Every spring one of the first things I check is the agapanthus patch.

It is pretty exciting to see the little green shoots that made it through the winter.

The patch is getting bigger every year.

This year there are about 20 gorgeous blooms.

Such a beautiful blue.

I jus found a starter clump at a nursery for $24.99, so I hope I don’t lose the plants I have.

Rather costly to replace.

The namesake of our garden is a huge old willow.

Every few years it loses a big branch.

I had been in the garden for an hour when I circled around this way and saw this.

Not too much damage at this point.

A precarious perch to try and clean it up.

Soon it was a pile on the grass, and then taken away to the burn pile.

In the park, there is a large garden bed that was one of the first ones planted.

It has become a place for the extras and not so favourites and spreaders.

Although, it does look lovely now and again through the season.

This area was taken over by two large anthills, so some of the plants were removed last summer.

Other wildlife has moved in.  Can you spy him?

I’m trying to get rid of the ants so I can replant.

I don’t think the ants are gone yet, but I’ll be working on this area sometime this summer.

This little guy will have to move on, too.

Oh, and I saw this as I headed back to the house.

 

This summer I am tackling some of the overgrown areas of the garden beds.

One of these is the bed by the pond.

Ferns are overtaking the plants and this area is full of overcrowded daffodils.

And an arabis is spreading widely, but not really blooming well.

So I dug out the whole patch.

Got quite a few daffodil bulbs.

Now the other side of the bed looks crowded too.

This is a really cool fern, if you could see it.

And the rhododendron won’t be happy like this.

Way too much Lady’s Mantle.

So I think I’ll be doing a bit more digging and dividing.

 

One of the pine trees in our row of pines was no longer alive.

So it was time to remove it.

There was some discussion on how to direct the landing, as in, not on the shed, the garden, the vehicle, or other trees.

Finally, a plan was in place.

The first notch.

The second notch.

The push.

It falls.

Tidily between the shed and the garden.

I’m relieved.  He was never worried.

All cleaned up.

We’ll keep the stump.  A nice place to display something special.

On June 22nd, I had 3.5 inches of water in the rain gauge.

On June 23rd, I went out to check how much rain had fallen in the night.

At first I couldn’t find the line of the water.

Then I realized why.

It was full.  From 3.5 to 8 inches of water.

There was 2-3 hours straight of lightening, thunder, and pouring rain. Then I fell asleep, and I guess there was more.

A dam in a village upriver broke, and the water rose in our town.

This is someone’s back yard.

The park beside the river.

The sun was out today, and the waters have peaked, so hopefully no more rain for a bit.

I didn’t get too creative with the pots this year.

I bought some calibrochoa in some fun colours, torenia which I love,  fuchsia impatiens, some ivy spillers, and a variety of coleus and begonias.

This combination looks good every year, so I did it again.

Some fun colours, maybe too many.  We’ll see.

Such a beautiful colour of begonia.

Put the plumbago in pots this year.  I’ve had them in a sunny spot in a wheelbarrow other summers, so now they have more shade, which may not be good.  I have overwintered these plumbagos.

Window boxes hold begonias, coleus and bright impatiens, bold against the yellow brick of the house.

And the cement planter.  Still experimenting with this one, only the second year.

And I always have hanging fuchsia and streptocarpus for the hummingbirds.

I rarely buy prepared mixed planters, but I do find it a bit overwhelming every spring, getting them all planted.

So I’m happy when they are done, and I can just enjoy the colourful flowers all around the deck and patio!

 

A couple of years ago, I bought this shrub.  I always try to buy shrubs with some sort of bloom, but this one hasn’t bloomed since I planted it.  So I forgot what it was of course.

Until this spring when these little red blooms appeared.  Then I had to look it up and find out it is a calycanthus, or sweet shrub.

Little buds open up into lovely red blooms.

Leaves are big and glossy too.  So looks good even when blooms are done.

In a few years it should be really stunning, covered in these red flowers.

Fun to be surprised by something you forgot about!

Because of the mild winter, there was very little winter kill on the beautybush.

Both shrubs are putting on a good show this spring.

Masses of tiny flowers.

Not a common shrub in gardens, but definitely an uncommon beauty.

This is the vegetable garden on June 12th.

We planted it on May 30th, so some seeds are pretty slow. Two rows of beans are up, the other two rows are showing no growth yet.  Most of the other seeds are not up either.

The plants you see were started earlier.

Snapdragons and asters for cutting later.

Tomatoes.  Only 5 plants this year, with the new stakes from Lee Valley.

A few peppers, still looking pretty spindly.

Variety of herbs – rosemary, thyme, cilantro, parsley, basil, and mint.

Lettuce.

And a bit of space for cucumbers, zucchini, and butternut squash.

I think the soil was still a little wet when it was tilled. It is hard and clumpy, which I’ve never had before.

I don’t know how the vegetables will grow this year.  So far it does not look too good, but there is time yet.

And the electric fence was out of one bracket, so I know something tried to get in!

That’s working anyway!