A Rainbow of Colours

It’s been a while since I’ve shared some of my gardening photos and stories on this blog, so I thought I’d do a little catching up, today… only highlighting the best of the best photos for you to enjoy!

I really enjoy taking all of these ‘in progress’ photos of my flower gardens. It allows you to see the story of Nature in simple yet profound ways.

This series of four photos spans almost four months, beginning in March – believe it or not. We had such a warm and dry spring that many flowers started to grow and bloom weeks ahead of schedule.

In the second photo you can see some Daffodils in bloom. They were one of the few spring flowers that survived this constant weather roller coaster. Near the bottom and to the left of this same pic, you’ll see my patch of Tulips – errrrr… I mean their leaves. The warm weather brought them out of the ground much earlier than usual and a sudden cold snap killed the flowers so I didn’t see one bloom this year. The same thing happened to my Allums – in the back garden. These conditions are what caused most apple, cherry and peach farmers in Southern Ontario to loose their crops – quite a blow to the farming industry and to the fruits that should have ended up in my belly.

It’s a good thing that humans have absolutely nothing to do with the world’s changing weather conditions – or I may be a bit worried about our future! Sarcasm, that is.

In the last photo you can just make out the red/pink colours of my Bleeding Hearts.

Here’s a beautiful close-up shot for you to enjoy!

These next four photos begin near the end of June and take us all the way to the beginning of September. Over the last few years, I’ve spent a bit of time learning to plant my gardens so that there is always something in bloom. In the spring this garden fills with many yellow and red flowers. They do their thing and then die as the summer flowers fill in this space more completely. I took the first photo, in this series, on the day when my first Day Lily bloomed!

Over the next many weeks, I was daily delighted with so many brilliant flowers!

In the second photo (above) the orange Day Lilies are reaching the end of their season, but my garden still looks attractive as my Hostas and my ‘Wine’ Lilies are in bloom.

I call them Wine Lilies simply because their colour reminds me of a nice bottle of red wine. I’ve ‘arted’ this photo to add some interesting textures to enhance their already lovely appearance.

In the third photo, you can see what remains of these lilies – browning, dead stalks. These pull easily – for the most part – right out of the ground and I collect them for my autumn fires. I like to use all parts of my garden to help other parts of my garden and this is one of the ways that I do this. My autumn fires happen in my veggie patch and the fires burn away the roots of ‘would-be’ weeds and the ash adds nitrogen to my soil for next year’s crops.

Just behind the Hostas, you can see my small Rose of Charon plant. In this series of photos you can see how the plant – or maybe it would be more correct to call it a bush – gets larger and larger until the fourth photo where it is in bloom.

I fell in love with this plant several years ago and I’m very grateful that one of my neighbours let me snatch several plants from their garden. The flowers are beautiful and they bloom for almost six weeks!

Right beside this plant are my Cardinals – which are in bloom during this same part of the year.

Their flowers are very bright and oh-so delicate. My mom introduced me to this plant and she was right when she told me that hummingbirds are attracted to them. I’m still trying to get a shot of a hummingbird feeding on these flowers… Maybe next year.

When photographing my garden, I don’t just look to my flowers and veggies for inspiration. Sometimes I look up… to the sky!

I also try to teach my son, Devon, to also look up… to Nature! This is a image that I created for this new school year’s Peacebus (yes – Peacebus artwork coming soon!).

When looking for inspiration in any garden it is important to also look down… way down! This small dark spot on my lawn turned out to be a colony of small black ants. I’m not sure where they came from or where they were heading but it was interesting to witness this one-day event as it happened.

This is another interesting insect that made a special appearance in my back garden – and again, I had to look down to find it. It’s hard to get a size perspective from this photo, so I’ll just tell you that this wasp is huge. It’s the largest wasp I’ve ever seen! And the most colourful!!! I wasn’t sure what it’s name is so I named it myself – the Golden Wasp. I posted this picture on Facebook, asking if any of my friends knew what it was and I smiled to learn that I was not far off when I had named it. Its full and true name is the Golden Digger Wasp and from my photo you can see that it is digging. The two images that I’m sharing here, are the best pics that I was able to get – although I took many others. I sat and watched this busy wasp for almost half an hour on this day. I was completely amazed!

My Facebook friends also informed me that its habitat is found in some northern states that hug the Canadian border along the lakes of Southern Ontario. I find it unusual that we share the same habitat and yet I’ve never seen this wasp species before!

Since most great things come in, or happen in threes, I’ll end this gardening tale with this calming photo of a butterfly – the third insect/animal in this story. Since my wife is so focussed on taking photos of Devon – it’s her newest favourite passion – I was surprised to find this photo on the camera, one afternoon when I came home from work.
I told Joanne that I just loved this photo. I love the focus of the foreground with the abstract appearance of the background leaves. I love the angle and density of the butterfly’s wings. I love the contrast of the light and shadows in the background.
As you can see, my garden fills my heart with a lot of love. My main purpose in sharing these images with you is to inspire your own passion for gardening, so that you can also enjoy the wonders of Nature to enjoy the peace and love that surrounds us all… shared with us at no charge!

