Intended

When I moved into my home, 15 years ago, let's just say the greenspace was lacking. Those first years, which were financially restrictive (new kid, bigger mortgage, early career), left few resources to improve things. I had no innate or family perspective on how to create a beautiful outdoor space. (Growing up, there were people for that and, really, you know how I feel about the bugs.) But over the course of time, I found a landscape designer who spoke my plant language. I told her what I wanted to see and she created drawings that were - happily - a perfect expression of my vision: natural but not too natural, a greenspace of order (that seems a little bit wild). I wanted a few flowers at all times - but never too many. I needed easy-maintenance - have you seen my schedule lately??

It only took a week to plant and hardscape these gardens (and, for the front, only a day) but they have changed, waxed and waned, in ways that a home interior never will:

I know it's tough to see what's going on in this shot, but this is as much about the feeling of a sunny haven as about what your eyes can lock on...

In the spirit of feeling good about me, here's a photo in my new caftan. (What?! I'm 45 - I can do caftans and gardens with abandon, thank you very much!!)

That's the lilac (post-bloom) in the background. The mid-ground green is my insanely happy, post-bloom phlox. Those rose bushes are 1 year old and they've expanded in size by at least 10 times. You're seeing them after I cut them back substantially.

Honey locust and pergola. The pergola's shot after ground heave of the past 2 winters. We're going to need to rehardscape - but when, who can say. Remember, we've got to pull off the back of the house (2 floors) pretty darned soon. Let's not think about it.

I debated showing off the delightful bicycle parking garage that is my front porch but, whatevs. It's not like everyone who walks by doesn't see it... That tall cedar in the background was planted by Scott the year we moved in. Unfortunately, dogs have taken hold of the short round cedar in the foreground. I hope they don't kill it... There's a rock garden (always in a state of flux as delicate perennials do tend to die over the winter). But the sedum is happy.

Don't ask me the names of any of these things. Those are post-bloom irises in the background. The euonymous by the fence has been replanted 4 times in its 15 year (so far) life. It was unhappy everywhere else (its siblings died). The constant traffic of bees I've got hovering (in front) and butterflies (in back) is heartening. Note: Flying bugs don't bother me.

Very happy tall grass in the side bed with some of my neigbour's new plantings behind. I've been waiting 15 years for them to landscape and it finally happened this summer. They created a butterfly garden.

I have lost many plants over the years - the perfect flowering almond that blew its brains out on blooms that were unsustainable, the euonymous that couldn't stand the soil, the first honey locust - it just failed to thrive. The last two winters, particularly, have been very hard for this haven. But having gardens has taught me, viscerally, about the fleetingness of all things. One of the reasons why I love them...

Sign of the Times

Though it's still cool here, much of the time, I can see summer on the horizon. This evidence is irrefutable:

First rose bloom in my garden this year...

I've lost a lot of plants over the past two - very bad - winters. But, this time last year, I planted 2 rose bushes and they are bursting with health and growth. I just stand outside and stare at them.

Curious to know: When do roses bloom in your part of the world?

Exuberant

Took more or less till June, but what a spectacular tree!

Dwarf Lilac from Kristin's Back Garden

Time Elapsed

There are 2 ways to manage a long-weekend, IMO: Do everything or do nothing. As it's almost 10 am and I just got out of bed (and I went to bed last night at 10 pm), I sense I'm working the latter option.

It's occurred to me lately how much I feel manipulated by holidays: Mother's/Father's for the facile commercialism, Easter for the facile religiosity, Valentine's because it's just a pink puff ball of stupidity...

(On a side note, my husband is quick to remind me that I'm the kind of currently middle-aged person who's likely to turn into that really mean old lady who scares the neighbourhood kids.)

But I've got nothing bad to say about the May 2-4, even if it does fall on a different date every year. Note: Apparently, it has this name because it celebrates Queen Victoria's bday (which 100 years ago was relevant, I suppose). It's also a nod to the Canadian pastime of beer-drinking, an activity I've never embraced. This is the weekend when the rich peeps open their cottages in Muskoka and the regular peeps try to fix their winter-ravaged gardens and those without a particular love of nature sit on patios on dusty streets and feel blessed, to their bones, that there's some fucking green fuzz on the trees.

