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.

More Snow in March

Today we awoke to more snow, this time a significant accumulation. I couldn't resist another photo of my Japanese Maple.

Well, I guess it's not officially Spring until March 20, although I had forgotten for a while, seeing the mini-daffs and crocus and other signs of spring, including seasonal allergies!

This time, there was enough snow for a good showing of snowforts at my daughter's elementary school (sorry, no photos).

Snow and Stamps in March

It is the 8th of March, but this morning, we received a light covering of snow. A little unusual, but refreshing, for March. It has now turned to rain, but I managed to snap a few photos of the snow, such as our Japanese Maple, with its dripping canopy of reddish branches and bed of beige croci below (a bit hard to see against the snow). Behind it is our front porch, with its Hardy Island granite. I've erased the neighbour's house to the right, with a few brush strokes. What a friendly neighbour am I. :-)

Today the new "garden" booklet of 8 self-adhesive 51-cent stamps arrived in Canada Post outlets. I bought as many booklets as I had cash (a whopping $30!) in my wallet. I should have written "bring cash" beside the note in my calendar that the stamps were to arrive today! I will return with more cash, before they are all sold out. These are wonderful stamps, photographed by Andrew Leyerie and illustrated by Jeffrey Domm, of "shade garden", "flower garden", "water garden" and "rock garden".

On the back of the stamp booklet is a reminder that you can create stamps of your favourite photo of your own garden or favourite people, at http://www.picturepostage.ca/. A Keepsake booklet of 20 stamps and a larger photo is $24.95 + tax, less for multiple sheets ($16.00 each for 100 or more). A booklet of 40 stamps is $39.95 ($26.00 each for 100 or more, which is 65 cents per stamp). Cute idea, it would be nice for weddings or birth announcements.

Another cute idea is to create your own Custom Confetti - Made from your own photos. Pretty cool, you upload up to 30 of your favourite images, and they send you a bag of custom confetti, which includes around 3200 pieces of confetti, for $19.95 US dollars. That's 800 double-sided pieces of your photos, plus up to 3 accent colors. One bag will generously cover an 8 ft round table. This would make a great keepsake for birthdays or anniversaries. They can also be sprinkled into gift boxes or envelopes.