'North Wind' switch grass in early fallWednesday, February 25, 2009
Country Gardener picks: favorite ornamental grass
'North Wind' switch grass in early fall
A radical change of view
BEFORE: 
AFTER:
Landscape makeovers can be dramatic. This is the view from my kitchen window before and after last week's big tree culling operation.
When we moved here 11 years ago, the line of too-closely planted spruces trees along the laneway was not as oppressive as it became over a decade. Planted by previous owners, the trees were supposed to function as a windbreak, but they clogged the lane with snow in winter, blocked the view, and cut the property in half visually.
I never liked them at all, and in recent years they began to look more and more like an oppressive black wall. I was resigned to them until they started needing yearly trimming to keep from encroaching the laneway. They were expensive to take down, but we're glad we bit the bullet. They have been chipped into mulch, which we will move to our service area and let compost for a couple of years. After that, we can use the mulch in our gardens.
Do I feel bad about having cut so many trees down? No: over the years, we have planted so many trees that our balance sheet is healthy on that score. I really must count all the trees we planted, but I'll bet the number is well over 100.
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener
AFTER:
Landscape makeovers can be dramatic. This is the view from my kitchen window before and after last week's big tree culling operation.
When we moved here 11 years ago, the line of too-closely planted spruces trees along the laneway was not as oppressive as it became over a decade. Planted by previous owners, the trees were supposed to function as a windbreak, but they clogged the lane with snow in winter, blocked the view, and cut the property in half visually.
I never liked them at all, and in recent years they began to look more and more like an oppressive black wall. I was resigned to them until they started needing yearly trimming to keep from encroaching the laneway. They were expensive to take down, but we're glad we bit the bullet. They have been chipped into mulch, which we will move to our service area and let compost for a couple of years. After that, we can use the mulch in our gardens.
Do I feel bad about having cut so many trees down? No: over the years, we have planted so many trees that our balance sheet is healthy on that score. I really must count all the trees we planted, but I'll bet the number is well over 100.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
In four short weeks...we hope
Mud season is gone for the moment. All is frozen and white again, although the snow cover is thin. In four weeks and a few days, I hope these cheerful flowers will be out.Saturday, February 14, 2009
The travails of mud season are upon us
All the snow melted last week, and we have have a temporary descent into mud season (can you believe Wikipedia has an entry on this?).
Who knows? If we don't get more snow, mud season might be here for weeks and weeks.
My feeling is that winter is a lot easier in the country and mud season is easier in the city. The reason: we have a lots of room for all the snow. It doesn't pile up on the streets the way it does in the city, making them narrower and obliterating parking spots.
The big meltdown: Toby taking in the scents
But mud season is definitely easier to cope with where there are sidewalks and there's pavement, and you don't need rubber boots. (You should see me in my stylish hunting boots.)
I was thinking it might be nice to get out and start some tree and shrub pruning, but it's still too sodden to be walking on the grass. Maybe next week, when it freezes up again.
In the meantime, the dogs and I continue our walks over at our neighbor's golf course, which is on higher ground, and that brings me to the other scourge of mud season: skunk mating time. What could be a more appropriate activity for mud season???
Not a February doesn't go by when Buddy (the neighbor's dog) and Toby don't get skunked. It happened yesterday: Buddy - who's a real dog's "Dawg" - and I saw the critter at the same time. I started yelling, but no luck. Toby came around to see what the commotion was all about, and he got some spray too, but not as bad as Buddy, who wouldn't leave the thing alone. You think they'd learn.
Luckily Toby came when I called, and he was good enough to let back into the house after a dousing with an anti-skunk product I had around. Buddy's owners took him straight to the country kennel that does grooming, but he still smelled quite a bit today. (He's banished to the mud room). Toby had his first professional grooming at PetSmart today. He handled it well, I was told. Now he smells of cheap perfume, but he sure looks good.
Post Script: John to me while we're doing the dishes: "The trouble is when February dissolves like this, there's still a long way to go before things get better."
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener
Who knows? If we don't get more snow, mud season might be here for weeks and weeks.
My feeling is that winter is a lot easier in the country and mud season is easier in the city. The reason: we have a lots of room for all the snow. It doesn't pile up on the streets the way it does in the city, making them narrower and obliterating parking spots.