In southern Ontario, you don't plant anything until this weekend. To wit: We had a frost warning 2 nights ago. Seriously, plant at your own peril. The fact that we often get a week of 30C weather in early May, on the heels of 5 months of hideous cold, is a mind-fuck that propels even the most level-headed gardener to take the plunge at least twice.

I've been walking around in a daze of gratitude for temps that only require a sweater and a light jacket (ok, and a scarf - but a light one!), observing that every lilac in the land has bloomed - except mine?!

Here's how it looked on May 2:

Here's where we're at today:

Mind you, it's on the right track and I have a feeling, if the weather cooperates - and it's supposed to - I might have a gorgeous, deliciously fragrant cloud of purple flowers by Monday.

And since Frances asked, here's how the garden's shaping up this spring:

It's not the Luxembourg Gardens, but it's my own piece of outdoor tranquility, in a densely populated city, and I value it beyond measure.

How's your garden -  or weekend - shaping up?

PS: I def have to get some herbs for those planters this weekend. So I suppose I will do something after all.

Behind the Times

I estimate that spring is three weeks late this year, a very hard delay given that we've gone through two freakin' winters from hell. Mind you, I'm no longer skeptical that the summer may one day arrive, even if we're still wearing light coats in May.

My garden, finally, is making an appearance:

My dwarf lilac tree - a week from bloom (I hope!)

This is one of my OTG Krissie-planted house hyacinths. It's the only one that the squirrels haven't eaten!

My rose bushes LIVED! Given that they were planted last summer - and that so many plants died over the winter - this is a good sign...

For those of you in, well, anywhere else in the world, I realize this progress is small-time, but please join me in celebrating this profound turn of events.

I Know Why It's Called Spring

Too tired to write much - and my arms can't type super well, what with the 2 hours of mulch-laying that I just completed. Let me just suggest that, the next time your landscaper asks you if you can manage the mulch because she's short on staff, seriously consider saying no. Now I know why my bill is always in excess of what I imagine it should be. (Note to reader: My landscaper is fantastic, if short on staff. I'd totally recommend her so email if you have an urban TO garden and you're looking to beautify it.)

This puts my gardening efforts at more than a dozen hours over the last 3 weeks. (I always spring-clean and fall-close my garden but, because I have no car, it's useful to have the help of peeps with trucks.) If it all wasn''t looking so fantastic, I'd be underwhelmed. The window-washers came on the weekend. There hasn't been a drop of rain since last week (hallelujah) and the bright sun and blue sky and vivid colours of the spring, well, springing, is nothing short of life-affirming.

I can tell you a few things that age has taught me:

• Update your vaccines.
• Buy the best you can afford (but know that you can find excellence at a lower price if you're willing to do the research).
• Bring in qualified -and insured - professionals once a year to clean your windows. No, don't try to do it yourself unless you're in a bungalow (those ladders are high!). Don't leave windows to gather dirt till you can't see through them any longer. Clean windows will revive your home like little else.

From my vantage point, it's pretty hard to complain. I've got spotless windows and two gardens with gorgeous, growing things. Though this winter was very hard on my outdoors, I'm betting on some plants to rally.

We were going to do a lot of things this summer:

• Pull off the back of the first floor back room and replace it with French doors
• Go to Berlin and Amsterdam
• Visit up north with friends

Those are not going to happen. Why?

•  I don't have the energy, this year, to deal with another reno (not to mention the funds). As we now suspect the back room may have structural issues, we're opting to leave it another year (at which point we'll reno the kitchen at the same time - or so I'm saying now). It's gonna be a big fucking project. It can wait.

• A propos of funds, I don't know how I can spend thousands on Europe when I'm expecting to undertake a major reno in the medium-term. Alas, my Euro adventure must wait a couple more years.

• My kid goes to North Carolina, to visit my parents, but not till the 29th of June. That's one day into the long weekend over which some great friends will be traveling to visit some other great friends in the Collingwood area. Furthermore, my husband and I are aiming to go to Montreal and QC on July 1 (the other side of that long weekend). We'll have to see how this all plays out to fit into my husband's increasingly busy work schedule. (Not that I'm complaining about lots of work.)

On an unrelated, but happy, note: My latest Vogue patterns arrived - in the nick of time for the Five in Five (which theoretically begins on May 10). I'm pretty sure I know which ones I'm going to use for this bracket of the Summer Series. I ordered them on April 18. Good thing I planned ahead.

