Virtual Garden Tour 2000-2021

In your Grouse Mtn view - what are the low deciduous trees close to your sundeck?

And is that a tall pine tree?

@Acerholic - if you look really closely at the right-hand (east) side of the mountain ridge line, you can faintly see the sole wind turbine up there — I am not sure what happens to the energy it harvests — maybe it’s in case the wire power fr the city goes out?

 

The photo was actually taken from the front yard and our house is on a slope so the view is looking down hill at the ornamental cherries and plums that line the street. The pine - not sure what type as it is located on a neighboring property - is very tall...I'd say at least 15-20m (if you look closely you can see a street light in front of the tree, it sort of blends in).

 

Thanks Georgia, when I expand the photo I can see it. Wouldn't have known if not pinted out. Local knowledge Eh !!

 

My Erythronium oregonum are slowly bulking up - lots of young ones but 4 to 5 years from germination to blooming is a long wait. I notice how variable they are as to when in the season they bloom with some already finished and others just beginning to open. Here is an uncommon double flower head and also a scene beside the Englishman River where, like all the rivers and creeks, they bloom in profusion at this time of year. The pink Erythronium revolutum are later, just about to open.

 

Good morning Margot, I love the setting and the name of the river isn't too shabby either, lol.

 

After Margot's lovely posting, I had to look for a shrub in my garden that is just starting to flower now. It's my Viburnum tinus. The scent in this corner is amazing.

Edit 1, x Viburnum burkwoodii and not tinus

 

This one is from my garden a few minutes ago. My Sorbus lutescens Whitebeam.
It is just starting to open, so hoped you could share the experience with me.

Edit 1, Sorbus aria 'Lutescens '. Whitebeam.

 

Actually the Viburnum shown is x burkwoodii and 'Lutescens' is a cultivar of Sorbus aria and not a species "lutescens".

 

Thankyou Ron I will correct both.

 

I've spent the last couple of days cleaning up from our fence installation and now finally have a chance to start working in my gardens. And I can't believe how much has changed in just a couple of days.....even our mason bees have finally hatched out.

Red trillium aka toadshade
Fernleaf peony - this little plant is barely 8cm tall and going to flower!
Western sword fern
Tarda tulip - a delicate little plant no more than 10cm
Red Barrenwort
Flowering quince
Grecian windflowers
Pasqueflowers
Weeping larch - I love the soft leaves at this time of year (and they are leaves, not needles)

 

May we see your new fence?
What did you choose (wood or other material)

Yes I agree - everything is moving ahead so quickly with the last couple of daytime heat sunshine - and suddenly warm nights, too

 

We went with chain link because it's less maintenance than wood and won't have to be replaced (the new fence runs all the way up the south side to the front yard). It also lets a lot more light into the back garden so it will be interesting to see how the plants in that bed react.
Here are before, during and after images (my husband and I installed the retaining wall).

 

Looks great! I'm very impressed.

 

I like it too!
I like the black chain link

What brand of block did you choose ?

I am most familiar with Allan Block - being a slope dweller in a few diff homes, I think I have sponsored a few shares in the company :)

I highly recommend if budget allows - the « cap« to top the low wall

Again it looks great! Hard work too.

 

They are Allan block - we were quoted $4800 by a company to do what we did in two days with $500 (retail) in materials. And we were going to put on caps but my husband decided he didn't want the kids up the lane to use the wall as a bench while they smoked their pot so he put a thick layer of cement with pieces of crushed gravel (pointed ends up) on top.

 

Brilliant! And if that doesn't work, I've heard that playing classical music in the vicinity is also a very effective deterrent. If only it worked with deer and rabbits!

 

How old is your Weeping Larch P ? I do love these, but annoyingly they don't like my soil.
Bet you are pleased you can sit back and enjoy your garden after all the hard work. We'll done both of you.
.

