Garden Glimpses : Mid July 2007

This afternoon we had a short reprieve from this week of rain, so I went out and filled a clear garbage bag full with weeds and trimmings. I also snapped a few photos, like this daylily from my friend Lily, which cheers up the back garden, near my compost bins:

This daylily from my father-in-law, Hemerocallis "Kwanzo", a beautiful triple orange, is a great contrast to the purple Campanula sprouting next to it:

I was happy to spot this fuzzy bumblebee on the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea):


Here's that bee from another angle:


The purple coneflowers are so photogenic, I can't resist including another shot:


The purple coneflowers are great plants for the garden. They are perennial, don't need staking, don't spread throughout the garden, don't seed themselves liberally, and they are gorgeous, especially in mass plantings. I have a few small groups of 3 or 5 plants, but I am hoping to continue to add to my plantings, with the precious offspring I find on occasion, and starting more from seed.

This sunflower (Helianthus giganteus) seems to be taller each time I look at it. What a delight it will be when the flower appears!


The sunflower, as well as a small row of tomato plants, grow near the post between my espalier apple and asian pear trees.

The espaliered asian pear has produced a number of vertical shoots lately, so today I trimmed it down again. I prune out these shoots about once a month during the growing season. Since it has set fruit already, I feel confident to cut these shoots, and hopefully redirect more of the tree's energies into the fruit. Here is a pic before the pruning:


I know I posted a similar shot last year, but I love this cheery Liatris underplanting of my Fuyu Persimmon tree, which seems to still be trying to settle in (and then I hope it will surprise me with noticeable growth, and one day, some fruit!):

And finally, my garden moment was sponsored today by Simmons:


I was feeling very tired myself this afternoon, so I took a small rest at 2PM, which was ended before 3PM by a phone call (an automated recording, of all things!). My 8 year old daughter, who had fallen asleep on the bed beside me, continued to sleep. When I came downstairs, I found my 6 year old son asleep on his new mattress, which is still wrapped in plastic, on the living room floor (waiting for Daddy to finish assembling the new bed, which he did tonight). Amazingly (just short of miraculous), they continued to sleep until almost 7PM, so after finishing work at 5PM, I had lots of time in the garden to weed & take photos in peace!!!

Here is my son in his new bed, new mattress, new sheets. This is a big improvement, since his feet were already touching the bottom of his crib-sized bed!


On that note, I am going to close off, and head to bed myself. 'Night!

Cool Bug Discovery : Ten-lined June Beetle

I was out walking with my neighbour Navdeep late last night, when we spotted a really neat beetle on the sidewalk. I had to bring it home to show my kids, so I picked it up, and carried it home in a paper cup I found. Here is a photo of it in the small "pet" cage we have, for keeping and observing various small creatures we find on occasion (double-click image for closer view):

My research indicates that this is the Ten-Lined June Beetle (Polyphylla decemlineata). Apparently, it lays its eggs at the base of conifers, where the larva (grub) lives for 3 to 4 years, eating the roots of the tree. Then it emerges as an adult, mates and returns to the soil to lay eggs. The adults feed on the foliage of conifers (e.g. pine), so I plucked some pine needles and dropped them into its cage.

Since dropping him into the cage, he has remained pretty much motionless, with his feet slightly curled (i.e. not standing, just lying on its belly). So I was afraid this morning that he would already be dead before the kids could see him. It looked like it, until I reached into his cage, and picked him up, and he moved a little. Then later in the morning, I took him out, for some photos on my hand:
Then on my daughter's grasshead (which she made at school) - doesn't Mr. Grasshead look surprised?
Then suddenly the beetle started moving around, and before I could put the camera down, flew to the top of my kitchen cabinets. I climbed a chair to retrieve him. So there is still some life left in him. Here he is reaching skyward just before flying off.

Chafer Beetle Dance - Too Close for Comfort

Sometimes you make a discovery you wish you never had. Last night was one of those nights.

