The First Daylilies ar in Bloom!

First, that mystery plant I challenged you with yesterday?  Achy Back Acres got it right; those leaves are of Chick Peas.  Achy Back Acres is a veggie farm we sometimes stop at between here and Owen Sound, highly recommended!

But big changes are happening in the garden - the first Daylilies are in bloom.  We'll have different daylilies blooming every day for the next month.  As the name implies, Daylilies only bloom for a day, though individual plants can have numerous buds that all take their turn!  It's a very colourful time in the garden!

I looked out the window and was completely surprised to see this colourful bright red Daylily right off.  It had seven blooms on day one!

The other one out was this bright orange one.  Talk about colour!

We also have the first of the Hostas in bloom.  I think the wrinkly leaves of this Hosta are almost as interesting as the flowers, perhaps not as beautiful, but interesting.

In spite of some large Clematis elsewhere, my favourite is this white one with tiny wee flowers.  They're so numerous it looks like a wave of white froth against the maple tree.  I think this is Sweet Autumn Clematis.

Finally this is our tiny Fairy Rose, doing very well this year.  We're now almost up to date in the garden.

The Garden is Bursting Out All Over!

It's the time of year when all the remaining plants in the garden start coming into bloom.  We've been away a couple of days, a doctor's apt. and trying to get the ramp on the van fixed, which necessitates a trip to Barrie.  There's a frightening sag on one side when I ride up or down it.  Turns out the hinge is broken, but they have to order the replacement part.  It was good to get back out in the garden this morning.

We have a large patch of brilliant yellow Coreopsis which looks gorgeous!

I've been watching the Foxtail Lilies bloom right outside my front window.  The development of the flowers is fascinating!  This was 3 weeks ago.

As the blooms unfolded they looked like this.  The flower is about 8" tall, but it's only a couple of inches at the top where the stamens are found.

You can easily see the ripe pollen on the stamens, and the bees visit constantly.

This bright red little flower is the Maltese Cross.  It feels new to me, but Mrs. F.G. sit was here last year.

It makes a great colour combination with the Daisies and the red Valerian.

I even got one of those White Cabbage butterflies to sit still long enough for a portrait!

Mrs. F.G. likes to try different plants to see how they grow here, but I bet you can't guess what these are.

More from the Garden, Part I

 I'm steadily catching up so my photos will match what's actually in boom.  We're getting close.  And there's quite a variety of flowers in bloom at the moment, as we get closer to the first blooms of the Day Lilies and Echinacea, the brightest time in the summer garden.

We have a few Foxgloves or Digitalis.  I like the patterns in the purple ones.

Nearby is a much shorter plant, a purple Beards-tongue.

Three more Peonies have come and gone, including this big yellow one.  They don't last long.

This is an unusual pink Peony that I don't remember from the past; it only had one bloom.

And we have a large white Peony.

We finally have more than one bloom on our little red Rose which has rarely bloomed for long until now.

 But our yellow Rose is bursting out all over.  I counted 25 blossoms the other day.

                               

Back to the Garden

We are truly going 'back' to the garden this time, as my pictures are getting delayed by two or three weeks.  Never-the-less, the flowers are beautiful.  They last such a short time but their ephemeral beauty remains.  All these flowers are now gone, but others have taken their place.

The row of large Peonies, ranging from deep red to almost white, that are the big patch of spring colkour in our garden.

Of course my favourite is the deep red.

Over by the shed is our red Clematis, one of 10 that will bloom over the season, and one I can get close enough to to get a good close-up.

We've had two Lupins, the light pink ones removed because of aphids, and the red ones already gone to seed.

And finally the Allium is one flower where you need to take a very close look to appreciate the delicate details of the many florets that make up the flower head.  Now it's time to catch up!

The Classic Car Show

A big attraction on Canada Day in Meaford is the classic car show held down at the waterfront.  It attracts lots of both vehicles on display and visitors, strolling down the street.  And of course it's totally wheelchair accessible for me.

Here it is, cars and trucks lined up along Bayfield Street, closed for the day, and wonderful weather for strolling.  Apparently they had the best turnout in years, with nearly 100 vehicles.

The very first vehicle caught my eye, an older model Ford pickup in great shape.

It was the older models that I was most interested in, here a 1939 4 door Buick Sedan, and a red 1956 Chevy pick-up.

But there were hotrods too.  I must admit I did admire the paint job on this one.

There were a few vehicles that were obviously projects in progress, this one at an early stage!

I wasn't interested in any of the modern ones like this Corvette, but there were certainly a few there.

This is an interesting one, a 1937 Plymouth with a brilliant blue paint job and the butterfly engine cover.

The information sheet in front of it provided details on the restoration.  Though it's a 1937 Plymouth, it has a Ford rear end and a Mustang front end.  I don't know a thing about cars, so it was all new to me.

I loved this bright orange Bug, with a matching baby bug beside it - a baby that actually moved back and forth!

Across on the other side of the harbour, firefighters were attracting attention as they pumped water out  and sprayed it back in.  There were other attractions over there too, but there was no way for me to get to them, a limitation of being in a wheelchair.

Happy Canada Day!

July 1st and it's Canada Day.  I'm interrupting a few posts on our booming garden to celebrate.  Our town celebrates with a classic car show down by the waterfront, so I've just been down to check out the cars and pickups.  But for today it's just Happy Canada Day to all of you.

This year I have a picture of our own flag to share, hung on the front porch by Mrs. F.G.  I think a lot of Canadians are feeling prouder of their country this year!

Even Google got into the act, so I've got to give them credit,  The flag was even waving.  But is this just a giant company pandering to Canadian patriotism?

Back to the Garden

I haven't shared the profusion of flowers growing in our garden for over two weeks, and at this time of year that might be a whole new season!  The back yard is a growing jungle, full of a variety of different interesting plants.  So here's an update, the following all by Mrs. F.G.

The poppies, here in the early morning sun, have added a brilliant flash of orange.

For a week or so the Pinks were in full flower.  I love the colour!

The pink Columbine is looking great.

The Coral Bells are bright, but tiny and hard to photograph.

This is a white Camassia.

And this is Sweet Cicely, both the blooms and the numerous vertical seedpods.

Finally, this is a very feathery flower that stands four feet tall, a Meadowrue.

A close look shows all the very tiny stamens.  And thus we come to the end of June already!  I'm not ready for summer to go by so fast!