 

I've only had the tree since 2018 but I believe it's about 8 - 10 years old now. It was originally trained in a twisted manner so is only about 1.5m tall - the trunk doubles back on itself like an accordion before arching downwards and then swoops in a semi-circular fashion that is horizontal to the ground.

This is not the best photo but you can see the trunk (photo was taken December 2020 after it had dropped it's leaves for the year)

 

A good time to see the structure of a Larch. I do hope you can post a photo in a few weeks when it leafs out .

 

Actually the larch leaves are needles. Anyway I can see you have the weeping Japanese larch cultivar perhaps referable to 'Pendula' that is universally sold incorrectly as weeping European larch. Because it has pink twigs (as opposed to tan). And that is what it would be anyway - weeping European larch just isn't seen on the general market with any significant regularity or frequency.

 

Yes I know, but leafing out sounded better than needling out, lol.

 

Thé native-to-BC larch are very common at a certain higher elevation in Okanagan Valley - usually the early autumn snow flies when the larches are yellow needles

I would estimate the larches are at approx 2400 feet above sea level but one would have to check me on that - look up Chute Lake Resort (it’s rustic!) elevation

It’s great to tour the little DIY projects people do by hand for big impact

@pmurphy - & here I thought the upright stones planted in wall were so your spouse could not skate board off it :)

 

Good morning, it is so very bright here today after yet another frost last night. So I thought some early greens from my garden with some white of course, to show not everything is getting hit.
Phlox Snowflake, Saxifraga, and Sagina Supreme.

 

Gosh it’s suddenly warm at the Pacific coast - not unusual - tho now we notice how dry it is and not surprising to already have wildfires in Okanagan (@OK Falls today)

It’s very « Cascadia » as some who view climate boundaries & and watersheds etc might call it

Meanwhile here are some coast blossoms and leaves — and some migratory birds, either trumpeter swans or Canada geese

Yesterday there must have been four huge flocks over us during the daylight hours - there is a certain sound their « honk n flapper » chorus makes as they fly Over a mile above us - hard work and very orderly!

If you click on the blue sky photo - and enlarge with the arrow in upper right corner - you can see huge flock of hundreds flying In to Sunset (ie flying toward Northwest)

Other pix include
Rhodos: PJM & Mission Bells ... I highly recommend PJM for bright contrast early season to go with the electric yellow of forsythia and daffodils and the bumble bees LOVE it. Plus it is long standing likely due to cooler weather but stands up in rain and hail in that late March climate

Mission Bells is nice overlap - and is lightly scented - tho I find it fades to a blah wet paper towel kind of look - again it’s trying to come out now when it’s 68F outside full sun. Maybe if it had some greenery shading it ....

What else?
Some Aspen leaves are emerging fast - Aspen have a special leaf connection to branch whereby they make a nice rattling sound (hence their Latin name). Aspen are native to large swaths of western NAm and turn gold in autumn and spread like mad - some of the largest single living organisms are Aspen (looks like a grove of trees but is one plant? Pls correct me!)

Thalia daffodil is a lovely white - often its sold in one of those blends w muscari (grape hyacinth) — skip the kit - buy separately and plant each in own pot and display together (I have poor luck w mixed kits)

Some mystery ferns and a volunteer hyacinth

And bleeding heart - the tall kind is just starting

And a mystery hosta unfolding - the first one of my many that I have edited in order to repeat my fav colors (not a fan of the jade blue hues or the patchy green/white — too much focal point distraction for my color preferences)

Some little viola I seeded last fall and left out in sheltered south spot all winter

And I am big fan of « hen and chicks » and I had little carvings made by a local artist so I stuck them in to the container for whimsical interest

Hope you’re enjoying your own little spaces with sunscreen and Tilley Hat (and a break w tea to admire your creative space w your fav companion

ÉDIT - aspens coming in to leaf photo w blue sky and Douglas fir and cedar trees

 

Why would the migrating birds not be snow geese?