Welsh poppies and lady ferns...

...both self-sowing and lovely together. You really don't have to plant anything or design anything around here...if you like a waving palette of poppies, bluebells, fern-fronds etc. etc.

'Tis the time of year to submerge in plant energy and come up only when necessary. Magic.

I've just started up on facebook. 100 computer years later. That's how I roll. Whoops, cd's over, gotta switch it.

Island-time garden design...

Here are some design ideas from Keats Island this past long weekend...(two weeks ago already?)

While I am mildly confused by the rock, I was pleasantly surprised to discover at least one other stump-chair-maker in B.C. (my dad is one).

It takes a certain presence of mind, whilst chain-sawing down a large evergreen tree, to think, "Well, while I'm here, I may as well make a chair."

This person took it to another level, with arm-rests, and a mysterious planting in the seat. That also confuses me a little bit. But still, let's hear it for stump-chairs.

This next item cannot be easily duplicated, due to the time lapse required for the child's bicycle to assume a nostalgic patina whilst hanging in yon olde apple tree. A classic bicycle-garden moment.

This little Full Moon maple (Acer shirasawanum 'Aurea') claims the semi-shade by the kitchen window--a delicate tree amidst the rugged island woods.

So ya--gardener's holiday with the girls--we mowed the grass, and that's about it...

Fern Fables: Sword and Maidenhair

Our storybook sword-ferns are waking up in woodland-gardens on the north shore (here, bordering the steps to Daphne's grotto garden). Whoever still thinks that ferns are unassuming creatures trembling in dark corners has never looked a sword fern in the fiddlehead(s).

Sword ferns/Polystichum munitum can perch on precipices, border bedrock...

... or sink into the mellow dappled light of an understorey--and clearly draw a circle of personal space with their arching fronds.

Mine. All mine.

Maidenhair ferns/Adiantum pedatum are not as stalwart, but they are obviously happy in the pics below--basking in evening light, but shaded during the day, with an overstorey of rhododendrons and mature evergreens. These may be, in fact, the happiest maidenhairs I've ever seen (in Jim & Rojeanne's garden).

An illumination of unfurling fern fronds...

...

Something storybook about ferns...

Sunshine therapy

Such a beautiful day, I had to post my pics right away, lest the "rainy day blues" taint my blog for too long! I think many many people were finding excuses to be outside basking today. Sunshine therapy, so good.

Here's Leopard's Bane/Doronicum orientale--a little stunted this year with the cold, but still high enough to crest the Hosta 'Krossa Regal.'

Doronicum is the earliest yellow daisy and prefers light shade--it leaps out in spring then goes dormant soon after blooming. Apparently, it also discourages leopards, which can be convenient.

Seems like English bluebells are in a lot of shots these days. Kind of like those blokes that jump into other people's pictures...

An evening view, below, of all things green and growing in Jim & Rojeanne's Old Apple Tree garden. [Check out the circle of sky, mirroring the pathway. I did not plan that. O, the wonders of photography.]

One of the green-and-growing things is this patch of rose whips, snipped from the mother rose in Sue and Hugh's garden and sunk in the soil last fall. I set up a quick wigwam so they wouldn't get lost over the winter...and excavated them from amongst the English bluebells (funny that) to see how they're getting along...

And look! They're setting buds already! Now that's a rose.


Here's the old momma rose--pic from last year--a single crimson red with a name that may have disappeared in the halls of time. However, the point being: if you see a rose you love, ask for a whip and stick it in the ground (preferably in fall). Et Voila.

This pic (below) is the Mexican Mock Orange/Choisya ternata, which is almost as perfect as it can get this year. Usually, choisyas suffer somewhat over the winter and die back a bit, but this sea-level garden is a choisya-friendly micro-climate. I have to cut the stair-side back hard right after it blooms or it would engulf the stairs by midsummer. If you prune promptly, the plant will set new growth and an even bloom for the next year.

Bella bella.

Gumboots are Sexy

So shiny.

I was feeling a little blue (couldn't be the constant downpours, drizzle, sheets of rain, mud, green slime, wads of wet gloves in cold puddles at the bottom of saddle-bags, etc. could it??) when I schlepped into a Starbucks in my muddy buddies. The barista filled up my thermos and gave me a lop-sided grin. "On the house!"

