Virtual Garden Tour 2000-2021

Discussion in 'How's It Growing?' started by Margot, May 15, 2020.

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  1. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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    How do wild turkeys and large wildcats (lynx or bobcat?) co-exist happily?

    Where do turkeys roost?

    (I know where they roast — in Nov :)
     
  2. Nik

    Nik Contributor

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    In addition to bobcats, we also have plenty of coyotes. I suspect they are around because in addition to smaller prey, turkeys and deer are abundant in the area.
    The turkeys roost on tree branches (usually low). They do not fly very well..
     
  3. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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    @Margot
    Lovely, cool and calming
    Cold strong tea - in a tall glass, no sweetener please :)

    Your hosta is pretty esp in the terra cotta planter — is it direct planted or is it in a plastic nursery pot placed in the decorative terra cotta?

    How many plants did you dig and move from Burnaby (back in the day) —-ok we’ll believe you ... so basically the 5 ton truck carried all the garden and maybe some household items — ( that was one of our family moves — our dad filled the 5ton van truck with his tools and treasure — and we had to almost tie the furniture to roof of car ! )

    ———
    I looked at your hosta photo and I have a similar one — the label says “stained glass” —- that said, i know there are endless hostas that - dare I say - kinda all look the same! Ouch.

    I have mine in sturdy black nursery pots - then I plop them in to some fibreglass fake ceramic-looking decorative pots

    Heuchera and some dried vacinnium (red huckleberry) twigs go with one of the hosta containers - with driftwood off the beach. One piece looks like an orca w its dorsal fin. The other driftwood looks like a sea otter and young one resting peacefully.

    And is it sedum? I always forget the autumn flower that’s red-purple goes with the other hosta (also stained glass)

    I think “stained glass” hosta is my current fav. Mine are in pots so the scale is right — and mainly all day shade so the color and leaves stay almost perfect
     

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  4. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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    @wcutler
    It is amazing all the solo bulbs and also the mixes commonly avail here in West Canada (I don’t know back east)

    I often have to refer to the main catalogue at every garden Center “florissa” brand by Van Noort

    Just click on “spring 2022” to check out all the lilies and names

    I have the “starlight starbright” and it has reverted to a Stargazer look

    And fwiw I did try the roselily romance frilly looking oriental lily and it was a failure for me. It didn’t look right and so I went back to the traditional shape petal flower.


    Our Catalogues - Van Noort Bulb - Wholesale Flower Bulbs Langley BC
     
  5. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    That hosta is not Stained Glass though I have to say, SG is my favourite hosta among a fairly small collection. I have lost the name of the one in the terra cotta pot (actually in a black pot plopped inside the larger one.) I've always admired hostas without being hugely enthusiastic but over time, appreciate their merits more and more vis-a-vis the sun-tolerance of many and also their patience with not always being watered as often as they would like.

    I like your combos with dried vaccinium, heuchera, sedum and driftwood - will have to keep those ideas in mind. Not to mention cold strong tea in a tall glass with no sweetener!
     
  6. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    I just came across a 2012 photo of a garden I planted under 2 Garry Oak trees. At the time, I thought that the plants were fairly well spaced. Ha! They were not and now I'm trying to prune enough for everything to have a little elbow room.

    I'd like to dig the hellebores right out but the ground is now almost impenetrable with tree roots. It seems that the Garry Oak roots I disturbed when planting have reacted by suckering enthusiastically.

    The one good thing is that our view the neighbour's house is well screened - at least in the summer.

    2012 side garden.JPG 2021 Side garden.JPG
     
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  7. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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    It’s suddenly become chilly these days in the shade at the coast

    I compared pix to last year and these cyclamens are approx 10 days earlier in 2021
    EDIT - background is of course my fav acer circinatum (native vine maple)

    I notice this time last year I had lilies — all gone 2021 (sad face)

    However it is part of our wonder — I am glad there are systems bigger than humans

    One group of garden guests today was a mixed flock of cedar wax wings + w tanagers

    And I notice a sweet little - maybe - Wilson’s warbler - I think - squeaking on a branch awaiting an adult who fed it a bug or berry

    And both types of hummingbirds right now

    I have to make rhymes (how do I spell pneumonic - a reminder word or phrase)

    Anna’s = all year
    Rufous = return next yr
     

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  8. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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  9. AlainK

    AlainK Renowned Contributor Forums Moderator Maple Society 10 Years

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    I have cyclamens too, they naturalize well here in my garden, but they're far from showing any flowers. They usually bloom in mid-September, in three weeks' time...
     
  10. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    My Cyclamen hederifolium have been blooming for a couple of weeks already - much earlier this year than most. I sure like them - not only beautiful and self-propagating but shade, drought and deer tolerant. They are the perfect plant for my garden these days, faced with the dual challenges of drought and deer!
     

