We have had an area on our property that is about 2 acres, and was just grass. It was mowed a couple times during the summer, but was really not being used well.

So this year we decided to plant a forest. The Maitland Valley Conservation Authority was contacted, and we decided to go with a mixed forest. Spruce, pine, cedar, oak, cherry, sycamore and maple. Their team came out with the tractor and planter, and in a few hours they had about 1000 trees planted.

Of course, this was right in the middle of a very dry spell. Doug really wanted the trees to survive, and to get them off to a good start, so he watered them. Every one of those little trees got some love and attention. It took about 4 hours. Yes, we have enough hose to reach the back corner. And when we didn’t get rain for another week, he watered them all again. He’s been cutting the grass around them too, so they don’t have to compete for light.

The spruces seem to be doing well, the pines and cedar look a little stressed. Some of the deciduous have really leafed out, others are still just sticks. So we’ll have to see what next summer brings.

Now we have to deal with the deer. Apparently they love to nibble on baby trees.

This butterfly weed plant (Asclepias tuberosa) really surprised me. It has almost tripled in size from last year. It is so slow to get started in the spring, that most years I think I’ve lost it. But, then there it is!

The orange is so bright and beautiful, and such a fun little flower!

When I saw this begonia, I didn’t even think twice about taking it home.

I mean, the colours and ruffled flowers are just amazing! So pretty, much prettier in real life.

It’s early July and the garden is bursting with yellow – happy, cheerful yellow!

Canna lilies, saved through the winter, are bringing on the bloom.

This is the first year this lysimachia or yellow loosestrife has put on such a show.

Lady’s mantle yellow-green frothy flowers.

A few of the daylilies have started.

The chartreuse of the Sunburst honey locust tree is outstanding in the garden.

And I love the golden cedars.

This little sedum sends out lovely yellow sprays of blooms.

Yellow is easy to love and looks great with all it’s neighbours!

The reblooming lilac, Boomerang lilacs, are just coming out now, while the traditional lilacs are finishing up. All of the lilac bushes did really well this spring, even the new ones just planted last year.

The deer didn’t totally eat the Japanese rose (Kerria japonica), so it is nicely full of flowers this spring.

There are a few wild honeysuckle bushes in the garden, most of which I did not plant. I found another one this year. They find themselves a space to grow, and they provide a lovely bit of colour.

And the weigela is just about bursting. There are several in the garden, but this one is the only one at this stage.

The fragrant viburnum made it through the winter without rabbit damage, and had the most blooms ever, and fragrant they are!

The WillowPark Patch sign was mounted on a stump when we got it some years ago. But the stump began to rot and the sign was precariously close to tipping over.

Straps were attached to the sign and the tele handler lifted it off the stump.

Down the road, and to a new temporary location.

We tied it to a tree and the fence, and it will be here until a new base is built in the previous location.

Coming up on the May long weekend, the garden is at that luscious, fresh, bursting, 50 shades of green stage. We didn’t get out to do much work in April – the weather was not agreeable. But May has brought some favourable dry weather, and we’ve been able to get a start.

The rabbits did not get away with damaging too many shrubs this year. I double sprayed with Scoot last fall, and covered up anything I was really concerned about. Aside from the shrubs I left them, which they did their typical damage to, the others look pretty good.

There’s lots going on in the yard this year, but I’ll just start with the lilacs. They are doing really well, some blooming better than ever before. Like this one.

One from my dad is finally giving a grand show.

This was just planted last year, so it’s off to a good start.

This white lilac has been here for 20+ years, and some years it doesn’t do much. The blooms are really beautiful.

I really love lilac season, always bringing a bunch in the house for the fragrance. It is such a beautiful flower, and the season is so fast, it must be thoroughly enjoyed.

I have been taking my houseplants back into the house, and getting the tropicals and succulents into the workshop. I am pretty diligent about replanting most into fresh potting soil, and spraying for bugs.

However, I missed a few critters apparently.

This large toad was sitting calmly among the plants. I continued working around him, stacking pots and tidying up, when I was surprised by this guy!

A small garter snake. I tried to direct him with a branch, but he was intent on hiding in the shelves and pots. That evening Doug took the toad out, but the snake was nowhere to be found. The next morning, he showed himself, and he was still cold and sluggish, so it was easy to get him to the door and outside.

I guess I need to more careful when I bring the pots inside next year! I just hope I didn’t bring toads or snakes into the house!

This was the first summer to plant the circular bed around Celena, our new statue. It was a good growing season, and the cleome really grew!

Yea, so high that we couldn’t see Celena anymore!

Time to clean out the bed because I wanted to fill it with Daffodils for next spring. I first cut down all the stalks so I was just left with much more manageable stems to pull out.

Weeded, and cleaned up.

A few weeks later, and a lot of rain later, the bed needed to be loosened up and given a quick tilling.

I marked out the lines where I want to plant straight rows of marigolds next summer.

I had a LOT of bulbs, dug up from here and there, where they were overcrowded.

And I found this dibber when I cleaned out the trunk earlier this summer.

I just threw handfuls of the bulbs on the ground, trying to make sure there were some big ones in every section.

The soil was nice and loose, and the dibber worked pretty well, so I got them all in the ground in short order. Tamped them all in. Some rain is coming and that will be just the thing to help them get settled before winter.

Next summer, I hope to plant marigolds and blue salvia. Much shorter plants!

Although way too late in the season, I finally got around to repotting, remixing and replanting some succulent planters. Some of the old mixes were looking pretty bare and ugly.

I found some good containers at Thrift stores, but without drain holes. So we drilled small holes in them for drainage and found some cactus soil for planting.

I cut off bits from here and there, dug out small plants, and had a few new purchases. I tucked in small starter plants into the spaces.

This is a very odd shaped container that I thought would be very cool. The first attempt was not very cool. So this time I just tucked in a lot of small baby succulents, and we’ll see how that works.

The planters actually turned out looking really good. But they only have about a month outside before I’ll have to move them indoors for the winter. Next summer I must do the job earlier so they can really flourish in the sunshine.