Garden Glimpses : Late May 2008

Here goes for a few garden glimpses... As always, click the photo for a larger view.
I saw my first hummingbird a few days ago, and it was checking out the Weigela, which is fully in bloom:

This year the Genista pilosa (creeping broom) "Vancouver Gold" is spectacular, completely covered in bright yellow (shown here with a seedling of my treasured Geranium "Victor Reiter" peeking through):

I found this bumblebee sleeping on a geranium flower, so I was able to sneak in a bit closer than usual for a photo:

This one was not so sleepy, but I still managed (after a few tries) to catch a reasonable shot of him also:

The ants on my peonies bring back fond memories of my childhood, watching the ants on my mom's peonies:

This Menyanthes trifoliata (Bog bean) is a delightful addition to my garden, in a very wet spot in my garden (at a junction of two underground drain pipes). I pulled a small piece of it from Bunsen Lake during a canoeing trip last summer, and happily it not only survived the winter (dropping its leaves so it looked like a small green twig), but is flowering this Spring:

I love the foliage of the Petasites frigidus, so much so that I have allowed it to take over an increasingly larger area of the hillside on the moist and shady side of our garden:

And of course, who could not love the foliage of the Stachys byzantina (Lamb's ear)? All the kids who come to the garden are delighted by these leaves (or at least I'm always delighted to pick a few leaves to share with them).

I'm always delighted by my espalier fruit trees, and I will need to thin out the fruit to let it ripen fully, but in the meantime I am pleased to see so many tiny fruits, here on the asian pear:

...and here on the apple:


This tree peony flower is so delicate. I had 5 flowers this year.

I love how this little Japanese maple cascades gently down the concrete wall.

I am pleased to finally receive flowers for the first time on my Cornus canadensis (Bunchberry):

This is also the first time my lilac tree is in bloom (since I bought it in bloom, some 2 or 3 years ago now), and it is not only a pretty double flower, but also wonderfully fragrant:

This Sempervivum (Hen and Chicks) is nestled (almost smothered) by the Sedum growing around it, forming a richly textured ground cover. The small seedling in the top left is a Masterwort:

What pleasing texture and colour on these epimedium leaves (with again more Geranium "Victor Reiter" peeking from behind - this time a green variant; about half the offspring seem to come up with the burgundy foliage, and half with just green, but the flowers are always the same purple).

When the Campanula glomerata is in full bloom, it is stunning. So far I have this one "teaser" bloom, and the remainder is in bud: