Last fall, winter arrived abnormally early abruptly with severe temperature drop. All my maples were caught off guard and frozen before they had a chance to change colour or drop their leaves. The winter was, however, relatively ‘normal’ and spring came early with no late frost. Strangely, most of my flowering trees (prunus, Cornus, Magnolia etc.) failed to bloom. there was little rain from early spring into November. Plants like Heuchera and Hosta were very unhappy. Coping with strange weather has increasingly become a norm for gardening. It was very fortunate that I have a big garden to play with in a pandemic year.
Some early spring flowers:
Some Primula from seeds:
Unfortunately, many of my EPIMEDIUM and CYPRIPEDIUM are destroyed by voles.
Some late spring flowers:
Clematis season:
Summer blossoms:
Rockery plants:
Conifers:
Maples spring and fall:
Recent projects:
Koukou Walk
A neglected wild area behind the pool was renovated with a simple wooden walk (now called Koukou Walk since it was his garden) last fall to create a mini symbolic woodland garden. Initial planting this spring were just some Primula, Hosta and a few of my maple and conifer grafts. More woodland plants will be added over the next few years.
Clematis Wall
A simple ‘Clematis wall’ was constructed to hide the chain linked fence and provide better support for our Clematis collection.
A New Flagstone Walk
The grass path across the front gardens was replaced with a flagstone walk with steps added going down the hill by the mini rockery. The primary intent is to minimize the maintenance chore of edging and mowing the lawn.
