Garden Glimpses : Mid-August 2010

Before I show off photos from the garden, I was reminded yesterday about how important friends are.  Sometimes in the busy-ness of life, I tend to forget about the imporant people in my life.  I was driving home at 3:20pm to pick up the kids from camp at 4pm, which is normally about a 35 minute drive, across the Knight Street bridge from Richmond into Burnaby.  But as soon as I turned onto Knight Street, I knew something was wrong.  It was a parking lot.  I had a sinking feeling, that there was not even any way to turn off (without doing something illegal and dangerous), so I had to just inch along and hope for the best.  But within 15 minutes, I realized I had no chance to make it back in time to pick up the kids, so tried phoning my parents.  No answer.  So I phoned my friend Andrea. 

By the time I explained to her where they were, and she looked them up on Google Maps, and headed out, needing to pick up gas along the way, she arrived about 15 minutes after the camp official end time.  But still within an acceptable period of time.  Meanwhile, back on the bridge, I was just crawling along, approaching and crossing the bridge (which usually takes 10 minutes) in 1 hr 50 min.  So if Andrea hadn't saved me with her quick action, to pick up the kids and take them out for pizza at the Mall, I can't imagine what would have happened if I had left them there for almost 2 hours!  I didn't even have a phone number to call anyone at the Camp (which is an outdoor adventure/canoeing camp this week).  Thank you Andrea!

Tonight I picked some more tomatoes from the garden.  I started some from seeds I collected from a small container of specialty tomatoes (purple, striped, etc) which I bought at the grocery store last year.  I seem to remember a few plants of a small purple variety, but they must have been hybrids and not have come true from seed, since the tomatoes I got are considerably larger and less purple than I remember.  But they were still juicy and sweet.

The yellow pear tomatoes (bottom right) are one of my favourites for their unique look and mild flavour, and I grow them almost every year.  The turnip-shaped one on the bottom left must have been one from my specialty tomato purchase, although I don't remember it.  It is very pretty also.

The Italian Plum tree is doing very well again this year.  There are lots of small plums lying under the tree, as it goes through its self-pruning process, but it looks like there will still be lots of fruit for our family to sample also.

This is the first year I bought a number of flowers and seeds through mail order, and I have to say, the results have been quite disappointing.  I may expand on that in a later post.  On the other hand, I made some purchases in the Spring plant sales which have turned out very well.  I also picked up a small pack of bulbs (corms) of the crocosmia "Emily McKenzie" at our local garden shop, Gardenworks, and I was pleased to notice it blooming tonight.  Although maybe a bit deeper orange than I expected, it is certainly as beautiful as the photo portrayed, and I am surprised by the large size of the blooms!

This was a good find, and addition to my garden!  I may seek out some yellow crocosmia next year.  I already have the common orange one, and the tall red crocosmia "Lucifer".