"But why?" I gaped. My brain went through exactly this sequence: "Do I look needy?Does my garden gear make me look like a hobo?? Is he even allowed to do that?...Why is he smiling like that?..."

I'm so going to write a rainy day blues song about baristas.

More Plants of the Week...

1. Flowering crab-apples.



Isn't this a little beauty--in Anne & Peter's garden. It's either Malus 'Magenta' or Malus 'Brandywine.' I'll check with them when I see them next and do a little post-posting edit.

Flowering crabs seem to come in a wider variety of colours--from whites and pale pinks to deep magentas and reds--than our regular blossomy fruit trees. I also learned last year, at a Forest-Food Garden (Permaculture) workshop with Richard Walker, that crabs can cross-pollinate with any apple tree, so that's an added bonus.

We're a little challenged on the North Shore with scabby/rainy weather diseases on fruit trees, so have to be selective with varieties. (Whatever local nurseries carry is your best bet.) Some of the best-producing fruit trees I've witnessed over here are the Asian apple-pears and a round golden plum (we think it's a 'Golden Gage' instead of a 'Green Gage' plum) that is straight out of a Greek myth, like you turn into a frolicking little god when you eat it. So good. Buuut I've never seen the tree for sale in nurseries because it's fallen out of fashion due to the fact that the fruit is soo bursting with juicy goodness that it is impossible to pack for shipping. So ironic. I'm getting off topic.


2. Hostas. Welcome back, faithful foliage friends. We love you. Here, 'Francee' with a quince-petal smooch.


3.English bluebells (Endymion non-scriptus). Love 'em or hate 'em, they're here. Apparently, there's an inspiring scene in the movie Howard's End that will convert the most embittered blue-bell vanquisher. Curiously, the species is non-scriptus, which is latin for "not worth writing about." Funny that. Nice blue tho.





4. Tree paeonies (Paeonia suffruticosa). They do really well in big pots, and unfailingly produce opulent buds and opulent blooms that make you feel like you should take them out on the town.

Let's go dancing.

Oldie-But-Goodie Reel Mower for Reel Men/Women

Mower on the left is a modern re-make of the mower on the right: at least fifty years old, recently back in service after a roller-replacement (but not sharpened), and about as heavy as six bags of cement. Guess which one works best?

Hands down, the antique version. Is it the extra weight? I'm not a reel mower expert, as I mow exactly one postage-stamp lawn (have we had this discussion before...). So I'm thinking that the handle could be more ergonomic, but hey, if you can start on the downhill to get the thing going, this is a one-pass-and-yer-done reason to go back in time.

Half-mooning Perennials

Hey. I'm a gardener of few words these days. Hmm. Must be May. "Can't talk--digging."

May will be gorgeous any day now. Oh ya, supposed to rain all day tomorrow. Wah-hoo (emphasis on wah)

"Give me sunshine or give me gumboots!" (It is possible to alter all famous quotes to one's own purposes.)

Here's a few samples of thinkin' ahead and bracing perennials that you just know are going to flop all over your lawn/pathway/small children.


Those are Japanese anemones (above) that will grow 3-4 feet tall and make life hard for the lawn mower if you let 'em. Those are hazel switches, harvested from wild hazel on the property (a great source of switches). My personal rule is "never throw out a long straight bendy switch of anything" because it will come in handy, even if you're just fending off wild animals.


This (above) is a piece of driftwood in 'my' garden, which may successfully encourage the bleeding heart to remain relatively upright instead of weeping all over the place as usual.

La.

Astonishing-ly Pink Japanese Maple

Every year it happens, and every year I am astonished. I still don't know what variety/cultivar this is, so if anyone knows, please enlighten me.

Everything in Bud

azalea and aztec pearl choisya..apple blossom and paeony...

let me lose my capitals and italics

let latin and common names give way to each other

to the buds of spring on rainy days

to the fruits and flowers to follow

Kerria japonica, Fritillaria imperialis Updates!

Yes, I know I posted these as my Plants of the Week two weeks ago, but they just got better. I'm always extra-impressed by flowers that are as big as my head.

