Garden Tour - Larkwhistle

About a month ago I did a gardening talk for one of the senior's groups in town. When I found out they were going on a garden tour to Larkwhistle I begged to be allowed to go as well. Since they had room on the bus, I got to go. Larkwhistle is owned by Patrick Lima and John Scanlan. I have wanted to go there for many years. If you like gardening look for their book The Art of Perennial Gardening - it is very inspiring. I took a record number of pictures. Here are a few.

An opium poppy

A yellow flower.
A close up of spiny sea holly

Two different kinds of hybrid mullein. They are a relative of those tall yellow weeds common in southern Ontario but these ones are much prettier and don't spread.

Keep going - there are two more posts.

They also had vegetables. Look at these huge cabbages. They are colder than us yet the vegetables are way ahead.

This peony is stunning but I don't know the name of it.

I love the ponds. They are really holding tanks to water the gardens. Note the watering can. The top pond is the only one with fish. There are frogs in the picture too. Can you find them?

Many of the perennials are very tall. You can see the monkshood (blue flower in the back) and mullein in the foreground are at least 6 feet.

A foxtail lily.

This is the first time I have seen Jerusalem Sage.

The flowers look like little bananas.

We went to another garden as well. More pictures to come soon.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

For the first time! Can you believe it? I played baseball in school and with church and work, but I have never watched a real live pro baseball game.

My parents bought 20 tickets and pretty much the whole family went (except my dad who hurt his leg and wasn't up to the walking). We watched the Blue Jays play the Yankees. Appropriate since my sister and her family live in New York. The Yankees won but they deserved it. We were up in the nosebleeds as you can see but still enjoyed it. I am not going to buy season tickets but it was fun. But loud, way too loud.

And on the way home we were reminded why we go to Toronto so rarely. Too crowded. Too much traffic. We are not city people. Though I do enjoy people watching on the subway.

Last night we went to the drive in for the first time this season. So it has been a busy weekend. Off to bed now.

Cool or what?

I saw this swan today when I was working on a riverside garden. A bonus of being a gardener is all the plant and animal discoveries you make. But usually they are terrestrial.

I texted Kevin and told him. He replied "way kool".

I texted Caitlin and she replied "cool".

When I got home from work I told Connor. Can you guess what he said?

Yup - "cool". Apparently my family only knows one adjective.