The big meltdown: Toby taking in the scents
But mud season is definitely easier to cope with where there are sidewalks and there's pavement, and you don't need rubber boots. (You should see me in my stylish hunting boots.)I was thinking it might be nice to get out and start some tree and shrub pruning, but it's still too sodden to be walking on the grass. Maybe next week, when it freezes up again.
In the meantime, the dogs and I continue our walks over at our neighbor's golf course, which is on higher ground, and that brings me to the other scourge of mud season: skunk mating time. What could be a more appropriate activity for mud season???
Not a February doesn't go by when Buddy (the neighbor's dog) and Toby don't get skunked. It happened yesterday: Buddy - who's a real dog's "Dawg" - and I saw the critter at the same time. I started yelling, but no luck. Toby came around to see what the commotion was all about, and he got some spray too, but not as bad as Buddy, who wouldn't leave the thing alone. You think they'd learn.
Luckily Toby came when I called, and he was good enough to let back into the house after a dousing with an anti-skunk product I had around. Buddy's owners took him straight to the country kennel that does grooming, but he still smelled quite a bit today. (He's banished to the mud room). Toby had his first professional grooming at PetSmart today. He handled it well, I was told. Now he smells of cheap perfume, but he sure looks good.
Post Script: John to me while we're doing the dishes: "The trouble is when February dissolves like this, there's still a long way to go before things get better."
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Verdict for January: cold and snowy
One of the great things about a garden blog is that it serves as a kind of diary. I've never been one to keep an official garden record on paper, so this helps.We've had a colder-than-normal January. The average temperature was -9.5 C (that's 14.5 F). The normal average temperature for January in Hamilton hovers at -6 C.
We've also had a lot more snow, 62 centimetres of the white stuff (more than 2 feet), and about 20 cm more than normal for January. In fact, the snow is so deep that it's hard to get around even on snowshoes, but I manage. I just make the outings a bit shorter. The dogs are up to their bellies in the snow - they have to bound and jump to get around. Must get a picture of them in the snow tomorrow.
At the golf course today while it was snowing
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country GardenerWednesday, January 28, 2009
Snow-day impressions
Snowstorm today. Out with camera, snowshoes and dogs. These pictures are the result:
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Gourmet escargots - we have evidence
Some critter decided that today was garbage day. Time to rid the nest of all the debris of those Gourmet Escargots. I have my dog Toby to thank for finding this little scene in our garden, and drawing my attention to it. It seems that we have pretty good help in battling snails and slugs.
Flower and garden stock photos: a new source
Hepatica nobilis ©Photo: Marg Cousens Since documenting her lovely garden through photos, some of which were used in the article, Marg, an artist and art director in her professional life, has also turned to flower and garden photography.
She has now created a web site of flower and garden stock photos: www.floraphotos.ca. If you have a few minutes, it's worth a visit: she's got good pictures, and most important for stock, they are well labeled.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
We're in deep today
We had six inches of snow last night. Here's what the buried gardens look like.
The view I get stepping out my door
The four-square garden and its boxwood hedge
The rock garden plants snug under blanket of snow
Toby does not look amused: he's bored when I take out the camera
© Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener
Toby does not look amused: he's bored when I take out the camera
Friday, January 16, 2009
Forget me not - thoughts about my dad
January is Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month and Nova Scotia garden writer Jodi DeLong has written an excellent post about it here.For me, what she said couldn't be more timely. I mentioned in December that my father was very ill and in hospital. He died shortly after Christmas, after having Alzheimer's disease for 15 years. In some ways, he was lucky that the course of his disease turned his personality from a driven, impatient, striving man to that of child-like person with an endless appreciation of the good things in life.
He loved to sit in his small townhouse garden and marvel at the beauty that surrounded him. "What a beautiful garden we have," he would tell my mother daily from spring to fall. He was proud of his children and enjoyed his grandchilden. He was appreciative of the loving care he received from my mother, and he thanked her all the time: "You are such a good woman," he would say. She cared for him with patience that knew few bounds.
My father was sick in hospital for only three weeks from complications of other medical problems. We all feel that he was fortunate not to have to go into a nursing home. Amazingly, at 81 his Alzheimer's had not progressed to the point that most patients get to: not even recognizing their families. The last time I saw him, he was still able to count down the names of all his six children. (I'm the eldest.)
Thanks, Jodi, for your post. I didn't quite know how to write about my father. It seemed too personal to share in a gardening blog, but you gave me an opening.
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