I'm also happy to report that, in the rain, Fritillarias don't stink. Not a trace of the skunky musk that emanated from the bulbs/even the leaves as they emerged. Also, the fact that they bloom so early, before poolside lounging is really a feasible activity, makes them a pleasing poolside planting...even if they do tend to stink on sunny days (who would know, these days?).

I'm also doing a little promo here for the underplanting of Anemone coronaria (the ones that florists use), in a lovely complementary shade of blue. So, as you can see, they bloom at exactly the same time. (I totally planned that :D)

And here's the Kerria japonica again, looking even better. Ah, May.

Update on Stop The Pave--South Fraser Perimeter Road

Here, back in the vicinity this past Sunday, for the Pilgrimage to Burns Bog--the priceless Fraser estuary wetland also in the path of the ill-conceived freeway.

We pilgrim-types enjoyed a cello-performance beside an ill-fated bulldozer, slowly disappearing into a sink-hole after an ill-fated joy-ride some years back (unrelated to the current freeway-building fiasco). This would actually make a good horror-movie: every time developers approach the bog, they get sucked down into the muck, then emerge as zombies to defend the bog for all time. Bog justice.

The Burns Bog Conservation Society, the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Sacred Web Choir, and leaders from Hindu, Jewish, and Unitarian faith communities all spoke/sang for the bog, and we also heard an update from the Stop the Pave campers occupying the roadbed closeby. They've now (as of Monday) been camped out for nine days, and the police/road-builders have so far said they aren't seeking an injunction to remove them. Nobody likes a fuss right before a national election...

I was fortified by the network of influential supporters represented in the crowd, and by the campers who have the strength of spirit to stand up/pitch a tent for what is right.

FYI: Home Routes House Concerts!

Welcome to May Monsoon Monday Morning--waiting out the deluge, before I go vote/work/be a contributing member of society.

Here, I'm deviating from usual topics a wee bit, because I'm sooo excited about last week's discovery: Home Routes House Concerts.

I don't have a related pic, so here's an enthusiastic tulip..

Woo!

So, for folksie/bluesy/live music fans, my latest and greatest discovery is the HCHR phenomenon. Basically, some folks who originally set up folk festivals have come up with the idea of developing concert circuits through private homes.

Last week, I saw *Valdy* in a house down the road, with about 40 other guests, who brought potluck appies/BYOB and 20$ each for the performance--which went directly to the artist. So a)it felt like a house party b) it was a house party, with a Juno-award-winning musician leading the charge. So fantastic.

I think Valdy said he'd been wending his way through western Canada for 16 days, with a house concert every night--that's through small and large communites alike, on an established "home route." This is not only a genius development for talented performers, saving the overhead of costly venues/promotions etc., but it is also possibly the best way to enjoy their music (excepting a grassy knoll over a lake on a summer evening..?).

The caliber of participating musicians is the likes of Po' Girl, Lester Quitzau, Bill Bourne and Madagascar Slim--among many others that, even if they're new to me, I'd absolutely trust that I'd enjoy them.

So basically, get on the insider list if you can--google HRHConcerts and find a local contact--I think they're all over Canada and the States (why has it taken me so long to find out about them...).

They are also always looking for new host-homes, so if your house can hold about 30/40 people, you too can be the cool kid on the block. Given that the musical genre is folk-fest/world music, the fanbase tends to be respectful of the space (I don't think anyone's going to start a Rave/Rockstar Route anytime soon.)

Soupe du jour: Goutweed

Okay, Mr. Nassichuck: this one's for you...since you seem to share my incredulity that this stuff is edible.


I sort of followed the recipe at http://tofufortwo.net/2008/05/21/goutweed-soup, which involved frying two onions & garlic, adding a generous slosh of white wine, two cups of veggie broth (used the Harvest Sun organic veg bouillon cubes), and two packed cups of GOUTWEED straight from the weedy patches out in my garden, then briefly bringing it to a boil, adding a half cup of bread crumbs, and blending it up in the blender.

Voila--tasty, with no weediness whatsoever. I gather that you can just use goutweed as a replacement for spinach/kale, as I also saw an omelette recipe, and I don't notice any strong flavour that requires careful balancing. But then, it's hard to compete with garlic and onions... I guess hardcore wild-crafters out there would do a salad, straight-up.