Today's questions: Do you garden (balcony, urban, vegetable etc.)? What's your favourite aspect of the activity? Or, for the non-gardeners/sewists, does it take more than 3 weeks for Vogue Patterns to reach you?

Pool of the Week

Photo courtesy of Desire to Inspire - the gardens are amazing so check it out...

I'm distracting myself with back yard porn because my own garden looks rather unmanageable today. I'm going to have to spend some quality time with it - and shears (eek!) - to pull it back from the edge.

Meanwhile, enjoy...

Orangina

I could totally get with this shade garden dining experience:


On a (crazy, embarrassing) side note: Today I called my landscaper-extraordinaire to lament the state of the boxwoods on my front walk. After a variety of pointed questions about the nature of their potential disease (browning, crunchy leaves), she suggested that perhaps I should try water.

Um, scarily, that didn't occur to me. I mean, we're experiencing the longest dry-spell ever?! I have watered just about everything else but these are on a side patch of land and they miss the sprinkler.

Really, though...

Maybe You'd Prefer Something A Little Grander...

Photo courtesy of Desire to Inspire

With a pool!

Warning: I think we are headed into the pool photo time of year...

Urban Gardens

Ah, to be amongst the ultra-chic Apartment Therapy crowd... (I do love tidy, geometric spaces.)

If you enjoy a gorgeous, pared-down city garden, then check this out.

Field of Phlox

Here's my (seeming) field of phlox:

The phlox is only about 2x2 (big for a phlox plant but certainly not a meadow). It's only just starting to bloom. In a week or so, you won't be able to see the green for the little flowers. To wit:

Treemendous

Admit it, you want this tree:

Kristin's Flowering Almond - halfway to full bloom...

Front and Back

Photos courtesy of desiretoinspire

As read on desiretoinspire, this adorable (but moody) house front hides a light and airy, modern interior. I mean, just look at that backyard! (You know how I love me an urban garden.)

Oh, and it recently sold for 1.5 mill AUS. So it may be a while before it's back on the market.

Thoughts?

Meander

Photo courtesy of High Park Nature Centre

Thanks to Anabela for keeping me posted on sakura hanami (cherry blossom viewing). Check this out for more information about how to enjoy some spectacular Toronto scenery.

And for Tessa:

when cherry blossoms
scatter…
no regrets

by Kobayashi Issa (1763 - 1828)

Flowering Almond - End of March

Remember my precious flowering almond? The one that almost offed itself by blooming so voluminously that it struggled to sustain itself and to grow leaves?

My landscaper told me that she'd never seen one quite like it. She imagined it was a new-plant fluke.

Well, apparently, it's on the same trajectory this spring:

Scott took this photo last weekend. since then - due to much rain and warmer temps - the thing is going absolutely nuts. I expect it will explode with puff-ball flowers, fantastically, sometime this week. I am taking steps to help it to stay healthy by making sure that any dead blooms are quickly disposed of (to make space for the leaves).

But oh, what a week it's going to be... Stay tuned for pics.

OMG

Unsurprisingly, full post can be found at desiretoinspire.net

We interrupt this miserable winter, to bring you this moment of imaginary, awesomely designed summer.

As you were...

Australians Get All The Luck...

Right about now, even as I'm enjoying the ever-crispening air, I could really manage a night - and scene - like this:

Photo courtesy of, where else, desiretoinspire

Lilies Take 2

Our lilies have struggled this summer - at the front and back. For some reason (maybe they don't like constant precipitation?) many just haven't popped up. These, in their second summer, were the only ones we got in the back garden. They smell like Hawaii at night. Seriously.

Long Weekend BBQ

Y'all may know that I spent most of the Toronto long weekend in my house. Without abatement. At first, I was too tired to go out. Then I had "cooking obligations" aka I was compelled to make 2 tarts, some dinners and a batch of caramel candies. Fortunately, the weather was awesome so we were able to have a delightful dinner party in the garden - finalement. In August!

Here are a few photos of the table:



Um, notice a little something called SUN??!!

Seriously, my gratitude for beautiful weather could not be more sincere.

Midsummer Garden

It's been a while since I posted photos of my garden. The weather's been so awful, I'm just not inspired. But after today's torrential downpour, Scott went out and took these gorgeous shots:






The guy's got talent, yes?