I always had a dream of having a wedding in my garden,

but my daughter assured me that she would not be doing that.

And she got married last  November.

But my son and future daughter-in-law thought a garden wedding would be lovely.

So we gathered on a July Saturday afternoon.

The backdrop was beautiful.

Everyone sat in the shade, under the pines, and the bride walked the allee between the trees.

(Yes, that is my shipping container/storage shed in the background – please pretend it’s not there.)

We even moved the grand piano outside for the occasion.

The bride’s students came for the ceremony.

People could tour the garden, enjoy ice cream and watermelon, find a shady place to sit and chat.

Later we got together for dinner, speeches and dancing in the tent.

It was a totally epic, enchanting and extraordinary day.

Everything a garden wedding should be.

A great group of Grey County Gardeners came out to tour the garden.

There is usually time for a chat afterwards, exchanging lots of ideas and information about

our gardens.

The garden is suffering the effects of the drought, but there was still lots to see and enjoy.

I always look forward to a tour group, and this was another great experience!

This end of my vegetable garden is for extra hostas and perennials, and apparently, a few weeds too.

Today, as I went to check out the raspberry patch,  I surprised a groundhog.

Well, we surprised each other really.

He was busy digging a new hole for himself, inside the electric fence.

This is a problem.

How will he get out now?  How soon will he find the lettuce, beets and bok choy?

I unplugged the electric fence, hoping he would escape.

He wasn’t really afraid of me.

But when he did go inside his hole, I shovelled in the sand and dirt on top.

After a few times of repeatedly digging himself out, he seemed to get the message.

My husband saw him wander off into the field, so I plugged in the fence again, and filled in the hole again.

 

Every year I get fuchsias for Mother’s Day, always for our north porch.

These two are doing really well.

They get no direct sunshine at all, but lots of light.

I fertilize and water regularly, and I try to deadhead.

The third fuchsia has a ruffly pretty bloom.

And the fourth plant hanging on the deck is a streptocarpus.

It is full of blooms, looking really colourful.

I try to keep these plants tidy, cutting off the finished stems.

They are easy care, reliable plants, and you can try to keep them in the house during the winter.

I was pretty excited to see my wisteria in bloom for the first time.

The pergola is strong and sturdy so I hope the wisteria will be well supported.

I have to do some research on the pruning and care, but at least I didn’t have to wait years for the first bloom!

I try to buy shrubs that will earn their keep by blooming.

Some really lovely ones are out now.

The Abelia is not found in many gardens, but it should be.

Fragrance is so lovely, I just want to stand there and sniff, as if I can store up the memory of it.

Beauty Bush is another great bloomer.  Some years there is winter kill, but the last winter was mild so the shrub was ready to go.

Not really a fragrance to speak of, but great impact in the garden.  Smothered with blooms.

Of course, there are the weigelas.

These two finally had a show this year.  Rabbits and snow were hard on them other years.

And the variegated willow (Salix integra ‘Hakuro-nishiki’) is especially pink this year.

Every garden should have a few special shrubs.

 

Last fall we extended a garden bed.  I wanted a little more interest along the path.

We dug up the bed, and brought lots of compost in.

At the one end of the bed there is a catalpa tree I grew from seed.

I wanted to have a place for smaller hostas and beautiful ferns.

With the locust shade tree, catalpa, and blue spruce, I’m hoping it’s shaded in a few years.

I put in a few daffodils last fall, and a few other perennials I came across this spring.

And I had some dahlia bulbs that looked dead, but I planted them in the sunny end of the bed.

They’ve all actually started growing!

Last year I divided some hostas, and kept them in the vegetable garden for the winter.

The golf cart sure comes in handy to transport them to the bed.

I laid them out first to see where everything should go.

I realized the catalpa tree end is still pretty sunny so I saved some room for different perennials there, for this year anyway.

A good day’s work.

It’s always satisfying to see a new bed freshly planted, full with expectation and promise.

 

This year the viburnum beetles have done a lot of damage. Maybe the mild winter didn’t kill enough eggs.

The snowball bushes and the high bush cranberry shrubs are looking pretty bad.

I have resorted to spraying, so that slowed it a bit, but there are still caterpillars.

Only one consolation.

The cedar waxwings and other birds are finding lots to eat.

I think these birds are so beautiful.  I was glad to get a few pictures.

You can see how much damage the shrub has.

Hopefully the shrubs will put out some new growth again.

Many years ago, my husband built this plant/light stand for me to start seeds.

I have used it every spring for about 25 years.

This year’s seedlings are growing nicely now, and will be ready for hardening off in a few weeks.

Though I haven’t had them for quite a few years, I tried a few marigolds again.

They are reliable colour, though really not that pretty, or fragrant, or good for cutting.

What was I thinking?

I have a wedding in the back yard this year so I grew two flats of tall snapdragons for cutting.

I have pinched them all back, so they are branching well, and stems are sturdy.

Also, two trays of asters.  These are beautiful and excellent for cutting bouquets.

Some statice, although I don’t know if it will be blooming by the end of July for the wedding.

This ageratum has longer stems for cutting.

Some swedish ivy just to try.

Coleus. I thought it was a mix, but they are all the same.

Even some cleome germinated, from some seeds I  had saved.

And some assorted peppers and lettuce.

You can have great success with seed starting, and you can find all kinds of seeds for stuff you will never find in the nurseries.

And it’s a wee bit of playing with seeds and soil and plants that you can do in February!

Yellow is the theme of the early garden.

Daffodils of course.

Cowslips and primroses.

Forsythia bush.

The yellow branches of this curly willow, growing from the stump.

And the spurge.

Sunshine yellow lifts the spirits.