Happy Monday GPODers!
First, I want to say a huge thank you for all the kind words I got from Friday’s post. The GPOD community continues to blow me away with your kindness and support, something so rare on the Internet these days. I ask that we now turn and extend our support to a frequent contributor who is saying goodbye to her garden after 20 years.
If you’ve been following Garden Photo of the Day, you’ve seen Alice Fleurkens’ gardens in Sweaburg, Ontario. If you need a refresher, here are just a small sample of Alice’s submissions: Spring in Alice’s Ontario Garden, Summer in Ontario, September in Alice’s Garden, Good Friends Make a Great Garden, and Alice’s Front Garden in Canada. There is so much to note from Alice’s space, from her fabulous front beds and foundation plantings to her attention-grabbing tulips that have become a staple of spring on this blog. Alice is moving on from these gardens and I’m sure she will create beauty with plants wherever she goes, but I can only imagine how difficult it is to say goodbye to this gorgeous labor of love.
To all my fellow gardeners. We are selling the house that we have lived in for 20 years, so this is goodbye to our much loved gardens. It has been a labour of love and the neighbourhood has given us a lot of compliments on these gardens.
Persicaria, I hope I spelled that right (you did!), is such a wonderful plant. There is lavender, which right now is flowering again because I trim it down after flowering the first time, same with the spirea, which is actually just as nice for the leaves as the flowers.
Just a few marigolds and a mum that I bought in a pot and planted after flowering. I cut off the dead flowers and watered well after planting and it lived. A friend gave me the Japanese blood grass (Imperata cylindrica, Zones 5–9), it is only a year old so still quite small.
Annual blue Salvia, is one of my favourite flowers. They don’t do much in the summer but in the fall are so nice.
Here are some more mums I planted. The tall dead looking thing is a clematis, the dusty miller (Jacobaea maritima syn. Senecio cineraria, Zones 7–10 or as an annual) is there from last year. I leave them and they look so pretty the second year. If they survive another year they may get pretty yellow flowers, but I won’t be living here to see it.
The striped cannas (Canna indica ‘Phasion’, Zones 7–11) seem to be a bit less susceptible to Asian beetle damage. These did not get real big but got beautiful orange flowers and I like them.
I had to re-do a large part of this garden because the septic tank was underneath it and there was a lot of digging to get to the lids, so it is not in it’s full glory yet. Now we have risers so the digging is no longer required.
So these plants are not quite mature but they are getting there. In the back ground is a bird bath I cobbled together from different glass items I liked. I love the colour of the heuchera (maybe Marmalade heuchera [Heuchera ‘Marmalade’, Zones 4–9]?) , that a friend gave me.
A garden mum from Costco. I won’t be planting it this year, maybe one of my friends will plant it.
The garden around the new septic risers. The small grasses beside the blue fescue (Festuca glauca, Zones 4–11) are little bunny fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Little Bunny’, Zones 4–9), I particularly love those, and I was give a piece friendly neighbour down the street, and have split this many times so they are all quite small, but they are so pretty when mature.
The front entrance to our house I will miss that view so much.
Thankfully, we’ll be back with Alice tomorrow to see more of her gardens and get one last look at her lovely space as she says goodbye.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!
Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here.
Fine Gardening Recommended Products
Black and Decker 22-inch Cordless Hedge Trimmer
Quick and easy to put into operation and is less noisy and lighter in weight than gas-powered hedge trimmers.
– 38 x 7 x 7 inches
– 6.9 pounds
– 1 Lithium Ion battery required (included)
Rain Bird PATIOKIT Drip Irrigation Patio Watering Kit
– Complete 42-piece drip irrigation kit eliminates watering by hand
– Provides drip irrigation for up to 6 planters
– Easy to assemble: just attach to faucet, cut tubing and connect watering devices
– Attaches easily to your outdoor faucet or hose
Morvat Heavy Duty Brass Y-Valve
– Instantly create two tap outlets with this ultra-durable Y hose splitter. The dual-valve design features built-in shut-off valves.
– Fitted with US Standard NH 3/4″ threads for use with most water source fittings
– Screw the 2 way splitter adapter by hand or wrench with the updated hexagonal top connection. The 360° rotatable swivel connection attaches to any water source.
