Canada Day Weekend

On the past weekend - sometimes windy and quite wet - I discovered my roses at the Cottage doing well.  The unnamed yellow is just starting to open up, and Crocus Rose, below, is very happy.  Doesn't mind the wet weather at all.  I saw this variety first in a friend's garden, and liked it so much I got one for myself.  Its' great to have a friend who knows his roses.  I just send off an email asking for advice on my next purchase.

Seven Sisters is just coming into her glory, and is even chatting with a pink peony.  

Some of the peonies are weathering the weather remarkably well.  A few, like this pink one above, are fairly new to me, and really blooming for the first time this year.  We can all count on downpours when they reach their peak, eh?  Below is a crashing peony, with flattened carnation pinks.

My wife noticed what I did too... rather a lot of pink in bloom at the cottage just now.  Not intentional .. just happened.  One delightful pink rarity is the showy lady's slipper, Cypripedium reginae.  So glad it keeps growing, despite the weeds!  Got this through the mail a few years ago.  It grows wild, and quite luxuriously, in a local provincial park.  

And what Canada Day weekend would be complete without strawberries for shortcake!  There is a long tradition, at our particular cottage, of BBQ and shortcake on this holiday.  We happened to dine a day early, June 30.  It was the best weather day of the weekend!

Happy 4th of July to you gardeners "south of the border."

Garden Party in Upper Falmouth

Time for our Garden Club's closing dinner party, this year at the home of Roxanne, one of our members.  She and Paul have  a great property, and the evening was beautiful.  

Everyone ooohd and aaahd at the Black Lace Elderberry... and quite a few other things.

It's always fun touring a garden with the gardener.  Lots of shared wisdom, experience, successes, and failures.

The sun was bright, after a full day of dark clouds.  

Everything was quite lush.  Well, we have had a good share of rain, all spring, and a heavy shower just yesterday.

One member asked me what gardens we are going to tour this summer.  I guess I'm still on the planning committee!  I'd better get to work.  There's so much to see, in our own neighbourhoods.  

First Time Blooms

Well, I missed Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  
Meanwhile, back at the cottage...

A few of my newer plants are blooming for the first time ever.  The plant above came from a garden club sale last year, basically unnamed.  Might be Stachys grandiflora.  The honeysuckle (Lonicera) below may have bloomed last year, but I'm counting this as its first time.  Was dug up somewhere... long forgotten, and just last year  brought these pieces to the cottage.

Finally bought a little gas plant last year, Dictamnus albus.  Nice to see it blooms the first year after planting, unlike a peony.  I've always thought of these as similar in growth and lifespan to peonies for some reason, though I've never had one of these before.  

And even the tiny kiwi vines are blooming!  Will there be fruit?  I have never seen a little berry from the hardy kiwi, Actinidia kolomikta.  Hopefully these vines will one day cover the geodesic dome, with the help of some other vines there.  

Other new plants will bloom as the year goes on... a wonderful delight of being a gardener like me: a collector.