I was out visiting the garden at twilight, and noticed something buzzing about my Rainier cherry tree. Earlier in the day, I had discovered a chafer beetle resting on a branch, and had wondered if I should pluck the little bugger out of there and squish the life out of him, or drown him in the potty, but being bare handed, I decided I would just let him be for the time being.

In case you don't have European Chafer infestation in your neighbourhood, let me provide a layman's summary of what you're missing. The beetle, which is brown, oval and slightly smaller than a honeybee, lays its eggs under the lawn in summer. Then the grubs, which are ghostly white and a disgusting curled up C shape, overwinter under the lawn, completely unknown to the poor homeowner, eating away the roots of his grass. By spring, the grubs are big fat and juicy, and irresistible to crows and raccoons, which rip up chunks of the grass (which has already been weakened by the grubs by all their munching on the roots), to get to the juicy grubs, and leave the lawn a clumpy, unsightly mess. Serious infestations require starting the lawn again, from seed.

There is no real known prevention (although keeping the lawn healthy and not trimmed too short supposedly help), nor effective treatment (except perhaps some nematode treatment which requires very specific timing and conditions for them to be effective in killing the grubs). So the infestation spreads throughout the city, leaving random spots of mangled lawn behind.

So you guessed it.... Last night I realized that this buzzing was a chafer beetle, buzzing about the top of my cherry tree. Then I noticed another, and another. I looked toward my plum tree, and the same buzzing about there. In the neighbour's yard, too, near the top of each small tree, there were a couple of beetles, buzzing around in a mating dance.

I had read about this mating dance, high up in the tops of trees. But our trees are only 6' to 8' tall. So there were the beetles, buzzing around directly in front of me. I didn't know whether I should reach for my camera, or a fly swatter, or what. But as I stood, wondering, disgusted by these little creatures, the mosquitoes decided it for me. I retreated into the safety of the house, already stinging from a few bites.

It is interesting... if these had been ladybugs, or dragonflies, or some other creature welcomed in my garden, the whole experience would have been quite enchanting, perhaps even romantic. I would have braved even the pesky mosquitoes to capture some memory of it on video camera. But instead, the thought of these little beetles frolicking in my trees, so they could come down and lay eggs, so their disgusting offspring could destroy my lawn, tainted my view of this spectacle.

On a happier note, the dragonflies - which are my favourite friend in the garden - have returned in full force to our yard this summer. On most days, I can spot one or two darting about the lower yard, and a few more darting about the upper yard, but today I saw more than a dozen at the same time, darting in every direction. I can only hope that they caught a few chafer beetles while they were darting about.

Garden Glimpses : Late June 2007

Lately I have spent little time in the garden during the day, a combination of work being too hectic, and my allergies going crazy. This is the first year I have had noticeable allergies during the summer, usually it is only February to April. I suspect the cottonwood trees - at times the fluff is coming down so heavy, it looks as if it's snowing. It could also be grasses. Anyhow, I am very pleased this year to have gotten off those awful antihistamine pills, and instead have a really effective nasal spray (Nasonex) and eye drops (Patanol), which work quite well to reverse the effects, when I do go outside.

The last few evenings, I tried instead going out between dinner and putting the kids to bed. However, I now have over 20 mosquito bites on my arms, 10 on my legs, and about 5 on my.... well, let's say those little buggers bit right through my underwear!

So with the change in weather to occasional rain, my strategy has changed to visiting the garden between bouts of rain. This sure helps with the allergies. And today I needed a break from my work anyhow, so I was out weeding in full force. In a good session, I can pull a whole large clear garbage bag of weeds in one hour. Everything grows BIG in my garden. If the weeds were edible, they would all be entree size, not just side salads!

