Prettier in Pink, and More Spring Flower Photos

That tree peony bloom is still getting bigger and fuller and more beautiful.  Here it is today :

It's not the largest tree peony bloom I've seen, but then again, I haven't needed to prop the branches to support the blooms either, so I'm really happy with the size of it, and the colour.

I like this pale helleborus flower, it has faded from pink, and is developing a seed pod.

Pretty heart shaped leaves and cheery yellow flowers of my Epimedium.

...complete with a monster lurking underneath.

I am really impressed how these painted rocks have held up, we must have painted those about 8 years ago.  Then sealed them with several layers of clear acrylic sealer.

These fern fronds look like they're having a conference.  I wonder what they are discussing?

Finally, one of my favourites in my garden, my little Cornus canadensis (bunchberry) :

Pretty in Pink

I love this time of year, when something new is blooming every time I visit the garden.  I am fortunate to be able to view my pink tree peony (I am too lazy to look up the name, which I have recorded somewhere) from my kitchen window.  A few days ago, a bud began to swell, and was quite large when I left for work yesterday.  When I returned home, the flower was open.

How gorgeous is that?

I have another tree peony, with pure white blooms, but I managed to plant it so that it is hiding behind a bush, and not visible from the kitchen window.  So I'll need to visit it often, to make sure I don't miss the blooms.

I love my bleeding heart, which after a number of years, is finally taking hold, and produced a lot of blooms this year.  I like this branch.  It made me think of hearts, and love, and how it can be up and down sometimes.

Today it suddenly turned to rain, after a long (more than a week) stretch of dry warm weather in Vancouver.  So now it feels more like Spring again.  I'm glad for the garden, I think it needed a bit of watering.

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:

Garden Painting Day 7 & 8 : Bird Bath and Tree Peony Foliage

I finally got back to my garden painting a few nights ago, and filled in the bird bath. The change is very subtle, since I painted it a light grey (to look like concrete), and it was white before (from the unpainted canvas). So it was not a very satisfying couple of hours, trying to get the right shadows and hue, and having few people notice the change. (Since the work-in-progress sits in our kitchen eating area, it is often a topic of conversation with visitors.)

Last night I pushed myself to paint in a tree peony, even though I was too tired. I finished the foliage, and have placed 5 black dots where the flowers will be painted in (visible if you double-click the photo on right to see a larger version). Looking at it now, the foliage colour is quite realistic, but I think I painted it in a bit dark. Hopefully, the flowers will brighten up this corner of the garden painting. It is also a bit sparse, just like my dear tree peony. I think it could have been more lush, as are most of the tree peonies I've seen.

My tree peony, which was generously given to me by a gardening friend in the Fall, provided me with 5 gorgeous white flowers this Spring. When it was finished blooming, I cut back one of the main woody branches to a few buds. Next year I plan to do the same with the other main branch. I want them to grow in more bushy, and to be able to remove the supporting stakes I have it propped against.

The tree peony flowers I will paint, will be pink ones, inspired by the photo on the left. I'm trying to keep going with filling the painting with plants, so I will likely move on to more plants, fill in most or all the foliage first, before I move to the flowers, which will be most time-consuming, but also most rewarding. Then I will add in some birds, bees, butterflies and whatever else I can manage. That will be the truly fun part.