Scattered days, thoughts, showers

Proof positive there is a big difference between gardeners and those who merely appreciate and support gardening.  Look how Kevin doesn't even lift his eyes to observe the package of new plants that arrived on Monday before 8:00 a.m.

I am beyond excitement at this point - look at the wonderfully packaged 8 new plants from Garden Import.

Ta Da! 

Look how happy they are to have joined my garden family.  Included in the Beta test are 2 Clethra 'Vanilla Spice'(TM)  (extra large flowers, yellow fall colour grows 1-2M); 2 Double Play (R) Big Bang Spirea 60 - 100cm, orange foliage in spring changes to yellow, pink flowers; 2 Exochorda 'Snow Day (TM) Surprise  (new and improved pearl bush 100-125cm; and 2 Candy Oh(TM) Vivid Red landscape roses (perpetual bloom, easy care and disease resistant 100-125cm).

Next challenge is finding a dry day to plant them.

On a completely different note

 

I've been playing around with some of the things I learned at the photo workshop I took with Therese Forte - one of the things she talked about was the magic hour(s) - the hour before sunset and the hour after sunrise.  I'm more apt to grab my camera first thing in the a.m. rather than in the evening after supper, so this past week I've made an effort to see what I could find at 8:00 p.m. or so.  Think the rendition of reds is a little more accurate - and certainly there is less black velvet effect.

Mr. Loblaws will thank me for this well positioned (try/try again) plant tag.  This is as close to the actual colour of this Heuchera ' Georgia Peach' that I've been able to capture.

Hardly an award winner, but again, gives good definition and colour compared to other shots I've taken earlier in the day.

OK maybe a little contrasty, but very close to the red of its blooms.

H. montana macrophylla - it has never bloomed so well.  It is standing well above my hip.

Again, maybe a little too contrasty, but gives me a good representation of what it looked like this year.

The Symphyandra hoffmanii is starting to bloom.  If you haven't tried this lovely perennial/biennial, I'd encourage you to do so.  It blooms its little head off from now until the end of the summer.  It is dead easy from seed as well - oh, and it takes full shade and full sun and can handle drought beautifully.

Here's my Hydrangea heteromalla going all Exorcist on me - I didn't realize it flipped its fancy pants part of its flower upside down.

One of the very cool things about this summer and being so far ahead of schedule is that many plants are blooming before the pests can get to them.  I'd ripped out a fair bit of this Inula because it was always being destroyed - alas, this year it is perfect, uneaten and wonderful - and looks just the way it said it would be in the Gardens North catalogue.

Anyway, one bit of sad news, we've lost one of the old grandfather trees in our neighbourhood.  I wish it hadn't been taken down.  The last 100 year old tree removed two doors down caused all sorts of problems for the other large neighbourhood trees - 5 died and had to be removed.  Kevin and I have a huge Ash - the Beech and the Ash branches formed the most magnificent canopy.  Now that its other half is gone, I'm very concerned that its potential infestation to Emerald Ash Borer will be hastened as it goes into stress without its neighbour.  In this neck of the woods, trees are considered property of the owner and they have the right to do what they will with them.  No doubt the new garage will be a thing of beauty.  Haunted the nurseries for a good part of the day yesterday, couldn't stand to listen to the sounds of the saws, looking for something that might block that view.  Found a beautiful Cercidiphyllum japonica pendula - Dirr says it can grow 40 feet wide.  Wonder if it might just be the answer?