Thanks planet Earth!!!!

Jim

Gifts From The Earth

Over the last many months I’ve been happily snapping lots of photos of the flowers that I’ve planted around my house. Instead of telling the stories about how I planted them and the things I’ve observed during their growing and flowering stages, I thought that I’d do something a bit more fun. For today’s blog I’ll simply be showing my favourite garden photos in and around the lyrics of a song that I wrote a few years ago.

Please enjoy!

Our Only Friend


Can you feel my heartbeat
Pounding thro’ the strings



Of my guitar?
Oh! The joy it brings.


I’m singing simple songs
For the world to hear


About ‘Peace and Love’
Laced with a little bit of fear.


Can you feel your spirit
Raising in the air?


As you’re floating above life
You can go anywhere.


You can scale a mountain
Or forge the great divide.


You can dive in with the whales
And now you’re coming out the other side.



You can hug the moon
And kiss a brand new day
Cuz you’re young and wild.


Could you be a tree
With branches waving at the sky?


Once you were a seed
But then, you grew so high.


You’re changing with the weather
And the seasons, too.


White is your winter crown
And the summer brings the morning dew.


When you hug the moon
The night dissolves away,
Then your heart can smile.


Can you see the sunshine
Through the acid rain?


Dark clouds usher in
Ten thousand years of pain!


It’s not to late
If we find a peace to lend


We’ve got to learn
That the Earth is our only friend


You can hug the moon
And kiss both night and day
Cuz you’re Nature’s child……

Until next time – see the Earth, smell the Earth, touch the Earth and love the Earth! Appreciate all beauty that she brings into our lives and look for ways to share this inspiration with others!!

Jim

Happy Birthday – Here’s A House!

We took possession of our new (old) home on November, Friday the 13th – a very lucky day, indeed! Two days later it was Joanne’s birthday – a day neither one of us will ever forget!!!

Actually, we may both soon forget what happened that day (and the whole entire weekend), cuz those days are now a bit of a blur. When I close my eyes to try to remember all I can see are boxes – lots and lots of boxes! We were both quite exhausted from the move.

We finished moving everything by about 6pm on the Sunday – Jo’s birthday – and then it was time for pizza and beer! Less than an hour later we were crawling into bed, completely exhausted. It seemed like I had been asleep for about two minutes before the alarm was waking me up for work the next morning.

It wasn’t until that afternoon – when I was home between runs with my school bus – that I got a chance to really take a look around our home and yard.


This is our Maple tree! As you can see – cuz I couldn’t get the entire tree in the photo – it is quite large. And beautiful!!!


The rest of the backyard, beyond this maple is also quite large. There are a few small flower gardens running alongside the edges of our property, but other than that our backyard is a ‘blank slate’ for me and my shovel. My mind has been on overdrive, designing all the flower and vegetable gardens that I want to build!


Looking the other way, towards the house, you can see that we have another nice spacious area for enjoying the outdoors. I’ll be leaving a little bit of the existing lawn in this area, as I imagine we’ll be using this area for bbq-ing and playing badminton. There is a nice roof extension coming off of the garage that will allow us to stay dry while we watch all the thunderstorms that frequent this area.


One of my favourite things about our house is found in our neighbour’s yard. A huge white pine tree.

Most of you know how the Temagami forestland first inspired me to become an artist. Well, a large portion of the trees that live in the Temagami region are white pine. While I was in this part of Northern Ontario – so many years ago – I had many experiences that positively changed my life. Since then, I’ve always felt deeply connected with the Earth when I can let my mind escape into the presence of a white pine’s spirit.

I saw my neighbour’s tree and I felt blessed.


And this is Koly enjoying the front of our house. As you can see, there is wheelbarrow and shovel in this picture, as well.


It didn’t take me very long to get started. The amazingly warm weather we’ve been experiencing this year also helped to motivate my first gardening initiative in our new home!


I figured that this garden would be a good one to start with – simply edging the walkway that leads to our house. After the top layer of grass had been removed, the soil turned over and the roots from nearby bushes trimmed back, my first 2’x 3’ garden patch was finished – LOL!!!


I always like to kinda ‘feel out’ a project before I get too involved. After I had learned a bit from the first small square I had dug up, I was ready to really get dirty.


After the outside edge of the new garden was determined I used my edging shovel to cut the lawn into small squares.


I took each square of lawn and banged it against the side of my shovel to remove as much of the soil as possible – leaving a small mass of just grass roots.


Then, I took the squares of grass roots and created a ring around the maple tree at the front of the house. Since the lawn closest to the tree is higher that the lawn just a foot away, I laid down the grass squares only in these lower areas. Later I will add some more soil and voila! A new raised flowerbed circling my maple tree.

