The Townhouse Garden 2010 - Iris Came Back For Mothers Day

It's been a few years now but Iris is back, looking more beautiful that ever.

Iris on Mothers Day 2010

It was in the summer of 2007, when Iris, having been ripped from the only home she'd known and kicked to the curb, found her way to me. I welcomed her in, cleaned her up, and gave her some fresh soil. I didn't have a permanent spot for her to stay at the time, as her arrival was quite sudden.

In 2008, Iris was showing some recovery,with some new, healthy growth. Still in her temporary accommodation, news was that a more permanent home was just around the corner.

2009 brought some setbacks for Iris, a recent renovation left her a little worse for wear, being walked all over and garbage thrown at her.

Early Spring 2010, Iris is looking strong and healthy, in her 3rd year here, she's getting settled and really putting down her roots.

Mothers Day weekend, and Iris is back, a real star in my garden, and just to think only a few years ago she was unloved and unwanted, well I love you Iris, and you can stay as long as you want.

Time to make some Mothers Day flower arrangements, I went around the garden and cut some of the best flowers that were available today.

Lily of the Valley

Rhododendron "Jean Marie de Montague"

Forget-me-not

"Basket of Gold" Alyssum

Variegated Euonymus

Purple Columbine

Lilac "Mme Lemoine"

Curly Parsley

Arrangement for my Mother In Law

Arrangement for my Mom.

Richmond Garden Club Members Only Garden Tour 2009

Every year the Richmond Garden Club puts on it's Members Only Garden Tour. I always look forward to this event. Usually this is in July, my garden was is full bloom so I got a little creative and fashioned a flower hat for the occasion.

Here is my flower hat, a simple wicker hat with water spikes wired into the had, there are 3 types of roses, Abraham Darby (2 peach coloured ones on either side), Black Magic (3 to the centre, 2 to the upper, dark red) Double Delight (pink & white centre, what a wonderful scent) there is also Lady's Mantle (yellow flowers on green), lavender stems and Rhododendron. I kept the hat in the fridge to keep it fresh.

Here I am with my flower hat, taking the time to smell the roses. If any group of people would appreciate such a hat, it would be amongst my fellow gardeners.
A really neat potting shed. What a great use of doors and windows. If only I were that handy.
A little art in the garden. How every day items, new and old can be put on display and add a little cents of whimsy.
A nice place to sit a relax in the garden, but as any gardener will attest, it is a rare scene to see one resting in the garden, the moment you sit down to admire your efforts, you see something else that needs fussing with, and off you go again.
I really like the natural look of this fence around the vegetable garden.
Beautiful combination.
Poppies.
This was a neat little piece of garden art, a stone frog in the bird bath.
Enough said.
This goes to show you that container gardening can still offer up a lot of texture and colour to your outdoor space.

I really like the look of Geraniums in clay pots. It leaves me with an old English, glasshouse kind of feeling.

A sunny south facing wall is a perfect spot for tomatoes, they just need a big enough pot and lots of water.

To end the tour we visited a more natural garden, I saw so many dragon flies flying about. It was easy to capture a great shot of one, they are so pretty.

I like to visit as many gardens as I can, they are always filled with great idea's and such inspiration.

The Townhouse Garden 2009 - Flower Power, Pictures From The Season

Every season, it's important to make time to take some pictures when things are at their best, you wait all year for this moment, it would be a shame to let it go by without that memory to look back on. Especially when the weathers the shits and you wonder why you live on the wet coast.

A little harvest of onions, carrots and beans.


Stargazer Lily's bought from http://www.botanus.com/

Dahlia's "Rip City", they put on a real show.

My window boxes overflowing with Geraniums and Marigolds I started from seed. No that's not a new kind of grey foliage plant, that's my Dahlia's under stress in late August with powdery mildew.

Sweet Pea's one of my favorite garden flowers.

Gay Feather

I inherited this Daffodil from this garden, it has the most wonderful scent.

Peek-a-boo

This Sunflower "Russian Giant" grew to about 14 feet, a real skyscraper!

The harvested seed heads, great to leave out for the birds to pick at.

20" across in size.

Rhododendron

Sometimes you have to have your camera out at just the right moment, this butterfly stayed just long enough to get this shot. I guess I've created a space for the birds, the bee's and butterflies! I don't use any chemicals or pesticides on my garden.

Rhododendron "Horizon Monarch" I love the blousey flower trusses, a real show stopper.

Azalea "Crimson Red", English Daisy's and Gold Basket Allysum, I love the honey scent of the blossoms.

Cherry Blossom Tree, Kwansan also one of my favorites, a late bloomer.

Forget-me-not, a volunteer that comes back year after year

I really love the look of the dark green leaves and bright orange flowers of this marigold. Especially against the granite rocks.

Marigold "Sparky Mix"I started these from seed and transplanted them close together and they grew into a lovely mat of flowers that didn't need a lot of care and put on an real show till frost.

The Townhouse Garden 2009 - Summers Bounty

Now that the new beds have been created and amended, I planted my seeds.

Along with some Dahlia's, and Sunflower Seeds

Tomato's I started from seed,"Bonny Best"

The Garden is it's full glory, there's some radishes, carrots, onions, marigolds, sweet peas, pole beens, corn, a few Dahlia's and some weeds thrown in for good measure.

Those sunflowers are sure getting really tall.

I wanted to create a garden with rooms.
This is one of them, with some onions drying on the table.
Doesn't that look cozy.

Another perspective.

I'm quite happy with the way the backyard makeover turned out, but with all gardens it's continues to evolve.

The Townhouse Garden 2009 - Grass Be Gone

With the fence project behind me, I am left with a muddy backyard as shown below.

Yuck! This was the state of the grass in late March.

As the spring progressed, other garden project took my time, but I can no longer ignore the state of the grass. I had always planned on removing it, as it's just not practical in this little backyard. The fence shades most of it for half of the year and if that doesn't kill it, then my small dog does a good job at it to, as seen by the brown patches. So with a lot of elbow grease and many trips to the dump, I removed all the grass, put 2 layers of landscape fabric down, and put down 3/4 inch crushed granite and some stepping stones.



What a difference it has made to the backyard. It really looks great against the nicely stained cedar fence and the granite boarder fits perfectly. No longer are you distracted from the garden with shabby looking grass.

The view from the other side of the yard.
Another total benefit to this new ground cover is that it still leaves room for the dog to do his business, and when he comes back inside his paws are no longer dirty although he does miss his grass, but hey, that's what walks are for. So the garden continues to grow, oh yes I will be dealing with the 2X4's they are the cross pieces for the arbour. A project for 2010.