Sprouts

For Christmas I received this from Alec. And just what is it?

It is amazing.

It is so simple.

And so healthy.

It is a Biosta sprouter.

You simply put the seeds in a tray and water them once or twice a day. The little red siphon pumps move the water to the bottom tray where you discard it next time you need to water it. There are many kinds of seeds available. Shown below are Crunchy Bean Mix and Alfalfa seeds.


Several days later the sprouts are ready!

In the last two weeks we have had sprouts on sandwiches and salads. The Crunchy Bean Mix was a delicious addition to spinach salad. These ones are destined to be added to rice. Yummy. The possibilities are endless.

And I get a gardening fix in the winter.

Garden Tour - Keppel Croft

After visiting Larkwhistle we had a lovely buffet lunch at the historic Wiarton Inn. Yummy!

Then we headed to the second garden. It is in the rocky Keppel township - hence the name. This is a Wollen Pine. An ancient tree only recently rediscovered in Australia. It was the first time I had seen one.

Red hot poker blooms. The stems couldn't support the blooms so it looks like they are growing out of the rocks. Keppel Croft is situated on an old gravel pit and they have made good use of all the stones they dig up as they plant. They use them as mulch, paths and various other projects.

I have no idea how they did this.

A snake in the biggest pond. The pond was filled with minnows and bullfrog tadpoles. I think this is a very happy snake.

And that is it for the living things.

This garden puts huge emphasis on hardscaping or Art Installations. They really are the highlight of the gardens. The paths are well constructed and laid out and lead you to many surprises as you will see if you scroll down.

Two shots of the dry river bed. I love dry river beds.

These two projects were intense. They involved daily marking of the sun, even in the winter!

A close up of the henge - their millenium project.

And the analemmatic sundial. Each stone has a number on it from one to 12. If you stand on the month with your back to the sun, your shadow marks the time. It was about 3:30 when we were there.

A stork and it's nest.
And me.

I loved this family! I do not feel very creative after seeing this place.
This nest was at their feet.

An elegant spot to enjoy your picnic.

I just liked the colour contrast of all their bedding blowing in the breeze.

And last, but certainly not least, the "splendid" outhouse. That is what they call it. It is a composting toilet and when you were inside it was just like being in an old cottage bathroom with linoleum and wooden walls, compete with pictures. It truly was splendid - totally unexpected when you open the door.

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.

The smells of spring

It has been so hot the last few days that it feels more like summer but nonetheless these are the smells of spring. Most people plant gardens for appearance but I love to plant for fragrance too. The plants are even more fragrant at night when it is too dark to see what they look like so it is double the enjoyment. Obviously the smell most people associate with spring and gardens are lilacs so we will start with that. See how many blooms you get if you prune your lilac after the flowers die? And if it looks good, think of how good it smells!
Obviously the best place to plant fragrant plants is where you will smell them often so this Northern Lights Azalea is right outside my front door.
This is the only "orange" plant in my garden because I am not a big fan of orange but I love the subtle shades.
And last (but it blooms first) is a close up of my Burkwood Viburnum. It is about 8 feet from the front door. It smells heavenly. Not a perfumey overpowering smell just really, really good.
What is your favourite smell of spring?

More of what is Blooming

The picture is not the best but this is Gaura.  It is trouble free, drought resistant and  has a long bloom time but despite that is not very common.  It takes over the spotlight in this garden when the irises, spireas and lilies are done their  yearly blaze of colour.  It is planted in the centre of the garden so you don't see it until it is ready to burst into a cloud of blooms that dance in the breeze.  This variety is called ""Whirling Butterflies" and that is what it looks like.  The second picture is a close up of one bloom.

I am not a big fan of annuals.  Yes they provide colour all summer but they are pricey and often need more watering and deadheading.  I can guarantee you that you will not find a geranium in my garden.  Below is one of the few annuals I like.  It is Victoria Blue Salvia.  It is not up to it's usual showiness this summer but normally is covered in blue blooms all summer.