Anyhow, from a distance (which is what most visitors see), it looks like I am keeping on top of it all. Here is a view of the back yard, the Southwest side (double-click for a larger image):

...and Southeast side:

There is no shortage of projects in my garden. Yesterday I trimmed down many of the yellow Garden Loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata) which had flopped over. (This year, it appears an animal must have jumped or walked through it, it doesn't usually flop so much with just the weight of the rain). My project was interrupted by sudden and very hard rain, and I dashed for the house, with a small bunch of flowers to enjoy:

I am thinking to relocate many, if not all, of these cheery yellow flowers, to the outside of the fence, in my wild corner. Perhaps these vigorous and spreading plants will eventually outcompete the tall grasses and 5' high horsetails growing out there! If you don't believe me, take a look at these specimens:

Too bad those are not edible!

Moving back to the garden, here is a cheery patch of asiatic lilies:

And finally, to celebrate the first day of summer vacation, a photo of my son in his graduation hat (which one of the moms made out of construction paper), after returning from his graduation ceremony:
I'm not too much for making a bit deal about kindergarten graduation, but it sure was a cute ceremony. I look forward to many more - serious - graduations in future.

Red-backed Jumping Spider Discovery

My six-year-old son called me today to come and see a really neat spider. I was surprised that it is one I have never seen before (and I've discovered a lot of creatures in my life!). So I encouraged him to scoop it into his "pooter" jar until we could identify it.

It was not hard to identify. It turns out to be a Phidippus johnsoni, also known as a red-backed jumping spider. Pretty neat. All black and hairy like a miniature tarantula, with the back of his abdomen completely red. Looks poisonous, but apparently is not, it just inflicts a very painful bite, which may hurt for days. Ha ha. Handle with care.

It turns out that ours is a male, the female would have a black stripe down the back of the red abdomen.

I don't think my camera will take a picture which will do it justice, and I'm not ready to let it out to try, so here is a photo "borrowed" from a page (just in case the page disappears) which has some really good photos of both a male and female:
Kinda spooky, she looks like she's looking at your right shoulder, considering whether she should jump up, doesn't it?

And here is the original Phidippus johnsoni page which helped me positively ID this little guy - a page well worth visiting - just not before heading to bed.

Garden Glimpses: Mid June 2007

Here's a few more photos from my garden, taken this past week...

I love the big fuzzy bumblebees on our Lavendula Stoechas (Spanish Lavender). Here's another photo:
I love watching the bees buzzing from flower to flower. A few days ago, I almost got too close...
I was deadheading one of my hardy geraniums, and didn't notice this bee resting on one of the remaining flowers, until I had it in my hand. Good thing it was evening, he was pretty docile, and I was able to clip off the flower and lay it in the garden, before stuffing the handful of clippings into a clear bag for composting.

My daughter noticed this damselfly resting on the blue oat grass. It was getting evening, and the flash created an interesting effect, making it appear to be glowing.

I love this time of year, when there are lots of hopeful signs of fruit... such as this first blush of red on the red currants.

My espalier apple tree is not loaded with fruit like last year, but I'm pleased to have some apples to look forward to.

This espalier asian pear will need to be thinned soon, to allow the fruit to develop fully. What a delight to see so much fruit this early on.

The rule in our garden is that if the kids find any ripe fruits, they are welcome to pick and enjoy them, although I encourage them to show them off (and occasionally pose for a picture) first, such as this photo-worthy strawberry found by my daughter.

Garden Glimpses : Late May 2007

I'm almost too tired, but here goes with another set of pics from my garden...

This Campanula Glomerata is thriving in my garden, forming a good size patch. I am so pleased with it that I picked up a small white ("Alba") one today. I hope it will be as successful as this purple one. The flowers in the background are my purple Osteospermum, closed since it was an overcast evening.

This delightful white iris is from my friend Irene. It looks almost angelic.

I think chives make a great ornamental, so I have a patch in my flower garden as well as my herb garden. I love to see the big bumblebees on the flowers. [Speaking of which, I was stung by a bee tonight, on the back of my neck, as I was bending to weed under the espalier trees. I heard the high-pitched buzzing (like a bee stuck in a small place), and then the sting. So I danced around, banging at my neck, and flapping my shirt, so it would fall out of my collar or armholes (sleeveless shirt). I never did see the bee, and it only hurt for maybe 20 minutes, leaving a small red spot on my neck.] So the poor bee certainly got the worst of the encounter!

