More Garden Flowers

We have lots of other flowers besides Daylilies in the garden, since Mrs. F.G. is an inveterate plant collector.  They range from daisies to Lavender, in every colour from white to deep purple.  Some spread through the garden, others stay put.  Here are a few interesting ones.

Gloriosa Daisies hit me with their blinding colour as soon as I get on the patio.  One of the nicest flowers in the garden.

Close by is one of our Lavender plants.  It extends out over the patio far enough that I feel guilty riding past it, crushing a stem or two.

The tall white Michaelmas Daisies come next.

We have a lot of purple Coneflowers, or Echinacea.  These are the ones that spread relentlessly, since they are not a hybrid.

This is Butterfly Weed, though I've never seen a butterfly on it.

We have both red and deep pink Coneflowers, though as hybrids these do not spread.

Cosmos spread readily.

And there's one Red Hot Poker, deep among the foliage of other plants.  When I see it, I always remember the first place we saw it, at Sissinghurst in England, outside the South Cottage where Harold Nicholson worked.

Daylilies

Late July is Daylily season in our garden, and we have a lot of different varieties, all very colourful!  I'm not going to comment on them individually, but watch for different colours, different widths of petals, frilliness of the edges, and so on.  At one point we knew all the varietal names, but those are now lost in the mists of time!  Doesn't change how pretty they are.

This is the one variety I do remember, and I can easily picture the nursery we bought it from.  It's called Saugeen Sunrise, which seems very appropriate given that we live in the Saugeen region of Ontario.

In case you've forgotten, this is our back yard, centred by a large patio I can ride down to off the deck and immerse myself in these flowers.  The Daylilies are the bright red, yellow and orange in the back right.

Creekbank Sewing Centre

Just up the road a couple of miles from Conn is the spectacular new Creekbank Sewing Centre.  Having known this operation when it was a few quilts displayed in their farmhouse living room, though its expansion into two portable class rooms, still on the farm, this blew us away.  

First of all, it's huge, like warehouse size!  I've been in a lot of quilt and fabric stores around this part of Ontario, and they are all small stores squeezing in as much display space as possible.  This is just the opposite.

When you walk in, the store is huge, open and spacious, with both sewing machines and fabrics (and everything else) on display.  Note the second level balcony for quilt hangings.

The store specializes in Bernina sewing machines, a top of the line brand.  There would be $200k worth of sewing machines on this table.

An entire wall of thread, especially for those who do machine embroidery.

I had to search for it, but there are some bright coloured fabrics.  Most are more muted, in keeping with the Mennonite tradition.

Stacks and stacks of wool patches, for piecing.

Among the several large quilts on display, this design struck me as interesting.

This is a computerized long arm quilting machine.  Mrs. F.G. had one of these (before they were computerized), and loved it.  Once you set up the pattern and the borders, the machine will sew the entire quilt while you stand back and watch!

And did you know you could get a Bernina chair - guaranteed to leave you comfortable after hours at your sewing machine.

I rolled out the front door and had to remember we were out in the middle of nowhere, in farm country.  That farm across the road raises cattle and tomatoes, the latter in a greenhouse that's out of sight behind the barn.  It's a remarkable store to find in the middle of farm country!

Misty Meadows

We always enjoy a visit to Misty Meadows Market.  It's such a unique place, and it's always busy and bustling.  We usually find something (or several things) we want to pick up, and we just enjoy looking around.  This is the place where you can buy everything from 50 lb. bags of flour to straw hats and butter tarts; this time we bought sandwiches and sat outside for lunch.

Misty Meadows was constructed and opened while I was in the hospital, so I've never been there except in my wheelchair, and it's totally wheelchair accessible.  The overhang provides picnic tables on the left for those who visit and pick up lunch, and on the right, shelter for displays of veggies.  It is busy inside though, so I try to avoid pictures that might have other people in them.

What intrigues me is the growth we've seen.  We first met the owner when he was selling a few veggies from a horse and buggy at the side of the road about 20 years ago.  Then they bought a house and turned the downstairs into a store.  We stopped there for years.  Stage three involved the construction of this big beautiful store.  They've come a long way.

Their selection of veggies was a little limited this time; when the fall harvest is in they have a lot more, since they do emphasize local.  But these were the biggest radishes I've ever seen!

Inside the main area is two stories high, and quilts hang against eh upper walls.

I always like the choice of straw hats, displayed in a small backroom.

But I like the baking better.  We brought home both some Chelsea buns and some cinnamon rolls.  They disappeared fast!  We sat outside to have our sandwich and then headed up the road to the spectacular new Creekbank Sewing Centre.

Another Adventure

One day last week we went off on another adventure, driving down to Conn, about an hour and a half south, to visit the Misty Meadows Market, a large modern Mennonite store.  And this year there is a new spectacular sewing centre, Creekbank, that we wanted to visit as well.  We usually drive this route at least once a year.

This is one adventure where the drive is as interesting as the destination.

On the drive down, we take the back roads that we have driven for years, this time watching for the growing crops - here a field of corn that's looking good and a light coloured field of wheat or barley in the distance. 

This is one of the more unusual crops, oats, often grown for feeding horses.  It's a crop that tends to have a slightly bluish colour.

In the ditches we saw lots of summer wildflowers, like these day lilies  Some call them 'ditch lilies'; we call them 'flowers of the field'.

A fair number of Brown-eyed susans too.

We were surrised and impressed by the investment in new farmsteads, we think by members of the Mennonite community.  This is an entirely new set of barns and a new house.  Many of these houses are painted the same light green colour, and the barns, if new, are all red.

Soon we got to the huge grain elevators in the hamlet of Swinton Park.

Swinton Park also has a very interesting church, known for its Strawberry Socials, which we attended once in pre-wheelchair days.  Inside the church the pews are all arranged diagonally, facing the back corner of the church.  Unusually, the church also has a working bell tower.

Surprisingly, we passed a field of potatoes as we left the village.

Then we came to our favourite mile of the drive, a stretch of road bordered by trees and forest.  It's like driving through a tunnel of trees!

Summer is construction season here, and we were stopped for work crews several times.  I was struck by the hat this flag person was wearing, complete with bright yellow curtain.  We're almost to our destination now.

"Weeds"

 It's the time of year for those summer wildflowers that the uninitiated call 'weeds', a misnomer if there ever was one!  Summer wildflowers are amazing in many ways.  They don't need planting or watering, but they serve our pollinators just as much as any garden plants.  And they come in an incredible variety.

This one is Mullein, standing nearly five feet tall, with thick fuzzy basal leaves.  This was growing in an untended corner beside our new long term care home.

This is Purple Vetch.

The bright yellow St. John's Wort.

Crown Vetch.

Daisy Fleabane.

Bird's-foot Trefoil, here rooted among the grass, but hanging over the edge of the curb.

Queen Anne's Lace.  My mother wedding bouget was composed of these flowers!

Spotted Knapweed.

Chicory, sometimes used as a coffee substitute.

I cannot resist calling out our modern commitment to getting rid of all these 'weeds'.  Just the other day I saw a ditch lined with br\eight yellow Trefoil for over 100 yards.  I said to myself I'll get a photo of that when I return.  But sadly, on my return two large riding ,owers were just pulling away, and the beauty was totally eliminated.  Our society too often wants to destroy the beauty for no apparent reason!