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.

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?

My Favourite Car - Part 2

You have been very patient waiting for Part 2 - there was a reason you had to wait. My favourite vehicle is my 2004 Dodge Ram. My registration calls the colour red (?) but Chrysler calls it Molten Lava Red. There are lots of reasons I am fond of my truck. Six people can fit in it very comfortably. It is a working vehicle - I use it to haul tools and garden debris 5 days a week. So it has lots of scratches. It is my office too. I often do paperwork in it. I love all the storage under the seats and in the fold down centre seat armrest (which also serves as my desk). All those hiding spots mean my kleenex and wipes (necessary before lunch after a morning of playing in dirt), pens, sunglasses, phone charger, gardening gloves, small tools, sunscreen, bug spray etc all have a home.

I don't like the gas mileage but it is not our primary vehicle. I don't put on a lot of miles driving in our little town. It sucks in snow unless I - well Connor actually - puts lots of sandbags in the bed. It has 20 inch tires (most trucks have 16 or 17 inch). They are not common and therefore more expensive. I bought winter tires in the fall of 2008 and all season tires this spring. They were $1000 a set. Thanks to those expensive tires I use next to no windshield fluid as my windshield is higher than most other vehicles on the road. Does that make up for the extra gas?

Even when I am not working the truck is. It hauls Connor's bike (and usually his friend's bikes) places. It is so much easier than putting on the bike rack. It takes Connor (and friends) snowboarding. I am happy the wet snowboard goes in the bed. It helps people move and drives kids to college. It has made many trips to the dump with construction debris. And it is useful for jumping into snowbanks and holding onto when learning how to unicycle.

Today was a special day for my truck. As I pulled up to Connor's work the odometer hit 99,999 km. On the way home it hit this milestone (ignore the dust remember it is a working vehicle)

and it is now sitting in the driveway showing this:

It is a bittersweet day - I feel I should buy a cake and celebrate. It has been a great vehicle - the only work has been brakes and oil changes but the clock is ticking towards bigger repairs. And she has a little rust spot at the bottom of the tailgate. Sob.

Each of our other vehicles had a purpose and when we sold or outgrew it it was gone without a second thought (except for the Cutlass Ciera - I missed that one). I think this is the first vehicle I would be happy to own again. Though I hope that is many years away.