Virtual Garden Tour 2000-2021

Yes! I think you may have the correct name

Or some Canada Geese really do migrate and not camp year round in our local parks making a heck of a mess (there is a town in Okanagan addling eggs right now ) Egg addling program to control goose population in Okanagan underway - Kelowna News

There are also Brandt geese — there used to be a festival annually over on Vanc Island in Comox I think

The trumpeters for sure go up the Okanagan (the way we spell it in BC) and rest on the lake

And there is an old book about swans up somewhere up the coast « Lonesome Lake » I think and man name Ralph Edwards who apparently was a character in the old days BC.

Meanwhile we have had a coastal influx of nuthatch for several months — veep veep veep sound - i think white breasted (vs red)

 

Yes, Ralph Edwards and the book was called Crusoe of Lonesome Lake.
I actually met John Edwards - Ralph's son - when I did the coastal circle tour back in the 1990's (Vancouver Island to Bella Coola by ferry and then back to Vancouver by train). While on the only "bus" (a passenger van) out of Bella Coola (headed for Williams Lake) we stopped to pick up a strange old man standing beside the road. The bus driver asked me if I had a problem with firearms and then quietly put the gentleman's rifle in the back so the other passenger didn't see it. This old man proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes explaining the life history of red foxes until he asked to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere - being Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. As he was leaving he finally introduce himself and invited us (the only two passengers on the bus) to come visit him sometime. It wasn't until after the bus pulled away that I realized who he was and kicked myself because I had a copy of his father's book in my pack that I could have had him sign....

 

And this led on to Margot's story, what a great couple of postings, enjoyed them both.

 

Here's a photo from my back yard, featuring the Asian Pear tree. First flowers opened April 6. That was about a week and a half ago, and the petals are starting to fall; between that and the three Plum trees, it is like snow is falling. But, for the moment, seeing the trees in bloom is an uplifting experience. It is wonderful. And the Walnut trees are leafing out too. (I lost one though. Don't know why; they are all in pots beside each other.)

 

Do you have birdhouses in the trees - I enlarged the photo you posted and it looks like a feeder or house in tree

 

@Margot posted a few days ago her preferred weather forecast of solid sunshine - well being a glass sometimes half empty person - I was sceptical

It was so warm today

My garden tools asked to sit down in the shade - so I followed!

The light is so white now — hard to explain That in winter it’s very yellow - now as sun star moves (haha I know earth is flat and it tilts too) the light is so bright and obviously longer daylight hours

Plants in this bright photo include way in background
1. Native Arbutus aka madrone in USA
2. Native dogwood (corpus nutalli ) spell? EDIT: CORNUS
3. Native Red Cedar
4. Native Doug fir
5. Forsythia
6. Vine maple (native Acer circinatum)
7. Red twig dogwood shrub « arctic fire »
8.Native sword fern
And the bright green leaves and shadow on shade umbrella are Aspen which are native to parts of BC

I forgot the foreground - that’s PJM rhodo mixed in with Mission Bells rhodo

EDIT - dogwood is CORNUS (not corpus)

 

Love that Georgia, feels like we are sitting there with you. So simple but so effective, especially with the description of your day and the plants that surround you.

 

Yes, my wife hung two birdhouses in the tree a couple years ago. They were just hung by strings, so they swung freely. Not stable at all. And pretty low to the ground. Probably not safe from the family of racoons or skunks in the back, or the neighbor's cat. No birds ever took up residence in it. The birdhouses turned out to be decorative only. And one fell apart completely, so that is not even there anymore.

 

I can't believe how quickly things are growing right now....there are even some plants that don't normally leaf-out until late May that are doing so right now! I can only thank/blame the above normal temperatures that we are having.

Bitter orange 'Flying Dragon' - soon the air will be filled with the scent of orange blossoms...
Western trilliums - they will soon be finished
Japanese cobra lilies are starting to appear
Akebia 'Silver Bells'
Ornamental rhubarb
Mouse plant
Red barrenwort
Solomon's seal - BC native
Yellow barrenwort
China blue vine aka sausage vine
Honeyberry 'Blue Moon'
Dwarf cherry 'Cupid'

 

How on earth do you fit all of these wild plant natives on a city lot ?!

Very impressive !

Speaking of native plants - way back in the beginning of gardening (but after Eve!) there was a nice small nursery operated by a couple out in Maple Ridge BC .... I remember they would be at VanDusen garden festival in the early to mid 1990s around same era as the original Tuscan Farm Gardens (lady named Heather)

Rainforest Gardens ?
I wonder what became of the place in Maple Ridge.

 

I was thinking the same thing.
I saw my first Borage flower this morning and was thinking to myself, "Isn't that a late summer bloomer?!?!" But there's whole bunches right behind this one. Oh, well. The local bees will be happy.

 

I call it creative gardening.
My gardens are much more natural looking and use a mix of over 400 assorted varieties of plants (native, uncommon/rare, exotic and subtropical....but not a daisy to be found) that utilize every iota of available space. And they also look totally out of place amongst the "normal" gardens in the neighborhood. :)

 

Wow! It sure doesn't take long to fall behind with this thread. I am so impressed with the great photos posted by @Georgia Strait, @DavidB2 and @pmurphy . The question, "How on earth do you fit all of these wild plant natives on a city lot ?!" could also be asked of GS. Who wants a "normal" garden anyway? Creativity and spontaneity rule!