I always like to find a use for everything when I’m doing any sort of gardening work. Someone else, doing this job, may have regarded these squares of grass roots as useless and simply put them into garbage bags for the dump. I’m figuring that the roots will decompose over the next while to add nutrients to my new gardens. They are also helping me raise flowerbeds so I don’t have to buy any soil to accomplish that task.


Gardening is a great way to get a full body yoga workout. First I’m standing up, balancing on one foot as I cut the grass – then I’m bent over, stretching my back as I cut the grass squares loose – then I’m squatting, balancing with my knees bent, stretching my leg muscles as I bang the soil off the grass squares – before I do it all again and again and again!!!

Still, like any workout… after about two and a half hours I do tend to get a bit tired.


I was rather pleased that I was able to get this much done in one day. I really had to push myself – at the end – to get the beginnings of my ‘S’ curve dug out.

I may not be planting anything in these beds – especially at this time of year – but I’ll be so happy (next spring) when many of my flowerbeds are ready to go!!!

Hmmmmmm! I was hoping that writing this story would take a little longer, but I see that I’ve reached the end. Now, with three more hours of sunlight left in my afternoon, I guess I’ll have to go outside and continue with this garden. I was kinda hopin’ for a bit of a break… I think I hurt something, yesterday!!!!

Laughing Out Loud

Jim

Dedicated II

As I’m sure you can imagine, I woke up the next day feeling a little stiff and sore – LOL!!! But after a relaxing morning and a delicious breakfast (Joanne used the potatoes that I had dug up to make homefries, our toast was lightly covered with homemade red currant jam, the two small pancakes were filled with the blueberries that we had picked last summer and the bacon was purchased from a local butcher specializing in free-range livestock) I was soon geared up to continue my day in the garden.


Soon, this…


… became this!


The morning sun was starting to rise overhead and I rested for a few minutes by taking some photos of the last blooming hostas.

In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned that I do realize the when I remove the weeds from the garden that I am changing the environment very dramatically. The moisture in the soil quickly evaporates, leaving the ground rather dry. Like a demon I have torn asunder the homes and habitats of many toads, insects and spiders.

First it is necessary to realize that this whole area has ‘gone wild’ over the many years of total neglect. This is its first year of controlled cultivation. During this first year, many of the original plants still have roots and such in the soil and they will grow back with an attempt to regain control of this area.

My effort is an attempt to create a self-sustaining garden that all works together to create an optimum environment for all species – both plants and animals (and toads and insects!) First I had to establish the most dominant plant – either berry bushes or flowers (day lilies, hostas, etc). Now that I’ve done this, my next job will be to establish an ‘undergrowth’ community of plants that will keep the moisture in the soil and create habitats for toads and spiders as well as adding diversity of flowering plants to attract the bees.


This spring, I shared a story about a small patch of purple violets and spring tulips. I had dug up the tulips and transplanted them into many different areas throughout the garden. I also dug up the violets and divided the large root mass into many smaller root masses.


This is what that area looks like, now. The violets have more than tripled their original size.


They grow to about ten inches off the ground and this is an excellent height for an ‘undergrowth’ plant. You can see that they grow with many levels of leaves, filling in an area very well, thus dominating other weeds that may try to grow. They are open enough for toads to wander about and when they are stronger they will produce a very pretty purple flower to attract the bees.

The plan entails that next spring this patch will be partially dug up and small chunks of root mass will be planted throughout the rest of the garden.


This is another ‘undergrowth’ plant that I have helped to double in size, this summer. I’m not sure what it is, but it sure is beautiful. It too, only grows about ten inches high, with multiple layers of leaves. Its flowers are very small and delicate and when it blooms it looks like the plant is covered in the finest dusting of snow.

The plan also entails that I dig this patch up, next spring, to transplant the many chunks of root mass in between the hostas and the lilies. With these plants intermingled with the violets, I’m sure that this garden will be a much happier place!

This is the first year that I’ve entertained these types of new ideas. Just a few years ago, I began to realize how I could blend spring and summer flowers together in the same space. This year I’ve learned how to establish a multi-level garden that will help control the weed population as well as create a healthier habitat for all the things that grow and live in gardens.

I can definitely foresee me learning more about these methods of gardening so that I will be able to experiment with a larger variety of plants. I think that I’ve accomplished quite a bit, simply learning about these two ‘undergrowth’ plants – for this year.


It was getting on, in the afternoon and I was a little tired. I had completed a lot of work and I only had a few hours of sunshine left to enjoy on my weekend away from work. It was time to relax, in the middle of my garden, with a good book…


… and a locally grown Ontario peach!!!

Ahhhhhhh! The wonders of the sun and the riches that it produces will never cease to amaze me.

Jim

ps - I just noticed that this is my 200th blog!!!!!