So here's the effect of the renovations so far:



Newly planted Black Lace elder!



I debated between this and a Wine & Roses weigela, which is a similar colour but a little smaller, but went with this one in the end because the nursery people tell me it's tougher. Given my crappy soil and the dry-as-dust conditions in this bed, it'll need to be pretty tough.

While there I was unable to resist the purchase of some asparagus, as burbled about previously, and some globe thistle, which I keep hearing about. It looks much cooler than it sounds, as a handy google image will demonstrate:




A few more pictures from the back, while I'm at it:



Bee balm and rose campion. What a lovely combination. Too bad I picked such a stupid location for them.






Lily patch, continuing in gloriousness. Although I spied one single, solitary beetle today. No rest from shit-bugs for the wicked.

This weekend has been the beginning of a ferocious heat wave that promises to continue all week, so I turned on the sprinklers this evening. The result, unfortunately, was that a few tall plants flopped over and broke. Lesson learned: SIX foot stakes for the delphiniums next year, and a "cat's cradle" arrangement with stakes and twine for the lilies.

As a silver lining, though, I got a nice bouquet out of it.

In June there bloomed a red rosebud - that is the flower for me

Front Yard



w00t, flowers! Cleome, mostly; either I accidentally picked a dwarf variety (again!) or they liked all the rain we got last year, because these are a lot shrimpier than the ones I had out back. Still, they're colourful.

This photo also features a swath of pink mallows that popped up in the - ahem - "lawn". They self-seed most perniciously, but they are pretty, and it's not like anything else is much inclined to grow in that patch of dirt. So let them do their thing and eventually I'll get around to building another bed around them.




Closer up: cleome, jupiter's beard, and mullein. Mini-mullein, really. I wasn't expecting it to bloom this year. They are supposed to get pretty massive - maybe this variety doesn't, or maybe it's just biding its time for next year, like the delphiniums did.




Super-awesome fiery red bee balm. This stuff gets taller than I thought, as I will exclaim about below re the backyard, but not before the baptisia blooms, so it can take over when the baptisia fades into the background. Or so the theory goes.




Siiiiiigh. Need to devote some attention to the foundation bed, because it looks like crap right now. A fringe of violets of doom around the edge, a random-looking tree that I strongly suspect is a weed, a ridiculous tree that is rapidly outgrowing its allotted space and never gets enough water so it's always browning and clearly stressed, a massive yew making a bid for total takeover, peony foliage completely overshadowing everything around it. Also hidden behind the money plant (which looks much nicer in the photo than it does in real life right now) is a ratty-looking juniper.

I don't even know where to start. A lot of the problem here is that it's so insanely dry and shady thanks to the overhanging second floor, because I could rip out what's there, but WTF else would I do with it? For example, the trick will be to replace the ratty stressed out tree with something that (a) can either withstand the drought or climb towards the house from a few feet out and (b) has some height to it. My neighbour has virginia creeper climbing up around the door, which looks great, and conveniently I have one of those creeping unwelcome around the backyard, so that's a possibility. Could also try a clematis or a honeysuckle, but those actually need to be tied to something, so I'd have to rig one of those sneaky string trellises from Lee Valley.

Maybe I should just transplant some of the damn hydrangeas and ferns from the backyard and let them do their wild and woolly thing here while I figure something out.




Somewhat nicer, but not without ugh and dismay. Again with the marauding yew. Google-fu tells me that you can prune the hell out of them, fortunately, so I'll have to give that a shot. And I have to remember to take soap and water to the mugho pine - goddamn sawflies - the larvae seem to have flown the coop, because it's not getting devoured any more, but the last thing I need is another set hatching out. Should fill up some of the empty dirt with some sort of low-growing ground cover stuff...relocate some of the dragon's blood stonecrop, maybe, since it got completely lost under the exploding artemisia. And that stupid freaking peashrub...ugh. I hate that thing, but every time I look at a picture I am forced to concede that its height and texture work well in that spot. Have to remember to prune all the stupid mildew-spotted suckers off the bottom.


Back Yard



If I do say so myself, this is starting to look not half bad. Slightly closer but still general shots (featuring awesomely filling-in patio thyme!):








Another view of the sun bed, showing the surprising results of chopping down the daisies, which were winding down. I wonder if the crocosmia is actually going to bloom this year - it's put up about 3x as many leaves, anyway. The intarwebs say mid to late July, so here's hoping. One thing I really need to do in the fall is to divide that massive chunk of bee balm that I foolishly put in the front and move it around to different places where it won't block my view of the roses. Haven't decided about the rose campion yet, that one's a little airier in habit, but may do the same with it too.




