July Begets Hydrangeas and Hosta Blooms

Hi there everyone!   It's official...we are moving.  We just got word yesterday morning that our house sold.  Possession dates are yet to be determined for the new owners and for our new home. Though good byes are sure to be tearful, our new home offers opportunity aplenty for this gardener.  There is a lot of landscaping to do...tearing out poorly planned deckside plantings, removal of a couple dead trees, and ultimately a complete makeover of the front and back yards.  Photos will come later, I promise.  In the meantime, lets take a walk around my current back garden while I psych myself up for the good-byes.

 The juxtaposition of Summer Wine Ninebark and Pink Diamond Hydrangea offers a pleasing contrast of colour and foliage.  

 This has been our favourite feature in the garden!!  Our son M installed it a few years ago and we still love to sit by the fire pit and enjoy the gentle tumble of water over rocks.  This will be missed the most!

 Pink Diamond Hydrangea  -  how I will miss you!  Just as you are coming in to your own, bushing out and blooming your heart out, I will be leaving you behind.  Hopefully the new owners are gardeners!

 Hostas at the side of the house have grown enormous!  Apparently this is the perfect area for them!

 This amur maple seeded itself so I potted it up.  I am still undecided as to whether it will go with me to the new house or not.

 Big leaf hydrangeas such as Endless Summer (above) tend to wilt in the heat of the afternoon sun, even as far north as we are.  And still no blooms!!  

 This planter will be situated on the front deck at the new house.  The nice thing is, the Karl Foerster grass planted here is perennial and it will be planted into the new yard at summer's end.

Memories....light the corners of my mind......

Sun on the Horizon

After a week of snowfall, with 35 cm the previous weekend and more every day since, adding up to 99 cm (almost a metre) of snow in a week, we are all looking forward to sun with great anticipation!  The forecast calls for highs in the low negative digits, which will make a mess out of our snow congested roadways, but I think not many will complain. 

In the meantime, how about a tour of my winter garden.

 I went around the side of the house to take these photos which meant trudging through snow that was half-way up my thigh.  All these photos were taken mid-week last week and there's been more flurries since.  Above is a weeping juniper, Tolleson's.  These are quite pretty when encrusted in hoar frost.  Each dangling strand of the evergreen foliage covered in white glistening frost. 

 Above, a close-up of the dangling samaras of the Amur Maple.  They too have a bit of snow and hoar frost on them.

 Above, a look at a white pine, up close and personal.

 Cedars are weighed down with mounds of snow beside our deck.  I am so glad we planted these.  They are going to be great for privacy though they grow only a modest 6 or so inches a year.

 A view from the other side of the house.  Above you can see a dried flower from Hydrangea Pink Diamond.  To the side are three cedars and directly in front, in the photo, is the Amur Maple.  In the background you can see the other Tolleson's Weeping Juniper.  I just love this juniper for its unique growth habit.  It is a great focal point in the winter garden when the leaves from the nearby maples have fallen and it stands alone, in full glory, a contrast to the stark white drifts of snow.

 Above and below are two photos of Dwarf Alberta Spruce.  I have three of these in my yard, two in the back garden and one in front.  Because one of the spruce in the back is not very sheltered it has browned a bit over the years.  I am considering removing it altogether.  That means more planting!!  See what I mean about winter being the time for gardening enthusiasts to analyze and plan their garden?

 The above photo shows the hoar frost that delicately coats the needles of the Dwarf Alberta Spruce.

The above photo was taken through my bedroom window, thus the screen effect in the foreground.  This is the far back corner in the garden where a mountain ash stands as an attraction to birds.  We had a visit on Sunday from hundreds of cedar waxwings who love mountain ash berries.  But that is another post, coming soon.  In the foreground is an Alberta Spruce, behind it a topiaried white pine, and, almost buried beyond recognition, another Alberta Spruce.  Left of it is one of my favourite shrubs ever, a Galahad Mock Orange.  I have featured this shrub as part of my "Spotlight on" series.  Its branches are a reddish-brown and stand out in the landscape as does the bark of the mountain ash.

 Here, under the amur maple, sits another topiaried white pine.  The snow here is close to three feet deep.

Last, but not least, is a close-up of the berries of the mountain ash.   This is a European mountain ash.  I learned this second hand from a professor at Olds College who taught that European mountain ash leaves come out in spring in a bud that is rather hairy, before fully emerging.  Yes, that's this tree alright!  Somewhat messy as it drops some of its berries, I don't regret planting it because it is such a feature in the winter garden.  It makes a nice, somewhat dappled shade in the summer and the bark is a gorgeous red-brown.  The birds love it too.

Hope all is warm and sheltered where you are.  If you see the sun, send it our way, won't you?

Fertilizer Friday Flaunt - Stages of Pink

Pink Diamond Hydrangea.  It`s the only hydrangea, of which I have two, that is blooming this year.  The Endless Summer certainly isn`t enjoying an endless summer of blossoms.  Nothing this year at all.  So, can you blame me for touting the beauty of this one that performs without fail in zone 3?

Endless Summer Hydrangea with not a bud in sight!

Thanks to Tootsie Time for hosting Fertilizer Friday.  Here's her linkie: http://www.tootsietime.com/

I'm in Love: Pink Diamond Hydrangea

Hydrangea paniculata 'Pink Diamond'

As the panicle flower of the Pink Diamond Hydrangea matures, it takes on hues of pink and dusty rose.  I expect that will happen here the end of August or beginning of September.  Here's a photo of mature blooms taken last year.

 

This photo was taken during the late evening.  When I first saw this hydrangea come into the greenhouse, I was in love.  There's a romantic essence to hydrangeas, especially paniculatas and lace-capped.  Though, I'm sure, many will say the mopheads rival my favorites for romanticism.

http://bing.search.sympatico.ca/?q=Pink%20Diamond%20Hydrangea&mkt=en-ca&setLang=en-CA