A frequent design conundrum for gardeners with a small space is how to create privacy without resorting to a fortress of wooden fencing. A few well-placed columnar trees can create a lovely green screen to block an unattractive view or muffle the sounds of car and pedestrian traffic.
Garden Newsletter
Baptisias, take a bow
The three clumps of baptisia in our front garden are peaking right now and will soon need to be thinned out in order for us to have a safe view of the street when backing out the car. That’s the ultimate size of a happy, healthy baptisia at maturity: mammoth.
Caring for columbines
Columbines (Aqueligia species and hybrids) are an old-fashioned cottage garden perennial, happy to weave here and there among more substantial companions, such as peonies, roses and daylilies.
Container plants filling in
Most of the containers I planted three weeks ago are filling in now that the weather is consistently warm. I like to try a new colour scheme every year, depending on plant availability.
June is for roses
Sadly, there are fewer roses in my garden every year, casualties of encroaching shade from maturing trees and persistent Japanese beetle invasions. But the half dozen that remain are coddled along, because I can’t imagine a garden without a rose or two or more.
Fetching spring vetchling
Pass-along plants, the term to describe plants we share with other gardeners, are examples of a gardener’s generosity. Spring vetchling (Lathyrus vernus), sometimes called everlasting pea, is one example of a pass-along plant that has been blooming for several weeks this spring.
Kicking off with containers
The start of a new gardening season is different for everyone. For me, it’s when all the containers are placed around the porch and patio, filled with fresh potting soil, and waiting for the trays of bedding plants to be upended and arranged into — what is hoped — a pleasing picture.
Small, but not shy, irises
Short bearded irises have all the advantages of tall bearded iris (beautiful blooms, often bicoloured and intricate), but none of their minuses (tall, gangly stalks and leaves). I grow about a half dozen cultivars that have gradually increased over the years.
How to plan and plant a perennial border
If one of your Big Projects this year is planting a new perennial border, that’s terrific. There are perennials for any site, no matter the soil, the sun or the hardiness zone.
Pink wands of early spirea
Spireas are generally bulletproof shrubs, easily found at most garden centres. Many of us are familiar with the ubiquitous bridal wreath variety (Spiraea x vanhouttei), blooming in early June. New cultivars of Japanese spirea (S. japonica) are popular, too.
Planning this year’s lawn care
Certainly, a string of warmer days would mean that serious garden cleanup could commence and that warm-weather flowers and edibles could be seeded or transplanted. However, for now, the cool days give me time to strategize.
Enjoy a virtual tour of famous gardens
Visits to public gardens won’t possible for several weeks because of closures due to the pandemic, but some gardens have created special virtual tours to help us keep in touch with these beautiful treasures. We take inspiration from them, discover new plants and techniques, and enjoy the camaraderie of being with like-minded friends who might be with us.
Hello, hardy hellebores
Wide ribbons of rosy-coloured hellebores are weaving through our shady border as the crocus and snowdrops recede. Now that I’ve pruned back most of last year’s spent leaves, their nodding flowers on strong stems can be better appreciated.
Social distancing in the garden
While we are all keeping our social distance from one another, the insects in our gardens are not. I find bees clustered around open crocus and hellebore blooms, whooping it up, taunting me with their cozy, friendly gatherings. I’m glad they’re having a good time.
A boost for vegetable gardening
Now is a good time to revisit the concept of Victory Gardens, the vegetable plots planted in Canada during the Second World War to provide fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as demonstrate patriotism and solidarity. We could do with some solidarity.
Spring blooms on the march
Thank goodness for spring. Daily walks through our garden reveal new flowers, new buds, new growth. It’s too early to clear away protective mulches and start digging in most parts of Canada, but it’s the perfect time to relish nature’s beauty as it unfolds.
Advice on pruning hydrangeas
Even experienced gardeners may hesitate before picking up secateurs to prune their hydrangeas. Some types are pruned now, some later, some rarely — which is which?
Celebrating snowdrops
Snowdrops are rather demure and unassuming flowers — simple white, downward-facing blooms on short stems. No fragrance, no vivid colours, no dramatic foliage. However, they’re always greeted with fanfare when they appear in our gardens in late winter, simply because they’re usually the first flowers we have.
Seedy Saturdays Make a Fun Family Outing
In Beckie Fox’s weekly garden newsletter, she highlights Seedy Saturdays as a fun family outing experience. Also: This is the time of year when certain willows are harvested for branches to be used to weave baskets, fences, hedges, screens or “live” willow structures.
Caring for potted miniature roses
A potted miniature rose with red-and-white striped flowers is in a sunny spot in the house, and the buds are opening slowly, which means we should have a few weeks of colour before moving it to a less conspicuous spot to rest until it’s warm enough to place outdoors. Miniature roses are sturdier than they look, and make wonderful container plants.