*happy sigh*





The only way I could be happier with this plant right now is if it had actually managed to, y'know, climb. But I prefer the flowers to height.




Right in front of the rose are irises of doom, which for some reason failed to bloom this year. They certainly look green and massive enough. I fear they may be overcrowded, but maybe they just need another year to get established. If they still don't produce anything next year I'll shuffle them around a bit.




Delphiniums. Taller than ME. And yet not flopping over. Squeeeee!




Rose campion and Teasing Georgia. Was totally not expecting the rose campion to survive over here, and it's not going as nuts as the stuff in the sun bed, but this is nothing to scoff at, I think.




And Operation Sudden Lily Beetle Death has paid off. OMFG.



I didn't think the show could possibly be worth picking nasty shit-bugs for, but...man. Look at that. I may keep them after all.

Time for a picture post!

Been awhile since I posted pictures of the front yard, so:



Mulch, how I ♥ you.




The flowering things are all cosmos. Dwarf cosmos, apparently - note to self: the variety that grows 6' tall is Sensation, not Sonata. I've also put in some cleome, so hopefully that will achieve some height in the back this year. Since the hollyhock seeds failed to take *grumble* I gave in and bought some in pots at Loblaws. The poppy seeds, however, sprang up just when I'd about given up on them. Considering they've usually bloomed by now, I hope they manage it before frost (or, alternatively, that the seeds that came up are the perennials).




The little purple-leafed geranium I bought at the beginning of the year is blooming! And the cilantro is close. Man is it ever nice to be able to go out and pick a few stems off when a recipe calls for 2 tbsp of the stuff.




Bright Lights swiss chard is as colourful as advertised. For some reason it particularly likes this location; it came up elsewhere, but is about 4x as big here so far.


In the back, meanwhile:



Check out the INSANE civilization of the east bed!! Need to wrest the corkscrew hazel back from the ferns/creeping jenny of doom, yet...but still!




Two plants blooming for the first time: astrantia, aka masterwort (pink) and trollius, aka globeflower (yellow). The globeflower is surprisingly impressive, actually, for a random impulse purchase; it's been blooming for weeks now and still going strong.




Newly purchased veronica. It makes a really beautiful combination with the foxgloves, columbines, and evening primroses in the corner next to the tree, but I'm at a loss to explain why they go so well. The blue spikes go nicely with the pink and yellow, but maybe there's some sort of subtle height and texture interplay going on too, the kind of thing they're always on about in garden magazines. Damned if I can articulate it. Must try to get a good picture. I begin to appreciate how garden photography is an interesting challenge.




I actually went so far as to pick a bunch of larvae off of these a while ago, swearing a blue streak the entire time. Lily beetle larvae are really, REALLY fucking revolting. I think I will stick to picking off the adults from now on. If they manage to eat the flowers despite all my disgusting labour, I am giving up.




I had forgotten that these even bloomed.




Prairie joy rose - the first of several flowers. Awesome. It seems much happier in its new sunny home, unsurprisingly, but is still quite spindly from its shady exile. Not sure how to fix this. Do I pinch off the tips to make it bush out?




The Blaze rose is also in bloom...



...in fact, about to explode into bloom!! I think I may be reaping the rewards of planting it over the former site of the compost bin.




To my surprise, it looks like the Fairy rose is also going to bloom this year, with several buds at the end of every stem. I was worried about this one because a few stems had gotten quite yellow and straggly a couple weeks after transplant. Despite being a condescending wanker, the guy I spoke to at the nursery was apparently right on, because a dose of fertilizer (which I have never bothered with before) seems to have spruced it right up.

GREAT LEAPS of progress out there the last couple weeks, my friends. BOUNDS of progress. GREAT STRIDES.


Shade bed, now featuring a Blizzard mockorange, some phlox, All Gold japanese forest grass, and pulmonaria.




Sun bed, continuing to fill in with awesomeness.




Wall bed, featuring madly blooming spirea and newly planted The Fairy rose.




Corner bed, looking surprisingly civilized, albeit empty in the middle.




Some items with which I am particularly delighted:

The rhododendron. SQUEE.


