Balcony Garden – Blooming This Week
July 4, 2011 – 10:10 amThe strawberries are still blooming on the balcony this week and alpine strawberries are in full flower in the Rockies too.
Siding Gardening
June 21, 2011 – 1:45 amSpotted.
CN’s cross-county travelling platform demonstration gardens. Watch for them in your city this summer.
Blooming This Week – Reader Rock Awakens Part 2
May 23, 2011 – 10:00 amI’ve photographed this rock garden perennial before – Spring Adonis, Adonis vernalis. It’s about 15 cm (6 inches) high and its showy, lemon yellow flowers pop out on top of a mound of dense, feathery leaves. You can’t miss it in the lower rockery.
Marsh Marigold, Caltha palustris ‘Flore Pleno’ has darker, cadmium yellow flowers that are just as showy. It’s about the same size – 15 cm (6 inches) high, but needs to be in the sun and ideally beside a little stream or bog – the soil has to be moist for this one to thrive. It’s in flower right now at Reader Rock, even though there isn’t any water running in the stream yet. This is a double flower variety, I had the single flower variety on the balcony in a pond last year.
Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense is found in close proximity to the Marsh Marigolds as it likes a moist, well drained and slightly acidic soil. It is a low growing (10 cm, 4 inches high), woodland plant, so it likes the shade. From above, the plant’s 5-7.5 cm (2-3 inch) heart shaped leaves form a dense, velvety green ground cover. But you won’t be able to see the flowers.
You have to literally hit the ground to see the blooms of wild ginger, as they are just above the soil. When you get your nose down there you’ll find a maroon bowl shaped flower at the base of the fuzzy stems.
Now this isn’t culinary ginger. In fact Health Canada has a warning out on this plant because it contains aristolochic acid, a naturally occurring toxin that can cause cancer and kidney failure. Not quite what you want to grow to harvest for your favourite stir fry. But it’s a nice ground cover if you have the right growing conditions.
And last but not least, the first poppy to flower this year at Reader Rock is this bright orange Iceland poppy. Simply beautiful.
Blooming This Week – Reader Rock Awakens
May 16, 2011 – 10:00 amNot much blooming on the balcony this week as it’s cold and windy and frankly not that great of a place to hang out. But the rockeries at Reader Rock Historic Garden are finally out from under their snow and ice cover and are starting to bloom. Both early spring perennials and alpines are in flower and there are also beautiful drifts of spring bulbs.
Hepatica transsilvanica has been planted throughout the garden, typically is dappled shade areas. This plant guarantees a showy spring display – a soft mauve, round lobed flower that is nice and low to the ground. And although not clear in the photos, the foliage is heart-shaped with a smooth dark green surface on top with a hairy underside. At Reader Rock, this pretty little plant is sometimes planted near Squill – a nice combination.
If you visit Rundle Wood Gardens nursery you can be the proud owner of this plant and also get to see Rodney’s lovely collection of Hepatica. I bought this plant last year but unfortunately it didn’t make it through the winter in the troughs. And I had such high hopes. But one try isn’t enough, so I’ll pick up another one and plant it in a larger trough this year and see if I have better luck.
At this time of year the flowers of Primula can be just as seductive as Hepatica for us bloom-starved prairie gardeners. At Reader Rock Primula elatior is in bloom.You’ll find it in the garden in shady spots as well as in the sun along the pathways. It has a pale, creamy yellow flower and dark green textured foliage. It’s a beaut.
If you visit Reader Rock, look for the What’s Blooming panels in the garden – they’ll help you ID the flowers you see and help you discover blooms that you might overlook or miss as you wander the pathways. But a flower that can’t be overlooked is Squill. Two different varieties are in bloom. The showy blue Siberian Squill is planted in large drifts in the lower part of the garden.
You’ll have to look a little harder for Striped Squill, Puschkinia scilloides var. libabotica in the garden. It’s the complete opposite to the showy Siberian, that demands attention with it’s strong blue, nodding flower. The Striped Squill’s more upright, cool white flower is delicately marked with pale porcelain blue lines. Good foliage too. I think I’ll plant Squill in the troughs this fall and see if they make it to spring – worth a try don’t you think?