Here are a few random comments:

• The Brant Festival has been running for about 30 years, centred mainly in Parksville but also including Qualicum Beach and Nanaimo as far as I can tell. I have a framed poster from 1992 that says, "Honourary Patron: His Royal Highness, The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, KG, KT
• History
  
• 
  
• Native dogwood - Cornus nuttallii
• 
  
• False Solomon's Seal is a BC native plant with the almost unpronounceable name - Maianthemum racemosum ssp. amplexicaule. The one in the photo is supposedly 'real' Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum), not native here.
• 
  
• Rainforest Gardens was a very popular nursery in Maple Ridge in the 1980s and '90s . . . they had a wonderful catalogue and mail order delivery. Run by a very hard-working couple named Ken & Elke Knechtel, I think their fortunes changed when it turned out that a nurseryman in Langley had rights to the 'Rainforest Gardens' name so the Knechtels changed the name of their nursery to 'Perennial Gardens'. It was in a whole different league than Tuscan Farm Gardens. Gardening: Growing in a new direction - Maple Ridge News

 

Good morning Margot, can I second that comment. Aren't we all so lucky these days to have this technology, so that wonderful photos can be shared with each other from all over the world. Sometimes and especially at my age, I do sit back and think this is amazing.

 

I didn’t realize I would ever hope for rain! Well I do try my best to appreciate “rainforest spa water from the sky”

When did it last rain at the Coast? I looked on my records and I have on April 08/21 a couple of notes about rain and hail down at sea level — and snow near the old toll booths on Hwy 5 Coquihalla

Now I am outside this evening discouraged about my Merrill C-1000 yard hydrants ... the handles will absolutely not budge, darn it

Good thing I have several murky buckets of rain water

I find it interesting the plants that are ok happy and yet the ones that are supposed to withstand our summer drought are now looking depressed including the ubiquitous “hen and chicks”

Meanwhile here is an evening image of what I think will be end (due to heat) of my Rhodos for this year (PJM & Mission Bells)

And in background - a fading yellow forsythia (And lots of yellow snow - as in petal drop - competing w neighbors cherry pink snow - which is normal)

In foreground is a container of Casablanca lilies growing green stems very rapidly - in this shade garden, I do much better w lilies in well drained containers and some low # granular food sparingly applied once they exhibit about 4 inch of sprouting spike

@Margot thank you and RonB for telling me that darn weed name — it is kind of meditative / obsessive to find the poor things and remove them (blackberries and morning glory get procrastination treatment :(

Pix below - the snow is not far fr hère on a mtn pass just a couple weeks ago

The flowers are this evening dusk

 

I looked this up and have now posted a thread in the Fruit and Vegetable Gardening forum with links to info about it, particularly about its history.
(2) Prunus x kerrasis - Canadian dwarf sour cherries | UBC Botanical Garden Forums

 

Our recent 'heat wave' has hastened many plants into bloom that could just as well have waited a little longer. Spring blooms don't last long when it's too warm. The weather is going to cool down quite a bit starting tomorrow and I can't say I'm at all sorry. I've almost forgotten what rain sounds like.

Rhododendron 'Starbright Champagne' . . . very possibly my favourite rhodo.
Darmera peltata . . . huge leaves to follow.
Erythronium 'Pagoda' . . . a cross between E. tuolumnense and E. californicum ‘White Beauty’.
Spiraea x cinerea . . . this was here when we moved it so I'm guessing at the name.
Doronicum (don't know the species) . . . also here when we arrived so it's well over 15 years old now.
Narcissus
Daphne 'Lawrence Crocker' . . . beautiful and fragrant.
Erythronium revolutum . . . a common native in damp areas around here; blooms later and is smaller than the white E. oregonum.
Rhododendron 'Mission Bells' . . . one of the first rhodos I planted and growing larger than I expected.
Bergenia . . . I think this is somewhat uncommon - does anyone know its name?
Anemone . . . does anyone know the name of this? It struggled for years before it qualified for regular irrigation and now it's taking off.
Mukdenia 'Crimson Fans' . . . I've had trouble keeping this happy but I think it needed more water than it was getting.

 

The creeping yellow "anemone" with evergreen leaves is Waldsteinia.

 

How exciting. Something I never even heard of before! Thank you.

 

I have never tried to distinguish bergenia, but I saw Bergenia emeiensis var. emeiensis, Mt Omei bergenia, at UBCBG today. The same name was on two plants that I thought looked very different, so either one was wrong, or this name covers a lot of variation. I have posted them at (3) Are these both Bergenia emeiensis var. emeiensis? | UBC Botanical Garden Forums. It's the second group that I think looks like yours.

 

Thank you so much, Wendy. This is a very good lead. I had seen Bergenia emeiensis var. emeiensis a few days ago when I was trying to figure out the name of mine and, although it certainly looks similar, mine definitely does not have drooping flowers.

There are some interesting comments in this blog where the writer theorizes that some Bergenia emeiensis may be hybrids or cultivars of the original found on Mt. Emei. 1003 Gardens: Bergenia emeiensis 'Apple Blossom': a Chinese bergenia . I think you may be right about the name covering a lot of variation.

 

Good morning Margot, re Anemone, isn't that a Geum reptans ??

 

Thanks for the suggestion but no. My plant has never had those fluffy pink seedheads I see in photos of Geum reptans and the leaves are not the same.

I sure like the look of Geum reptans though and appreciate you bringing it to my attention.

 

Its my wife's birthday very soon and I ordered this Hosta 'Lakeside little tuft' for her. It arrived today, a bit early, but she was very pleased.
Like her, I think it's very cute.

 

She's very cute or she also thinks the plant is?