Peonies and Poppies

 I can't get over how much I'm enjoying just sitting out in our garden watching the Peonies.  They seem to have been more colourful and lasted longer than in past years.  But all things in the garden must move on, and as the Peonies fade the Poppies are unfolding their striking orange blooms.

This has been the view from the deck recently, 

.... and this the view from the patio as I ride past.

The deep coral ones are beautiful!

But the deep red ones are really striking!

And then there are the Poppies, so bright!

The orange blossoms stand out so much in the morning sunshine!

Meanwhile it was a rainy day here, everything douesed!

Does anyone know how to get rid of 'Live View' on an iphone?  That camera setting is really distracting!  I haven't found a single situation in which I'd like to keep it!  This is just one of several 'Live View' shots.  I can turn it off, but later it will come right back of its own accord.  Any way to get rid of it permanently?

And Yet More Garden Stuff

Here are some more pix from around the garden, just miscellaneous stuff I have photos of and wanted to share.  They may give you more of a taste of what this place is like.

I'm afraid the second large Sugar Maple (on the right) out on the golf course has died.  It's not completely gone yet, but I don't think there's any coming back from this.  Two years ago it was as luxuriantly green as the other big maple to its left.  I expect that this fall we will see it cut down.

Right within our own garden we have a tiny tree, a Japanese Maple know for its red foliage.  It has adopted a horizontal growth form, but we don't know how large it will get.

I also spotted a pot of Pansies tucked back beneath some taller plants at the back of the garden.  Pansies are one of the spring flowers here, but suffer from summer heat, so I expect Mrs. F.G. put them back there to protect them.  They may bloom again in the fall.

The towers that were put u p and planted a few weeks ago are already cascading with plants.  They provide a place where Mrs. F.G. can experiment with plants that otherwise have no space.

I'm still astonished at the colour of our Peonies.  With our lack of heavy rain which beats Peonies down, and our lack of any heat wave (!) they are lasting longer than usual.  I think the colour comes out even batter on cloudy days.

Out freont we have our little patriotic display, a small but important statement we wanted to make.

And in 'scenes from a life in a wheelchair' we have a bask in my wall where I ran into the wall with my footplates!

More Garden Stuff

 I tend to collect a miscellany of photos when I ride around in the morning, so here they are.  More will show up in the coming days.

We benefit from our view of the golf course, but this summer our neighbours have also provided some nice plants for us.  On the one side they have planted a white Lilac, which is blooming nicely.

The Lilac photo overlaps with a nice Spirea behind it.  They won't see either of these this year as they're away on a long trip.

On the other side  the tiny Lilac they planted has taken seven years to warm up, but this spring it has exploded, giving us beautiful pink blooms.

Our own tiny white Clematis has also exploded reaching far behind the trellis we put up, though it has not bloomed yet.

This morning I looked out and saw two new Poppies had opened their very bright blooms.

Unfortunately the Poppies are higher than my wheelchair, so I haven't been able to get a good view of the blooms from above.

You may have noticed the flourishing number of petals on our large pink Peonies.

In spite of this we have made a point of only purchasing 'single' Peonies, not the 'doubles' that close off access for bees and other insects.  The 'doubles' may look fancier, but we always keep in mind the success of pollinators when buying flowers.

Garden Stuff

 Here's a first attempt to spend a quiet afternoon by the computer, as it's supposed to start raining soon.  I'm really enjoying sitting out in the garden in the mornings and the first thing I do is ride around sand get some pictures.

When I pull out onto the deck in the morning this is my view, with the Peonies adding a lot of colour.

I ride down onto the deck and toward the patio.  I feel surrounded by all the growing flowers.

These are the seed pods of Sweet Cicely, delicious to chew on when they are fresh. They have a slight licorice taste.

The Pinks are tiny but mighty.  They are the most fragrant plants in the garden right now.

We have our first tomato flowers.

And I found a single stem of light pink Columbine, growing off by itself.

Finally I was out front early one day and got a more complete shot of our beautiful white Clematis.

A Touch of Pneumonia!

It seems like I've been diagnosed with a touch of pneumonia!  It's the ,mild kind, labelled 'walking pneumonia' as II should be able to carry on with my usual daily activities.  But needless to say I won't be posting as much for awhile, or at least not as often.

But the weather is such that I can sit out of the back deck, moving between deck and patio as sun and shade shift.  The garden is doing wonders for me mental health!

It's Peony Season Here!

 The big Peonies we have squeezed into our garden have started to bloom.  They stand out because they are all in bright colours and they stand up higher than the other surrounding plants.  They stand out from any of our back windows, but they are fascinating up close too.

This huge deep pink one is the first to bloom.  Look at that colour!

They are a great flower for learning about stamens and pistils and such.

I liked this longer view, capturing the Peonies, Allium and Soloman's Seal struck me as really beautiful.

But there are lots of other flowers coming into bloom too, like the small Rhododendron we have.  Their blooms are quite amazing!

We have one Lupin which is both pretty and a gathering spot for all the aphids in the garden.

There's one small patch of beautiful blue Iris.

And one of Columbine, nearly white, with a bluish tinge, just coming into bloom.

Out front the first of the Clematis has gathered a busy crowd of blooms, but has forgotten to climb up the adjacent trellis.  It's another flower where the pattern of pistils and stamens is very obvious.

 

This blue flower is Camassia.

And last for this post in this cluster of Pinks which greets me every time I ride down the ramp and onto the patio.

Veggies in the Garden

Veggies don't usually have bright coloured flowers, but they are where much of Mrs. F.G.'s effort goes.  Specifically she grows all her tomatoes and  peppers from seed, and she is able to pick only those varieties she wants.  We get a delicious variety of these by late summer.

This is the 'salad bar', located on the upper deck level, right outside the kitchen door, and wheelchair accessible.  Here we have several varieties of lettuce, radishes and other delicious stuff!

You will notice that all our veggies are grown in planters, or sometimes big pots.  That enables Mrs. F.G. to control the soil quality, so  she adds a number of supplement to each bed.  We sit on ground made up of solid clay, so soil above the ground level is important! 

Both of these planters serve as effective 'railings' for the deck.

There are two other planting beds like this one. although this one suffers from a little too much shade.

Tomatoes are the highlight of the garden for me!  I love tomato sandwiches late in the summer.  On the other hand I don't eat many hot peppers, even though Mrs. F.G. loves them.  

She has also experimented with growing potatoes, sweet potatoes, and various types of squash.  But our garden is small and she finds you don't save much with those crops, whereas we do with tomatoes.  Keep in mind that we live in a landscape full of farm outlets; locally you may be familiar with Achy Back Acres, who often comment on this blog.

Besides the big veggie crops there are numerous others that Mrs. F.G. grows, like these onions.

Then there are the herbs, tucked in between the other plants.  This is Basil.  It's a never-ending experiment, with at least one new plant grown each year.