I also like parsley as an ornamental. I've included both chives and parsley in the two planters I created this year.

I like the range of textures and colours in this foliage in the border along the back (southeast) corner of our property. From the front: red currant, underplanted with runaway euphorbia "Fens Ruby", Stachys byzantina (lamb's ear), purple sage, more lamb's ear, with blueberry bushes pushing up through, lilac standard, clump of crocosmia, and then fading out but almost visible: snowberry standard, butterfly bush, Monarda Didyma, missouri currant, and to the very right, the edge of my Lapin Cherry tree.

The red currant bushes (I am happy to have two of them, one having recovered from many years of being badly chewed, the second, thanks to my Plant Swap friends). Both are showing lots of promise for berries this year. On the other hand, the missouri currant, which was blooming so extensively a month ago, has pretty much failed to form berries, with many of the previously-flowering branches withering (perhaps too much heat lately, I should have watered them sooner?).

The Lapin Cherry is also showing promise of some more cherries this year, if the birds leave us any. Also, the Rainier Cherry has a few berries for the first time this year. I love the anticipation of the fruit trees, each year looking forward to, and dreaming of a larger crop than last year (or in my case, my first tastes).

Planting Tomatoes and Cukes

I am blessed to have a mother with two very large east-facing windows, who is willing to offer her windowsills for starting my seedlings - not to mention watering and turning them every day! So this year, as is our custom, she started for me a number of tomato plants, cucumbers, and all sorts of odd perennials I have collected or purchased seeds for.

The last couple of days, she has been acclimatizing some of the plants, by taking them outside during the day, and bringing them in at night. So tonight they were ready to plant into my garden.

For the tomatoes, it is important to water deep, to prepare the soil, so I started by digging 5 holes, and filling them repeatedly with water. Since my garden is rich soil on top of a solid clay base, the holes drain very slowly.

I would have liked to add in some bonemeal, but I couldn't find it (perhaps I need to buy more?) so I planted without it. Tomatoes can be buried in quite deep, to allow a good root structure to develop. So I removed all but the top 2 branches, and buried the remainder. Then another good watering, or two, or three. The sun was already setting behind the house, so the conditions were ideal for planting - cool, with no direct sun. Here are the little row of tomatoes, between my espalier apple (left) and espalier asian pear (right). Behind the post is a Sunflower Giganteum.

Next, the cucumbers. Two years ago, I planted a couple of seedlings at the top of my upper retaining wall, on the West side of our house, and they were a huge success, trailing down the wall and onto the grass, and bearing a crisp, sweet cucumber nearly every second day! Then last year, I tried the same thing with cukes and squashes, and was completely disappointed, they couldn't even make their way to trail over the edge of the wall, and I only got one small squash. I suspect the soil, which at that location, is a thin layer of topsoil on top of gravel and clay (backfill to the wall), had lost its nutrients. As an indicator, the hydrangea down the wall had blue flowers, whereas the others in my garden were a vibrant pink.

So a week ago, I amended the soil with an inch of so of compost on the top, and mixed that in, to form a richer base to plant into. I ended up putting in all 7 seedlings, and I'm already dreaming of crispy cucumbers this year. Assuming a slug doesn't come by and chew them off (which is a good possibility in my garden). Well, let's hope.

I also planted in some more seedlings of Cardoon. Last year, I planted one in the front (shady) garden, which didn't get very big, but seems to be taking off this year (although quite covered in black aphids!!).

To my delight, my daughter has taken an interest recently in helping me in the garden. I have even bought her garden gloves (the stretchy cloth ones, with rubberized fingers and palms), and she has been helping me weed the garden a couple of nights. Here is my beautiful little helper, holding a few stalks of our very healthy Campanula Glomerata, which are now on the respective bathroom counters of my two little garden helpers (my son's ongoing contribution, among other gardening interests, is cutting up slugs).

