Friday, May 30, 2008

Final Tulips of the Season


My tulips are finished - and it's about time, because I need their space to plant my morning glory seeds. Here are the pictures of the last tulips to finish blooming - I love their colour

Friday Picture: Lily of the Valley

I'm exhausted. I taught 2 days of Kindergarten, 2 days of grade 8, and one day of grade 6/7 - interpersed with parent meetings this week.

So, all I have energy for are some pictures...Here are some pictures of my (very aggressive) lilies of the valley...

Monday, May 26, 2008

New Garden Finished

Well, it's been finished for awhile, but I've been slacking on the posts since we started renovating our office and my computer is no longer hooked up. So, while my husband was at work, I secretly downloaded the camera software onto his computer and downloaded my most recent pictures...
The plan is for this garden to be a perennial garden. My mother-in-law is going to give me a chunk of her peony in the fall to put to the left of mystery plant, but for this year I planted sunflowers in that spot. She gave me the irises, which have started to flower since I transplanted them, and there are sweet pea seeds planted in behind the irises - the plan is to have them grow up the back wall and the railing of the back porch...
Before:
During:
After:

Mystery Plant has Flowers

So, my mystery plant that no one seems to have ever seen before has beautiful pink flowers. They kind of reminded me of peony buds before they opened, but now they remind me more of a ranunculus or buttercup flower. Anyone know what it is now?


Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Going Green: The Global Warming Debate?

**warning: this post contains little about gardening, and some strong opinions on my part.**

Well, it was my understanding that the global warming debate was decided. Over. Finished. I thought, and correct me if I'm wrong, that climate change scientists have pretty solid and concrete proof that human activity causes climate change. What I don't understand then is why there are so many letters to the editors in my crazy little town about how "they don't believe in environmentalism" or how they think that this extremely long, cold winter we just experienced is proof that global warming doesn't exist, and it's simply over-zealous environmentalists trying to find a way to shut down industry. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY - uneducated, ignorant people making blanket belief statements with no knowledge of the facts - and then the paper publishes their letters.



In case you don't want to read it, he basically blames the Pine Beetle epidemic on environmentalists refusing to let the government and industry turn a provincial park into a clear cut/slash and burn. I don't post my comments on the newspaper's website because it just invites insults from those who have a different point of view - but I can't keep quite about this. Anyways if you know very little of the Pine Beetle epidemic in Northern BC you can look up the history online, or check out the Manic Gardener's Blog (I didn't know Montana had a pine beetle problem), but basically every Pine tree in BC is dead or going to be dead within 5 years. It is really hard to imagine unless you have seen the pictures of landscapes that are red in every direction you look.


But Pine Beetle isn't new. It has been around for hundreds of years, and the population never got out of control. A cold winter would hit and kill them back to reasonable numbers. So in the 80's and early 90's when the Pine Beetle attacked Tweedsmuir Provincial Park everyone thought that the problem would manage itself like it always had. I don't think anyone envisioned the ending up where we are now. But, blaming the problem on environmentalists seems foolish. Of course people protested the idea of logging a park - it was a protected area. No one predicted this devastation, and it seems unfair now to start playing the blame game.
But getting back to what is so shocking about what I keep reading in the newspaper. So many people agree with these sentiments, and really think that "green" is just a buzzword, a fashion, or a bandwagon that the unwashed masses have jumped on because it makes them feel good about the choices they are making.
So, my question is, who really is the one being deceived? Those who refuse to acknowlege the green debate and environmental issues, or those of us who have and are now making changes and paying more money to live green because somehow we've been convinced of its importance. Or maybe to some extent, are we all being deceived?

Seedling Update

Most of my seedlings are ready to be planted. I have about 2 weeks before they can go into the garden beds - but I can probably do the planters this weekend and then just pull them inside if it gets cold again. I am impressed with the geraniums and how good they look, and how easy they were to grow, but less so with the salvia. The problem may be that I just started them too early, but they are a little tall and stalky. The marigolds did well, but all the vegetables got leggy really fast.

Seedlings hrdening of on the front porch:



Tuesday, May 13, 2008

It's a Bug's Life

The Lillies of the Valley are growing fast!

Monday, May 12, 2008

It's a Beautiful Day (in the Neighbourhood)...

Well, it's been awhile since I posted. Here's a few pictures of my garden this morning. There are no clouds in the sky today, and it looks like it is going to be warm. I am going with my mom this morning to Van Roode's Greenhouses (best place to buy plants in town!) to get our bedding plants.

First few planters on front porch

Looking Up at the Sky

Finally Flowering!!

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Would you hurry up and bloom!!

I've been watching these tulip buds for weeks. I want flowers!

What is this plant?

Now, I am usually pretty good at plant names - especially annuals - but since this is a perennial, I am a little bit stumped. I have never seen this kind of plant before. It's in my garden, was here when we bought the house - but the garden was such a mess last fall, that I must not have noticed it. This spring I dug out that garden entirely, and we are still in the process of re-edging it and fixing it up. I saved this plant because it looked like mini palm trees. Does anyone know what it is?