Art Deco works for me

I have to brag about my Art Deco dahlias.  I bought a tuber on clearance in 2008.  My first dahlia ever - it cost me a dollar.  Although I had a few glads at the time, I wasn't really bought into the whole 'lift in fall' thing.  They multiplied fast.  This year we had them all along the top of the stone wall beside the driveway.  It would have been beautiful if the slugs hadn't been feasting on them all summer.  We did eventually get blooms this year but not nice clumps like we've had in previous years.

It's one of my favourites (next to Alpen Cherub).  I'm hoping for a cold winter this year so we don't have as many slugs, snails, and earwigs next season.

Best of September 2011

September was an interesting month this year in my garden.  With such a short season this year, I was running around still waiting for phlox, glads, and dahlias to bloom.  One of the nicest surprises this season was seeing two hydrangeas bloom for the first time.  Both of my Cityline hydrangeas, Paris and Vienna (below) require winter coverage and I've always been too lazy to do it.  After one season of no blooms from either, I was rewarded this year with blooms on both.

Hydrangea Cityline Vienna

My purple statice bloomed in this spot also for the first time this year and was a lovely backdrop for the delicate pink flowers.

Best of August 2011

I didn't do nearly as much picture taking this gardening season as in previous years.  Because I didn't buy many new plants this year, I was thinking that my photos would mostly be repeats from previous years.  However, I did have several things bloom for the first time this year: including new daylilies planted last year and two hydrangeas that I've been too lazy to protect over the winter.  The winner for new perennials this year has to be the new pink coneflowers planted in Kelly's garden.

Echinacea purpurea

It's now late October and these flowers are still going strong!  Here's some more pictures from August.

Best of July 2011

It was hard to pick a favourite of all the pictures I took in July, but this daylily stands out.  I planted a mix of 6 daylilies in the spring of 2010 and I have 2 patches of this colour.  In the fall we'll put them together by the golden coreopsis.  Some exciting first time blooms this month: Kelly's voodoo lily, our wisteria, and America lily.  Danielle's temporary lily garden out back gave us lots of variety.

Best of June 2011

I couldn't decide so it's a tie for June.  Azalea exbury 'Fireball' above and a new unknown iris below.  Here are some more June pictures.

Best of May 2011

My back garden looks a lot different now but the spring colours were pretty.  The daffodil mix I planted last fall has turned out to be fun and I snapped lots of pretty blooms.

Best of April 2011

My gardening and photography have both been suffering this year, along with the Nova Scotia weather.  Of the few shots I took in April, this is my favourite.  These are botanical tulips that came from Danielle - they got a big break this past winter from what they were used to in Saskatchewan.