Spring Trimming of Espalier Trees

One of my ongoing delights in our garden are our two espalier trees. Caring for them, and seeing their amazing fruiting capacity (that little tree bore about 20 apples on the top pair of branches last year!), has given me a lot of satisfaction.

Once I had the trees properly lined up with the posts, and strung my wire supports (see Moving the Espalier Apple and Asian Pear Trees from February 2006), the maintenance has been pretty simple. A few times a year, the vertical shoots need to be removed, so the tree will direct its energy into the fruit production and growth at the ends of the branches (which will be tied down to the horizontal wires).

This week was the first trim of the season. The trees have flowered and started to set fruit, so no longer a chance of trimming off a fruiting spur, so I chopped quite liberally. Here is the espalier asian pear (with 3 varieties of asian pear, one on each pair of grafted branches), before the trimming:


... and after:


Here's a look at the developing fruit. I'll wait a couple of weeks for it to self-thin, and then thin it to one fruit per spur / clump.


It is interesting that this year, there seems to be more fruit on the lower branches. Last year (first year for fruit), most of the fruit was on the top level, and very little on the lower branches. Perhaps the top ones outdid themselves last year, and are resting. It will be interesting what pattern develops over the years.

Garden Glimpses : Mid-May 2007

Here are a few more recent pics from my garden... Enjoy!

This wonderful purple Osteospermum is thriving on my sunny hillside, and a couple of days ago, burst into bloom. It is one of my favourites, and I love to share rooted cuttings with visitors to my garden. I am not sure it is a "Soprano" series (as I speculated earlier, in Past Favourites : Osteospermum), but whatever type of Osteospermum it is, it is a very hardy and fast-spreading one.


This has become a blue corner of my garden, with the blue Corydalis in front, the Hyacinthoides hispanica (Spanish bluebells), and blue Ajuga reptans (Bugleweed) behind it. Framed by the graceful arched branches of Polygonatum biflorum (Solomon's Seal), with its row of creamy white bell-shaped flowers.


Who says gardening isn't fun for kids, too?

Well, I started too late, I'm too tired to post any more pics tonight.

Garden Glimpses : Late April 2007

Here are a few more pics from my garden, taken last week. Enjoy!

Last week, my kids shouted to me that they had found some enormous dandelion flowers, and came running to me with stalks of what turned out to be my Petasites Frigidus. This is its first year in our garden, and it is already spreading and establishing a pretty good territory in the wet, shady hillside area of my garden. So we quickly picked off the stalks, to prevent it from seeding itself liberally and taking over the remainder of the garden. What a beautiful addition it is, so far! I was pleased to catch a glimpse of it in the November/December 2005 issue of the Gardens West magazine, within "Trudi Brown's Oasis".

I received this epimedium (with the heart shaped leaves) from a gardening friend in the Fall, and enjoyed this single yellow flower stalk this year, next to a single pink epimedium flower stalk (I missed taking its photo, it was in its prime a few weeks earlier).

I bought these wonderful metal frogs many years ago, in a small shop in Gastown (Vancouver, BC). I placed them to hide the metal clips to which I had tied my tiny climbing hydrangea until it established itself against this concrete retaining well. Within a few years, the hydrangea has now reached the frogs, and spread very nicely to cover a patch of the wall. It has yet to flower, but I am more than content with the twisting stems and lush green foliage.

Here is a closeup of those whimsical little frogs. I wish I had bought dozens of them, of the many different colours. Perhaps one day I still will (if my family is not around to dissuade me).

This Pieris Japonica is not my favourite bush most of the year, but in the Spring, the new growth is a gorgeous pink. There is a truly spectacular large version of this bush in the neighbourhood, I hope to remember my digital camera one day when I am passing by.

This Fritillaria Imperialis is well past its prime, but still attracts interest and comments from passers-by. It grows proudly in our front garden.

This Japanese Maple looks great year round. I love this vivid red of the fresh Spring growth. It looks great under snow also, as this post will testify.