...I just did more online research, because I had the fleeting thought that, despite its edible-ness, goutweed might have no nutritional value whatsoever...and I just found a very cool website called Sacred Earth: Ethnobotany and Ecotravel with a goutweed discussion at http://www.sacredearth.com/ethnobotany/foraging/Goutweed.php Woo-hoo! There are more recipes on this page. So apparently, "it is a good source of vitamin C and A as well as minerals such as iron and manganese" etc. etc.

Eat your soup kids!

"Stop the Pave" community action

I'm starting to hear reports today on CBC radio about the community protest on the South Fraser freeway construction site.

On Friday (Earth Day) I cycled out to Delta with a friendly convoy of activists/cyclists/permaculturists/media reps meeting up with the protest march organized by the Stop the Pave folks.

The South Fraser freeway is just part of an extensive plan around the lower mainland to construct major freeways through sensitive communities/agricultural land/ecological sites in order to "ease traffic congestion" to the ports/city centres. As usual, billions of dollars are freely distributed for backwards-thinking projects, ignoring transit/rail/tugboat options that would provide more sustainable solutions.

Protestors are camping onsite over the Easter weekend, and plan to disrupt work on Tuesday. I guess we'll hear more then. Highway projects such as this have been stopped before, even at this stage. It's not just a local issue--although residents in the area have obvious health/environmental concerns.

For me, it's an "if not now, when?" issue. Do we keep powering through economic priorities until we all go up in smoke? Or do we start factoring in survival issues, and recognize that we are quite mistaken in the belief that "economy-first" thinking protects our comforts/lifestyle/standard of living.

What are we willing to sacrifice to keep stocking Walmart and shipping raw resources out to feed the Chinese industrial machine, a well-known environmental and human rights offender?

Here's a view back from the Alex Fraser Bridge, to the freeway cut-bank site next to River Road in Delta. For coverage, see http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/ for Dawn Paley's articles and Sandra Cuffe's photo essays, or see http://stopthepave.org/ for organization information.

To end on a warm fuzzy note, here's a bit more yarn-bombing on Commercial Drive--I'm seeing a theme here...knitting for things we care about...

Street Tree Preservation

I ventured over town this past week, for a gardening day at Bev's ("over town" being north shore terminology for crossing bridges to big city Vancouver). I don't do this often, but Bev used to live over here and moved to one of my favourite neighbourhoods (Commercial Drive) so I broke my rule about crossing bridges... Here she is, backlit with the East 6th Elms (and Baggins the Scoot).

One of the nice things about being "over town" is the profusion of avenues lined with magnificent old hardwoood trees. I love riding through the cool tunnels of over-arching branches in the summer, and the lace-work of bare branches in the winter is a relief from linear concrete.

In fact, just last week, I was taking pics of trees for painting-references...

...and I think I took this one of the Hornbeams somewhere near West Broadway because the pruning of the trees around the hydro lines on the right side seemed so drastic, however necessary.

So this week, the topic came around to the East 6th Ave neighbourhood fight to save their elms, 31 of which were pronounced unstable by the Vancouver Parks Board and slated for removal.

The local community stepped up and challenged the assessment, demanding a more discriminating process with a much higher priority to preserve the treescape. As a result, the number of trees slated for immediate removal was reduced to six!

Thanks to this community action, the Vancouver Parks Board is revising their street tree management plan in consultation with local residents, formally recognizing the environmental, heritage and community value of trees.

I thought I'd include a truncated list (pardon the pun) from the East 6th Elm Fact Sheet, to remind us all of the wide-ranging benefits of street-trees. Their reference is "Planting Our Future - A Tree Toolkit for Communities' published by the Union of BC Municipalities, 2008.

Trees:

Create livable communites

Are good for business

Encourage people to visit

Reduce stormwater costs

Prolong the life of pavement

Make communities safer

Provide recreational and educational opportunities

Increase property values

Provide stress relief

Reduce noise

Support biodiversity

Support ecosystem function

Help protect streams and aquatic habitats

Conserve and enhance soil productivity

Support sustainable transportation

Improve air quality

Provide air to breathe

Improve water quality

Reduce the heat island effect

Reduce energy bills