The lilies, showing evidence of my scrupulous attention to Operation Sudden Lily Beetle Death.


Alliums of fabulousness. I'm a little peeved that the "mixed" giant alliums I ordered turned out to be all purple, but they're fabulous enough regardless that I don't care all that much. Also, they multiply, because where I originally planted two there are now four coming up. w00t!


And from a couple weeks ago: apple trees in bloom.


Must also take a picture of the delphiniums, because holy crap, they are astonishing me with their will to survive. I hadn't really expected them to come back, but they in fact put up about three times as many stalks this year. Having learned my lesson from last year, I am tying every single one to a five-foot stake.

Additional progress in the front yard:

* snapped up a few cheapie plants in the market (lupins, lavender, cilantro, and a funky pink-flowering ornamental grass) and added to the new bed.
* planted seeds in the new bed as well: hollyhocks at the back, poppies of various heights and colours and longevities all around, bright lights swiss chard in the middle, some gigantor marigolds (just in case they might actually sprout when direct seeded outside) nearish the back. I have never yet succeeded in growing poppies from seed, but the packages insist they're easy to grow and that bed is the best approximation I have of their ideal conditions, so here's hoping.
* the peonies are (knock on wood!!!) looking like they might actually manage to bloom this year??!? Again, here's hoping!

Progress in the back yard:
* Operation Lily Beetle Sudden Death continues apace. I could only find two of the little bastards to squish the other night; this morning I couldn't find any. Trying not to get my hopes up, as they will no doubt be back in force soon enough. Sneaky tricks I have discovered:
* it's hard to tell whether you've squished them enough to actually kill them dead, and it's gross besides, but picking them off and chucking them in a bucket of water will make sure and is not as squickifying.
* my cousin had the excellent idea of wielding needle-nose pliers at them, since they like to hide in the folds of leaves and fall right off the plant and hide in the ground if you are too clumsy to nab them right away.
* use a short bucket of water; that way you can lean the plants over it and just brush/shake the beetles off into the bucket. Much less gross than squishing them.
* check the undersides of the leaves - eggs, like adults, are bright orange and easy to spot.

TO DO
* plant today's spoils. SQUEE.
* buy some of those tall hardwood stakes and fix up the delphiniums - also the japanese maple, which has grown a few inches since last year, astonishingly enough.
* ongoing weeding of doom. Bleh.
* On that note: MULCH. How I am going to manage this exactly I'm not sure, because it will involve a crapload of the stuff. But nonetheless.
* Clean up the throughway, it's getting embarrassing.
* de-dandelion the backyard lawn and add some more clover in its place.
* mow the lawn front and back. What a concept.
* hunt for a shade-tolerant mockorange and possibly a bicolour buddleia, if there is still a sunny bare spot that's big enough.

Hmm, good job I waited to go get groceries, suddenly it is pouring out. Hopefully this will not be an all-afternoon state of affairs, I wanted to go wield my new bigass pruning choppers at the anonymous shrub. I'm pretty sure said shrub is a spirea, so I shouldn't hack at it until after it's bloomed, but the dead wood all around the bottom can come off, anyway. I tried applying my normal pruning shears to this task and they just weren't up to it. Once it stops raining I will also have to go out and wield Neem oil at the lilies. My usual weapon of choice has apparently fallen under the pesticide ban...which, for the record, I totally support, but dammit, rotenone was the only thing that actually worked on the beetles. Well, I hear good things about the Neem, you just have to reapply it constantly (e.g. after it rains, after watering, every couple days otherwise). Hopefully it will be effective.

Found a place via UsedOttawa.com selling calcified sandstone of all shapes and sizes for $100 a ton. Since a ton is estimated to cover 200 sq ft in 3" rock, and I need 325 sq ft, I could probably get all my patio stones (since they only need to be about 1.5" thick for my purposes) for about $100, which is eeeeeeeeexcellent. The trick of course is that you have to pick it up yourself. Well, UHaul's website tells me that their cargo van carries a max load of about 3700 lbs, and a ton (assuming it's a metric ton) is about 2200 lbs. Then I'd just need to find a good source for crushed rock, sand, and topsoil. Greely Sand & Gravel is the first Google stop for such things...hmm, not sure how metric tons and cubic yards match up, guess I'll have to ask about that to get price confirmation, but I *think* I might be able to achieve this patio within a budget of $500...yep, confirmed. Sah-weeeeeet.