Gardeners! Share your garden photos and garden chatter here.

[SquarePeg]

@terri love the monarch story and pics!

 

[terri]

@terri love the monarch story and pics!

Thanks! You're partly to blame for my enthusiasm, so I knew you'd appreciate the effort. Monarchs are faster to pupate, and pretty easy compared to the swallowtails who can chomp down a whole plant in 2 days!

Speaking of which I finally found some swallowtail cats on the sacrificial parsley plants I put outside. Those have been the more scarce this summer than the Monarchs!

 

[SquarePeg]

Recent garden blooms - the dahlias are finally starting to pop! Worth the long wait - planted these on Mother’s Day.

Coseytown Gale

Jowey Frambo

Coralie

RIP City

Bishop of Canterbury

And the major Wheeler is still blooming. Yes I’m just rubbing it in at this point

Still no influx of butterflies. Lots of bees and dragonflies and steady hummingbird sightings. Still waiting on my zoom/macro lens back from Fuji so no hummingbird pics

Weather has cooled and it’s nice to shut off the ac and open all the windows. Happy gardening weather!

 

[jeffashman]

My garden is going to take a change. I tried zinnias this year, but the heat has just been too brutal for them. Even the Major Wheeler has been struggling, but hanging in there, but only one flush of blooms and they dropped in just over a day. After some research, I'm going to focus on plants that will be more tolerant of the conditions, beginning with a Zephirine Drouhin climbing rose for the patio. They are supposed to do well in the heat, are drought tolerant, and bloom even in partial shade, so I will be ordering one soon. They are supposed to be very fragrant as well. Due to costs, I've semi given up on a deck, so I will have a large DIY arbor, about 10'x10', with lattice in the corners and on the top and I will plant wild grape, because it grows crazy here, so it should provide a green, leafy, shaded area to sit under. I'm putting an Eastern Cottonwood in one corner of the yard, and probably an oak in another area, although oaks grow fairly slow. I'll have to be strategic to make sure I can still plant pollinator-friendly plants like purple salvia. And Vinca, because Vinca like hot and dry. So much to do.

 

[SquarePeg]

My garden is going to take a change. I tried zinnias this year, but the heat has just been too brutal for them. Even the Major Wheeler has been struggling, but hanging in there, but only one flush of blooms and they dropped in just over a day. After some research, I'm going to focus on plants that will be more tolerant of the conditions, beginning with a Zephirine Drouhin climbing rose for the patio. They are supposed to do well in the heat, are drought tolerant, and bloom even in partial shade, so I will be ordering one soon. They are supposed to be very fragrant as well. Due to costs, I've semi given up on a deck, so I will have a large DIY arbor, about 10'x10', with lattice in the corners and on the top and I will plant wild grape, because it grows crazy here, so it should provide a green, leafy, shaded area to sit under. I'm putting an Eastern Cottonwood in one corner of the yard, and probably an oak in another area, although oaks grow fairly slow. I'll have to be strategic to make sure I can still plant pollinator-friendly plants like purple salvia. And Vinca, because Vinca like hot and dry. So much to do.

I have that rose and it has proven to be very heat and drought tolerant. It’s in the brick flower bed in front of my house which is south facing so gets full unrelenting sun for about 8 hours straight and doesn’t really get any rain because of the roof overhang. I water it 1-2x week during the heat waves because the soil in that bed gets very dry. The smell is very powerful. If I open my living room window I can smell it all throughout the house! The color is so vibrant. I planted this last year I believe. Just got the trellis up early spring. Hoping to have it climb up and partway across the top of and bottom of the large window. I pruned it after flowering and it looks like it may produce another round of blooms for late summer. Will let you know.

 

[jeffashman]

I'm ordering one this next week, because they need a couple of months to establish in a container. Looking forward to this one. As I learn which plants do well in containers with our heat and humidity, my garden will continue to morph into my retirement paradise.

 

[cgw]

"Meh" year up here. Long cold winter and a late sluggish spring. Once the gang of new "old" roses went in at the Ruin, progress slowed to a crawl. Weather was dicey but worse was discord that put in "Park" our rehab/reorg efforts. Changing shade patterns resulting from tree removal/tree growth over nearly 50 yrs meant restoring many old beds to their '70s look was out. The patriarch didn't get it and balked at change. Suspect this perturbed my beloved MIL's ghost. Always pragmatic and flexible, she would have agreed with our strategies. So it's now lawn-mowing, minor pruning/invasives removal jihad and simple maintenance only. Future garden plans proceed along with the Ruin's projected reno program. It's all why I drink...Hah!

 

[terri]

And the major Wheeler is still blooming. Yes I’m just rubbing it in at this point

Brat.

 

[SquarePeg]

Some plant carnage yesterday making room for a new bird bath. The tall cone flowers were out of place in front of the other plants and needed to be moved to the back so I cut them down and split them then moved them to better locations

I replaced them with some short garden phlox that needed to be moved behind the bunny barrier!

Have these catmint mint that I want to split and finish out the walkway but not sure if I should wait for spring or do it now? They were already split once before the initial planting a few months ago. They’ve doubled in size since then.

 

[cgw]

Embarrassment of riches...Be sure to keep all that handy for January!

 

[snowbear]

I went stoned the edges of the back yard and the dock area with the line trimmer. I found a few little blackberries and something else with orange and red smooth berries, a little digger than those found on holly. I’ll get picks tomorrow.

 

[cgw]

Beginning<<gulp>>to feel Fall-ish! Going light on new spring bulb orders. Have lots already but new catalog prices make us wince, especially for the rarities. So much work remains at the ruin. The kid and I finally wound up our jihad against birdplants, buckthorn, black walnuts and maples. The kid had great luck growing annuals from seed this year--varieties the garden centres never sell--and will expand the program for 2026. Losing Ontario rosarians to retirement. Great old boys who nurtured the good stuff--old damasks, Bourbons and other "heirloom"(Lord, a term I loathe)roses. Glad we grabbed a trunkload beyond an order placed with an old Niagara-on-the Lake Ontario grower who called it quits this spring. Not a rose junkie but rescuing, relocating and reviving my MIL's oldies hooked me. Am told there are worse addictions--hah!

 

[jeffashman]

Garden is taking more shape. I finally transplanted the Eastern Cottonwood from its container into the ground. I also put a Rebel Jasmine vine in a large planter next to a lattice along the western fence, and the Zepherine Drouhin, a Bourbon climbing variety, in a container on the patio. A vacillated on the idea of pulling up all my Zinnias because they grew so tall and leggy that they are now laying down, but they are flowering, so I guess I'll leave them. Never knew Zinnias could grow to 3 feet tall plus. I also need to collect the seeds from the Butterfly Milkweed, before the wind sends them flying all over the neighborhood. My indoor aquarium garden is also taking shape. I just "planted" some Anubias "White Rose" which is a white colored small leafed Anubias, along with an Anubias mini coin, a flat of Dwarf Pennywort, and several Java Ferns, and some Water Spangle floating plants, added to some existing Jave Fern, Anubias, and some "Thor's Hammer" Java Fern. Now to sit back and patiently wait for them to start filling in.

 

[SquarePeg]

Shall we start a separate thread about houseplants to get us through the winter months?