Iris time

The irises are just starting to come out. Lots of buds this year. This is 'Orinoco Flow' just after the rain.

Swing into Spring

Conifer growth

Spring allium

Heeeeeere's Isaac!

This picture made me laugh...reminds me of Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

Potential

Japanese Maples

The recent string of nice days has pushed all the maple buds open.

'Emperor 1'

'Katsura'

'Inaba Shidare'

'Aka Kawa Hime'

'Purple Ghost'

'Shaina'

'Goshiki Kotohime'

'Skeeter's Broom'

Weeping Larch, Year 2

It is amazing how this tree comes back from what looks like a tangled bunch of dead wood. It is pretty cool as it starts to green from the bottom up.

New Bamboo

Well, overwintering the bamboo from last fall in a buried pot did not work...so that one is going back and I found a new one. This is Fargesia Rufa 'Green Panda'. It is a clumping bamboo that is non-invasive and cold hardy. I found it at one of the local garden centres that I usually go to - Gardenland. This is the first year that they have carried it. It is by Epic Perennials as part of their Impact line. Pretty good deal at 15$.

Enjoying the weekend

What a beautiful start to the weekend. Although, it is supposed to storm pretty good tonight. Ben, Olivia and Isaac spent all day out in the back; Isaac especially loves running around out there, but there is always time for a cookie!

New additions

The good weather the weekend got the garden juices flowing again. We took a trip to Whistling Gardens and picked up a few things. The owner is a great guy and when he is done his setup is going to be amazing. He has a lot of rare and hard to find conifers and japanese maples. We picked up Acer Palmatum 'Purple Ghost', Acer Palmatum 'Aka Kawa Hime' (dwarf Coral bark) and a young Weeping Norway Spruce.
They are all young specimens, but should grow pretty quickly from what I read.

Acer Palmatum 'Aka Kawa Hime'


Acer Palmatum 'Purple Ghost'


Picea Abies 'Pendula'

Goshiki Kotohime

On the way thru Niagara on the Lake to visit my folks on the weekend, we stopped at a nursery that I have been wanting to get to for a while. It is called Mori Gardens and it is one of the best that I have been to. They have a great selection of Japanese Maples and other rare plants.
I was on a limited budget and could only go with one this time, so I chose a small Goshiki Kotohime Japanese Maple. Should get about 4 ft x 4 ft and has some nice spring colouring on the leaves.
Definitely have to make it a routine to stop here on the way thru.

Tales from the Sugar Bush

Nina and her sisters took all the kids to one of the local maple syrup demos going on in the area. She said it was REALLY muddy but they all had a good time.

Spring flight

Looks like spring may actually be coming...lots of buds showing, and lots of birds in the yard; the red wing blackbirds are back too, forgot how much I like their song.

Two new coneflowers on the wishlist for 09

One of the better garden centres in the area posted their 09 online catalogue today and I found 2 new coneflower (echinacea) that I want to add to my collection. The first is called Hot Papaya and is a double orange flower, the other is Milk Shake which is a double creamy white flower. Both are pretty pricey right now...have to wait for year end sales I guess.

Milk Shake


Hot Papaya

Family portrait day

We decided to try some home family portraits today...at least of the kids so far. I think they turned out pretty good. There were more than a few outtakes but worth the end result.

Ben


Olivia


Isaac

6 bucks and a slim chance

Well, it's about that time that I get the itch to get out in the yard and do something...I was drooling over some lawn mowers at Home Depot already this week. But in line with the economic times I opted for a cheaper fix and went with a window ledge seed start kit. However, not wanting things to be too easy I planted things that really have no right in this climate zone (5b). I planted 6 peat pods of White Pampas Grass (which the seed pack said is Zone 5 hardy - contrary to EVERYTHING else that I have read) and 6 peat pods of Agapanthus (Storm Cloud - I think). The Agapanthus seeds were harvested and gifted by my neighbour last fall. This one, if it works, will really surprise me although hers is going on it's third year...but we will see how it made it through the frigid winter this year. Below are pics of what I hope to get, but I'm not holding my breath.

Humble beginnings


White Pampas Grass


Agapanthus 'Lily of the Nile'

The itch is back...

Well, I have been back at planning the backyard again. The recent 'heat wave' (+4º C) has got the creative juices flowing again, not to mention I found out that there is a great new garden centre nearby that will be specializing in conifers.

Photoshop Phlamingo

New project

Here is my new refinishing project. Just picked it up on local online classifieds for $40.