Garden Visit

On the weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting with my parents and enjoying some time chatting and knitting in their backyard.  They have an absolutely lovely yard, both back and front (and a side path of lavender plants!) with carefully considered landscaping and plant placement.  I really take inspiration from their garden, but also find it to be a lovely place to just sit and enjoy the colours of the flowers and leaves, the feel of the breezes that are nearly always present, and the chatter of the ever-present birds.

Here's a little tour of some of the beauty of their garden.  There are a number of gorgeous roses, all of which are tremendously fragrant.  I know they have Brother Cadfael, Hermione, Campfire (which is 2-coloured) and several others.  I'm not sure which pink bloom is which, but they will know!

The bees are always busy in my parents' garden!

Here is one of the pollinator bee nests that my parents have installed in their garden.  The bees lay eggs in the tubes and the nest keeps them insulated and safe until spring's warmth triggers the hatching process.  I have one of these bee nests for my own garden but haven't installed it yet.  If I was a bee, I would certainly like to make my home near this delightful garden!


This rose is definitely Campfire.  The honey bees like it a lot!

I think this one is Hermione.

My mom grows some poppies that her family grew in England.  I just love the shaggy blossoms and the distinctive seedpods.  I have some seed for this one to put into my own garden next year.

This is "Swiss Mint" daylily, which is a beautiful custard yellow colour with a touch of peach.  I am particularly fond of this daylily because it is very fragrant - most daylilies are not.

The flower beds are always well planned and the colours are designed to work well together.  My mother has a very green thumb and an excellent sense of garden design.

This beautiful Japanese maple is a show-stopper.  I hope to have one in my garden someday.

This clematis has lovely blooms, but as the blooms fade, the centre portion remains on the stem, giving a kind of second bloom without petals that extends the flowering time.

Here is an unusual fruiting structure on the Kousa dogwood tree - apparently it's edible!

There is also a lovely bed of Scotch heather - species carefully selected for their diversity in foliage and floral colours.  I'm hoping to try some slips of these heather plants in my own garden in future. They make a lovely "cushion" style of ground cover.

Finally, here is a beautiful Calibrachoa blossom that I couldn't resist photographing.

I'll show some of the birds from the garden in a future post!

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