New items to deck garden

Added a Japanese Maple 'Skeeter's Broom' and Dwarf Globe Spruce.

Street family reunion

Aunt Jenny and my mom hosted a Street family reunion this weekend. Unfortunately, Aunt Sheila couldn't make it, and Aunt Hilda is probably locking down the hatches in St. John's as Hannah is bearing down. But those who made it had a great time. It was nice seeing everyone again, it's been a while.

Deck Garden Phase 1

New Japanese Maple 'Katsura'

Shot of the new deck garden with Weeping White Pine in front

End of summer

Pics from Nina's family reunion in Waterloo. Perfect day for swimming and a BBQ.

Dream Garden

Early morning autumn
Originally uploaded by Four Seasons Garden

This is a garden from the UK that won a national garden competition in 2007. This is my kind of backyard!
The garden is called Four Seasons and the owners have set up a webpage with more info (see my links).

Memories of Camping 08

Wildlife; Morphing Cicadas, Racoons and Bears, oh my.



Family breakfast:


Daddy and Liv fishing:

Obligatory fire shot:

Tired campers:

Leaving just in time:

Ladybug

Container planting

Pot on left: Leatherleaf Sedge, Purple fountain grass, Green and Purple Sweet Potato Vine and Ornamental Kale
Pot on right: Miscanthus 'Nippon', Heuchera 'Palace Purple' and Sedum 'Hot Stuff'

Two Pirates and a Princess

Trisha had a Pirate and Princess party for a bunch of kids yesterday. Very cute. They had a great time.

Daylily 'Tigger'

'Worplesdon' Sweet Gum

Well the free Pine Tree experiment failed horribly so I went out and found something to replace it. I was looking for a Sentry Ginkgo but had this one as an alternate and I really liked the leaf when I saw it up close; kind of Japanese Maple like and it should get great fall colour...stay tuned.

New Deck

My Dad and I build a deck at our place this weekend...despite a few setbacks at first it turned out great. Couldn't have done it without him. Now I just need to plant a garden all around it...WOO HOO!

Daylily 'American Revolution'

The big picture

Front yard

If the Thames turns to blood, I'm outta here...

...well the frog plague continues, these little guys are everywhere!

My favourite corner

This is my favourite part of the new front yard - right by the front door. Clockwise from top is: Vanderwolf Limber Pine, Miscanthus Sarabande, 'Abiqua Moonbeam' Hosta, Japanese Forest Grass 'Beni Kaze' and 'Inabe Shidare' Japanese Maple.

Garden visitor

We have lots of little toads (frogs?) in our garden lately. This one was the smallest yet...a big hit with the kids.

Which one is the monster?

Hmmm...

Wonder what she is wishing for...

Summer reading

This is one that I picked up on a whim. The funny thing is that I after I was about half way thru I asked my brother if had read any good books lately, and he had just finished reading the same thing...maybe there really is something to this shared DNA thing.
The book itself is a bit of a mind job (ie a conceptual shark that lives in the rivers of data and information in the world) but great for summer reading.

Backyard plan - Iteration 23,589 or something like that

The oft changed plan for the blank slate that is the backyard...

Rub a dub dub....

...three crazy dudes in the tub!(well, two dudes and one dude-ette).


"What?!?!"


Just chill-axing.

Dance of the Bubblewrap ballerina

I love Kijiji

This past Saturday Nina found someone on Kijiji (free local online classified website) giving away free trees. I had no idea that it would be this big! It was a bit of an ordeal digging it out by hand and planting it the same night, but worth it. I hope it takes the transplant OK; I inadvertantly cut a couple of the roots when digging it up but it seems to be doing OK other than a couple drooping candles on the top. I have been giving it lots to drink every day and the rain has helped as well...not sure how long it will take to let me know whether it is going to make it or not, so for now it is a waiting game. The same lady had another White Pine a little smaller than this one and a Blue Spruce probably about 14 feet tall but I did not have the room or the back to tackle those.
The spruce in this picture is a Baby Blue Spruce...supposed to stay fairly narrow and get about 18' tall.

Emperor 1

New Japanese Maple planted off what will be the corner of the deck...wood gets delivered on Friday. I love the glow that comes thru the leaves in the evening.

Take your pick

Lots of choices for the birds. I am trying to attract Blue Jays and Cardinals with the new tray feeder (closest). So far we get a lot of Red Wing Blackbirds and Finches.

Summer storms

Another storm blowing thru tonight, nice to see the rain, but the japanese maples are not digging the wind.

Safety in numbers