And a year (almost) goes by...

--Front boulevard weed-fest, Summer/11--

Hi! Yes, that was a bit of a gap between posts.Apparently, 'twas a dormant period whilst life took a twist and a turn. This is a good thing.

I moved from my sweet little suite into a shared house last summer, lured by a large neglected garden with very very nice bones. I was possessed from the start, even going before I moved in to start mowing down the weeds.

Finally, after 15 years professionally gardening on the north shore, I have a garden to 'play' in! ( Driftwood Moongate with the magnificent Magnolia kobus sailing up behind.)

I waited all winter to see what this tree can do...

...And am doggedly pursuing a vision not yet realized...with the help of various housemates and friends (garden credits will roll)...to transform this...

Aug/11--Front walkway--

Aug/11--Looking down to left from top of walkway--

Aug/11--Tiered walls in back garden--

Aug/11--Back garden courtyards--

...to this...

Sept/11

...to this...

April/12
Yes, this is a rental, but other obsessive gardeners out there would understand this. Scooter-gardeners can't afford to buy real estate in North Vancouver/ownership is over-rated (don'tcha think??) and have I not --have I not--landed in a little paradise? Tell me that.

 Many more pictures to follow...Bless all things green & growing, herb-circles, firepits, horse poo, found junk that turns into garden-bed edging, trees that drop leaves for mulch, the human beans that come and go...

Welsh poppies and lady ferns...

...both self-sowing and lovely together. You really don't have to plant anything or design anything around here...if you like a waving palette of poppies, bluebells, fern-fronds etc. etc.

'Tis the time of year to submerge in plant energy and come up only when necessary. Magic.

I've just started up on facebook. 100 computer years later. That's how I roll. Whoops, cd's over, gotta switch it.

Island-time garden design...

Here are some design ideas from Keats Island this past long weekend...(two weeks ago already?)

While I am mildly confused by the rock, I was pleasantly surprised to discover at least one other stump-chair-maker in B.C. (my dad is one).

It takes a certain presence of mind, whilst chain-sawing down a large evergreen tree, to think, "Well, while I'm here, I may as well make a chair."

This person took it to another level, with arm-rests, and a mysterious planting in the seat. That also confuses me a little bit. But still, let's hear it for stump-chairs.

This next item cannot be easily duplicated, due to the time lapse required for the child's bicycle to assume a nostalgic patina whilst hanging in yon olde apple tree. A classic bicycle-garden moment.

This little Full Moon maple (Acer shirasawanum 'Aurea') claims the semi-shade by the kitchen window--a delicate tree amidst the rugged island woods.

So ya--gardener's holiday with the girls--we mowed the grass, and that's about it...

Fern Fables: Sword and Maidenhair

Our storybook sword-ferns are waking up in woodland-gardens on the north shore (here, bordering the steps to Daphne's grotto garden). Whoever still thinks that ferns are unassuming creatures trembling in dark corners has never looked a sword fern in the fiddlehead(s).

Sword ferns/Polystichum munitum can perch on precipices, border bedrock...

... or sink into the mellow dappled light of an understorey--and clearly draw a circle of personal space with their arching fronds.

Mine. All mine.

Maidenhair ferns/Adiantum pedatum are not as stalwart, but they are obviously happy in the pics below--basking in evening light, but shaded during the day, with an overstorey of rhododendrons and mature evergreens. These may be, in fact, the happiest maidenhairs I've ever seen (in Jim & Rojeanne's garden).

An illumination of unfurling fern fronds...

...

Something storybook about ferns...

Sunshine therapy

Such a beautiful day, I had to post my pics right away, lest the "rainy day blues" taint my blog for too long! I think many many people were finding excuses to be outside basking today. Sunshine therapy, so good.

Here's Leopard's Bane/Doronicum orientale--a little stunted this year with the cold, but still high enough to crest the Hosta 'Krossa Regal.'

Doronicum is the earliest yellow daisy and prefers light shade--it leaps out in spring then goes dormant soon after blooming. Apparently, it also discourages leopards, which can be convenient.

Seems like English bluebells are in a lot of shots these days. Kind of like those blokes that jump into other people's pictures...

An evening view, below, of all things green and growing in Jim & Rojeanne's Old Apple Tree garden. [Check out the circle of sky, mirroring the pathway. I did not plan that. O, the wonders of photography.]

One of the green-and-growing things is this patch of rose whips, snipped from the mother rose in Sue and Hugh's garden and sunk in the soil last fall. I set up a quick wigwam so they wouldn't get lost over the winter...and excavated them from amongst the English bluebells (funny that) to see how they're getting along...

And look! They're setting buds already! Now that's a rose.


Here's the old momma rose--pic from last year--a single crimson red with a name that may have disappeared in the halls of time. However, the point being: if you see a rose you love, ask for a whip and stick it in the ground (preferably in fall). Et Voila.

This pic (below) is the Mexican Mock Orange/Choisya ternata, which is almost as perfect as it can get this year. Usually, choisyas suffer somewhat over the winter and die back a bit, but this sea-level garden is a choisya-friendly micro-climate. I have to cut the stair-side back hard right after it blooms or it would engulf the stairs by midsummer. If you prune promptly, the plant will set new growth and an even bloom for the next year.

Bella bella.