact with each other through our blogs.. its a wonder isn't it?

I have such a love of gardens and your rose garden is so gorgeous.. I would so love a leisurely, lingering stroll through it...

My daughter, Shannon, lived in Australia for a yr and a half, a few years ago.. she was near Adelaide, then into the interior at an isolated mining area in the desert... she almost melted one summer at 45 degrees C... something we northerners have never experienced... She was mesmerized by the beauty of it though and sent many other-worldly photos back to us..

So fine to meet you!!