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  11. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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    Hello September 2021
    And happy Spring in the Southern Hemisphere

    Where my coastal Rhodo seems to have taken a journey to visit its cousins in New Zealand perhaps? (In its imagination only)

    Based on its lovely display right now

    It is Yaku Prince
    Approx 11 yr old

    It suffered from a significant die-back approx 8 yr ago from that plant disease that swept through some nurseries and closed them for a year (Ag Canada)

    I think the disease had an H in its name - a virus?

    Anyway - one branch survived on this Yaku Prince and looks really healthy

    It has distinct underside to its leaves — rusty color and light fuzzy

    A nice compact bloom that fades to what i call “Kleenex pink”. (People used to decorate parade floats and wedding cars with Kleenex flowers - a diff era!)

    The first THREE pictures are — RHODO Yaku Prince at the Coast (blooming now)

    Then we move to our Okanagan life featuring fresh peaches fr neighbor orchard - I forget the variety but it is freestone and firm flesh

    And we turned the fruit in to an old family recipe - fresh peach pie (cooking with jello and an ice box circa 1960 something — to go with aforementioned Kleenex parade flowers :)

    The blue sky photo is my all-time coast fav Vine Maple (acer circinatum) - a bc native that is pretty good with no extra watering (once established in good soil)

    The fluff in same maple pic is a single fireweed I left for the two types of hummingbirds (Anna’s & the migratory Rufous who esp like it)

    In foreground of same photo maple are a couple of Rhodos - one in left is one of my fav Percy Wiseman? I think

    The right hand one with furled leaves has been a struggle - I think it might have root competition fr vine maple

    When it gets cooler and wet I plan to ask garden digging person to remove it and I will find new place for it to see if that helps.
     

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  12. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Fresh peach pie is the best! I made it recently (with purchased peaches) with ginger snaps laid on the bottom instead of crust, and half the peaches made into a glaze poured over the rest of the (uncooked) peaches. No baking, just put in the fridge.
    I can't remember if it was a conversation or something I read recently about a lot of people still holding onto the term ice box.
     
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  13. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    Going a-w-a-y back, I can remember visiting my grandmother in Vancouver and waiting for the 'ice man' to come along the street in his horse-drawn cart, delivering big blocks of ice to everyone who still had ice-boxes to keep their food cold. In the summer, he would sometimes chip off bits of ice with a small pick to give us children. In turn, we'd feed his horse carrots.
     
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  14. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    I wonder if you are thinking about Sudden Oak Death (Phytophthora ramorum)?
    https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/f.../plant-health/phu-ramorumblight-diebackss.pdf
    Maybe 'h' refers to the 3 in 'phytophthora'. There was a serious problem in 2019 on Vancouver Island and I also recall another scare when it was discovered on the Lower Mainland around 2005 at the Burnaby nursery closest to me.
    I didn't think plants could recover from the pathogen though so maybe something else affected your rhodo.

    EDIT: It was hard to find anything about SOD ~2005 online but I have just found these:
    https://www.nytimes.com › 2004/12/23 › garden › millio...
     
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  15. pmurphy

    pmurphy Contributor 10 Years

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    I've been so busy lately having to move some plants - this is the first time since I started my gardens back in 2012 and some plants are just in the wrong places now - as well as replacing rotting landscape ties with cement blocks. But in my "spare time" I've had to deal with some harvests.

    The rats were helping themselves to my nectarines so I had to pick them and make jam...
    IMG_7338.JPG
    (we got about 10kg off our little dwarf tree)

    We also had to deal with the Chinese chestnuts...
    IMG_7345.JPG
    We got two 5 gallon buckets full but I think next year I'll invest in a pair of welding gloves to handle these things...
    Each bucket translated into one pan of nuts once processed but we have more than we can use so I might be posting free on Craigslist if I can't find some recipes for preserving them.
    IMG_7344.JPG
     
  16. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Marron glacé - Wikipedia?
    A recipe looks like it takes a lot of time, but much of it is soaking time.
    I have never made these.
     
  17. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    I had never heard of Marrons Glacé before and, after reading some recipes, probably won't take the time to make them (4 to 6 days according to one recipe). I don't have any of the right kind of chestnuts anyway. The preferred chestnut, according to what I just read, is Castanea mollissima (Chinese Chestnut).

    It's worth remembering that what we often refer to as 'chestnuts' or 'horse chestnuts' are not the culinary chestnuts and are toxic. They are from trees in the genera Aesculus which have been widely planted in N. America are sometimes incorrectly represented as an edible variety.

    American chestnuts (Castanea dentata) once grew in vast forests across the eastern half of the country, but they were virtually wiped out by a disease called chestnut blight several decades ago.

    Read more at Gardening Know How: What Are Chinese Chestnuts: How To Grow Chinese Chestnut Trees https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/nut-trees/chinese-chestnuts/chinese-chestnut-trees.htm
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2021
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  18. pmurphy

    pmurphy Contributor 10 Years

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    Thanks for the suggestion, I found a recipe that doesn't look too time consuming (only 18 hours of soaking) that I think I'll try.
     
  19. pmurphy

    pmurphy Contributor 10 Years

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    With all the work I've been doing I haven't had much time to look at individual plants so I was a little surprised to see something new blooming.

