Day Lilies!

Our day lilies have finally started blooming, bringing another burst of colour to the garden.  Day lilies are exactly what the name implies, they bloom for one day at a time, and then wilt.  Mature plants will have numerous buds though, so the blooms can continue for a week or two steadily.  You'll see a lot of these in the next week or two!

This is the first of the Day Lilies, a single bloom quite low among the leaves, but it marks the beginning.

The very next day this red one added to the colour.

And then our favourite, 'Saugeen Sunrise', a beautiful two-tone orange bloom (the only one of all these that we remember the name for - there are hundreds of different named varieties).

Then the dam burst and numerous blooms emerged at once.

The blooms are often mixed together so it's hard to get a good picture.

Another of the 'Saugeen Sunrise', shot from our living room window.  In getting all these photos I'm limited to that window, or to the patio, but the blooms may face any direction, and I'm limited to the direction I can aim the camera at.

In spite of all that I think I got some beautiful photos, largely because of the colour of the Day Lilies themselves.

Canada Day in Meaford

I always enjoy heading downtown for the Classic Car Show on Canada Day.  I know nothing about old cars, but every year I might learn a little!  And I can at least admire the  work that went in to restoring these!  Modern cars are part of these shows too now, but I don't know what rules they have to say who is out and who is in.

The town decorates the Trowbridge Street bridge, and many festivities go on on the far side, but that requires crossing a rough gravel parking lot, so I stick with the classic car show on this side.

The paint job on this old truck was remarkable.

I liked the colour of this paint job.

This was nice too.

This is a 1933 Buick.

The day before there had been a car show over at the Long Term Care home, but it was just breaking up as I got there so I only had time to grab a couple of photos.

I was surprised to see this actual old Meaford fire truck.

Across the water down at the harbour Canada Day didn't interrupt the sailing school

One young sailor was far in front of the others.

But these two were catching up quickly, all of them headed out to the bay.

More Clematis in Bloom

 We seem to have a lot of Clematis plants, ranging from white to deep purple.  They are nearly all coming into bloom right now!

The big one is growing up the outside of our shed.  It's at least two plants and maybe four.

It started out with white and red in more or less equal proportions, but now the white dominates completely and you have to look hard to see a few of the red blooms!

On the side of the garage we have two purple Clematis, growing up trellises.

Finally we have the tiny white Clematis with its small blooms. but vigorous growing habit.  Soon it will be covered in a white spray of tiny flowers!

And I wish my American readers a happy July 4th!

More Garden Flowers

 The are lots of other garden flowers coming into bloom these days, so here are the current crop of colourful blooms!

The Coriopsis forms a very bright patch directly out the living room window/

The red rose suddenly has a surprising number of blooms.

The yellow rose too is blooming like mad!

These blooms form a beautiful cluster.

We have several clusters of the bright red Maltese Cross.

Our two big clumps of Lavender are coming quickly into bloom.

And finally the Day Lilies are looking like they will bloom soon.

Happy Canada DaY!

 Happy Canada Day!

Petrel Point III - Finding the Orchids

We followed the boardwalk further, and eventually found some orchids.  I think the carnivorous plants are the most fascinating, but I think for most visitors it's these orchids that are the highlibht.

These are the Showy Ladyslipper, and they are beautiful!  

You can sometimes find them growing right in the ditch.  Staying on the boardwalk does limit the view of the flowers you can get.

After we got back to the car we drove down the road a bit and saw these bright red Indian Paintbrush.

And as we left we saw this distant Grass Pink, another orchid.

And here's your friendly narrator!

Petrel Point Part II - Following the Boardwalk

 The boardwalk provided a chance to see all kinds of plants as we worked our way through the nature reserve.  There are actually two other adjoining properties that Ontario Nature owns, but the boardwalk only goes through the original property, purchased in 1962.  That's when I first visited, as a 14 year old.

We followed the boardwalk pas the Pitcher Plants, to see what else we could find in mid-June.

Besides the open fen habitat there were small 'islands' of old Cedar trees here and there.   Changing water tables must have a big effect on the plants here.

The next rare plant we found was the Tall White Bog Orchid, a spike of white in the fen.

A close-up view of the tiny blossoms.

There was Cotton Grass blowing in the breeze.  Getting a clear picture while the plant was being blown back and forth in the wind was a challenge!

Ragwort is pentiful, even though it's an invasive species.  The dots of yellow across the fen could fool you if you don't know your plants!

And the Cedar trees struggle on in this harsh environment.  

The fens on the west shore of the Saugeen Peninsula get their unique assemblage of plants due to the seepage of cold nutrient-rich groundwater across the sand.  It's the combination of nutrients from the limestone further east and the nutrient-poor sand that provides the unique habitat.