    To give a little background history I have three cultivars of the rose of Sharon (hibiscus syriacus); 'blue satin', 'red heart' and 'rose satin'. I have been growing these plants for years and have come to discover they freely self seed so I'm constantly pulling up little seedlings and tossing them or potting up some of the larger ones for plant sales. I've also found that they tend to drop their seeds within a meter or so of the parent plant. The three cultivars I have are not close together - 'red heart' and 'blue satin' are within 10 meters of each other in the back yard but 'rose satin' in located in the front yard, a good 33 meters away.
    Now due to the pandemic I haven't sold or donated any seedling for the past two years so some that are still in the ground are now about 3 years old. And one of these saplings - located underneath 'blue satin' - flowered this morning.

    The first image is 'blue satin'
    Second image is 'red heart'
    Third image is 'rose satin'
    Fourth image is what flowered today, looks like a cross between 'red heart' and 'blue satin'

    I think I'll keep it :)
     

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  20. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    Could you let us know how they turn out? I remember that there is a Chinese Chestnut s on a vacant lot in Parksville where I might be able to snag a few. Do the chestnuts just fall to the ground when they are ready? The ones on the tree I know of are too high up to pick.
     
  21. pmurphy

    pmurphy Contributor 10 Years

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    Will do.

    The first image of chestnuts shows what they look like before processing, and some are very large (think softball). They are also VERY prickly and should be handled with heavy duty gloves...the oven mitts don't quite do it. And whatever you do, don't try to catch them if they're falling! (I made that mistake last year)
    When ready the casing will split open and the nuts will fall out (and seem to disappear into the most inconvenient places) so we pick them when they are just starting to split - we use an extendable fruit picker to get the high ones. If you pick early and open them they may still be white in color but they will darken after a day or so (doing this won't affect the taste).

    For roasting, cut an "X" on them, put them on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 425F for about 20 - 25 minutes. So they don't dry out too much during roasting, place a pan under the baking sheet with about 2 cups of water. Remove from oven and let cool about 5 minutes....then enjoy!
     
  22. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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    I wonder which Latin name edible roasting chestnut we get in supermarket around Christmas here in BC

    A relative from Malaysia makes rice and chestnuts and maybe bits of bbq pork) wrapped in banana leaf, tied with string then steamed - delicious for us, time consuming for the cook. The chestnuts are essential to this combination (not water chestnuts)
     
  23. pmurphy

    pmurphy Contributor 10 Years

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    We have Castanea mollissima in BC, which is what I was buying to eat (Real Canadian Superstore) but instead used the sprouting nuts in the bin to grow my own :)

    FYI, the nuts ripen from September to November so it makes you wonder how old/stale the ones in the stores are when you buy them for Christmas...
     
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  24. Nik

    Nik Contributor

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    Rocks, lichen and moss is the theme of our back yard. Here it is, a segment, on a very hot September afternoon, southern exposure. It always reminds me of a Japanese garden.
     

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  25. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    After a spectacular spring, my garden is looking absolutely awful this autumn. Besides those plants that have actually died, there are plenty more struggling. Many will have to be replaced with more heat tolerant varieties which also need less water. Who would ever have expected such conditions in a temperate rain forest!?

    The thing that amazes me is that some plants I would have thought would do badly are doing surprisingly well and some that I might have thought would do well, have not. Time to start making a list what still looks healthy at this time of year to plant more of the same next year.

    Besides the challenges brought about by hot, dry weather is that the deer are starting to find ways in. I'm riding the fences trying to find and repair holes made by rabbits that deer also manage to squeeze through.
    • R. 'Mrs. T.H. Lowinsky' - after being drastically pruned a few years ago, this was finally starting to bloom and grow properly. After blooming very late, it failed to produce normal leaves during the heat dome days.
    • Hosta 'Stained Glass' - discovered by the deer, at least it will be fine next year. I'm finding hostas generally are very resilient.
    • Acer 'Orangeola' - Before the deer started getting in, I sprayed everything including the maples with Bobbex just for insurance so even after the deer appeared inside the fence, they left the sprayed plants alone. Now it seems they've acquired a taste for it.
    • Hydrangea 'Paris Rapa' and H. paniculata - heat and deer damage
    • Hydrangea quercifolia - fabulous, though it didn't bloom this year because I pruned it severely last summer.
    • Rhodo - small leaves due to heat and nutrient deficiency
    • Cimicifuga 'Brunette'
    We'll have to wait and see what next year has in store.

    R. 'Mrs. T.H. Lowinsky' 09-2021.JPG Hosta 'Stained Glass' 09-2021.JPG Acer 'Orangeola' 09-2021.JPG Hydrangea 'Paris Rapa' 09-2021.JPG Hydrangea 09-2021.JPG Hydrangea quercifolia - 09-2021.JPG Rhodo 09-2021.JPG R. 'Mrs. T.H. Lowinsky' 09-2021.JPG Cimicifuga 09-2021.JPG
     
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