Detail oriented....

My eye is always drawn to small details, touches that capture the special quality of an object, insignificant perhaps in the grand scheme of things, but none the less apparent to me...this is especially true in the garden....

The tiny green flower heads from a deciduous shrub have blown into a small bird bath and added a little touch of detail to an outdoor vignette...In direct competition with full blown white peonies in a vintage silver jug.....

Weathered and aged garden ornaments softened by late afternoon light add detail to an entrance way...

 

 

Adding a corona trellis to a planter with fledgling annuals in early Spring adds detail to a garden urn.....

Although the stone steps are holding there own in this corner of the garden, this rather formal garden accent adds detail to the soft ivy border.....

I love the small wisps of tiny fern fronds which add detail to the base of this rusted and weathered planter...

Adding accent planters to each side of the back path to our garden adds detail and structure......

More small ferns growing adjacent to this late summer planter add detail, not really needed here, but very welcome....

I love the added detail here of the rusted and weathered planter box, tiny ivy and bird bath against the moss covered terrace stones....

......more green detail!

 

 

 

 

.....so happy ivy grows here in the garden, climbing trees.....still waiting for it to cover portions of our red brick house.....

....absolutely gorgeous detail....provided by Mother Nature.....

....I have been waiting to add a table like this to my garden for some time.....

The detail is perfect.....moss covered beauty....

My husband would wonder about where to put his plate, the whole impracticality of it all...

Waiting patiently for the sun to shine and Spring to arrive, plotting and planning details

in the garden....

...all photos of our garden, the last two are from This Ivy House...

N.xo

 

 

 

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An Endless Summer....

Well it appears that Picasa and Blogger are extending me some co-operation at the moment..
I am really attempting to exercise some patience with both...it is either all or nothing with them it seems!!
Could it be that my nerves are somewhat a little frayed these days???
This past weekend my husband and I spent both days cutting back the ivy growing on our red brick house.
Don't be alarmed...I managed to convince all the males involved with the renovations that it was staying as it was!!!
We trimmed back just enough for them to work around the windows, so they could replace them and the shutters. As you can see from both the photos, above and below, the ivy, which has taken me approximately thirty years to grow was not going to be removed!
It borders the stone walkways and is even climbing up the stately old trees...

Today when I checked up on the progress of the framers, they had sheets of plywood and 2x10's
laying on the ivy border near the front door...I gently and quickly reminded them, that it was not to be!!
Am I the only one who thinks about these things????

I can't really imagine being so oblivious to something so obvious, is it a man thing, or just disregard for something living and growing???

Grrrrrrrrr.....I thought I would post something beautiful to obliterate that knot in my stomach...
This is Cinderella Fairy rose, planted last Spring amongst the Limelight hydrangeas in the garden,

so pretty and delicate and looking lovely with the chartreuse colour of the hydrangea buds about to pop....

Here it is in full bloom after just two seasons in the garden....loving its performance so far!!!
I also planted a white one as well, alongside....you can see how floriferous and abundant they both are.

White Cinderella Fairy has a touch of soft creamy yellow as it blooms...

I may plant more in the fall if the budget permits!!!

The hydrangeas have been spectacular this summer...I have been going back home everyday to water them and they have come along in spite of the hot and arid conditions, but perhaps the high humidity has been beneficial for them....

Wish I could cut them and put them in some lovely container, but everything I own is packed up and stored away!!!!

I have been referring to this summer as, the endless summer....every day has been hot and sunny and really gorgeous, except for the high humidity, which I can deal with....I love to wake up to the sun shining every day....
The roses have loved it as well....

Trying to keep occupied in the midst of making decisions about the renovations and running back and forth to both locations to oversee and ponder and hope they are the right ones...
I am reluctant to post about it...so many people in the world don't even have a roof over their heads...
It seems frivolous...

This beautiful cover is the Summer issue of Rowan, the glorious knitting magazine from England, it keeps me inspired.....

Some dried peony petals from this summers blooms in the garden are the perfect palette for some new decorating plans...What do you think?

In the meantime, small bits of what is old and familiar keep me grounded visually and otherwise...

N.xo

Peony Fluff

Yesterday, our temperature soared to 36 degrees Celsius, here in Niagara....and in the course of less than 48 hours the peonies went from buds to blooms!
It was so hot and the humidity stifling, that I had to cut all the blooms at the risk of losing them overnight...

....our weather is continuing to be so unpredictable and by mid June I am fearful that the garden will be spent.....everything will have finished the growing cycle for the year....

....I was able to fill a large zinc bucket and another sap bucket full of the cut blooms....

....three plants growing in partial shade have still to bloom, so the peony parade isn't over as yet!

I was surprised, since our winter was very mild, the plants yielded bountiful bouquets.....

.....Perfect for a early June wedding......

....they look like fluffs of meringue.....

....a small delicate wisp of porcelain vine, adds just a touch of movement and interest....
.....could see this in a bridal bouquet, don't you think?

......such short lived beauty, but breathtaking......

....There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under Heaven....

Ecclesiaste 3:1-8

...the garden....a constant reminder of the cycle of life.....

....and lest you should think that everything around here is just perfect....far from it....the carriage house is being readied for the storage of boxes and boxes and boxes.....and the house is a shambles in preparation for the reno !!

N.xo

A Shade Palette

The blooms which I am enjoying in the garden at the moment, are primarily from the flowering shrubs and trees which predominate here, growing in the shade of the Carolinian forest surrounding us on the Niagara escarpment....

The Chinese peony,Chojwaku...is the tempermental princess in early Spring...

....she reigns over the garden for a very fleeting moment, it seems..... 

....here today, gone tomorrow, depending on the weather, humidity and rains and wind being her capricious instigation for what she will do next....

.....as soon as the roseum elegans rhododendrons, which border the woodland gardens appear, she disappears....

....at about the same time the Pink Cloud kolkwitzia tree and the white flowering deutzia shrubs bloom for a substantially longer period of time, adding to the soft, lavender and pink and white colour palette....

....you can see the roof of the carriage house peaking over the pale pink blossoms.....

....a misty morning view of the south border, with the laden down rhododendrons in full bloom.....

....I long for more options here, but the garden has a mind of its own, and I nudge it along, gently.....

...a singular rose bud, from the New Dawn on the arbour, just beginning to bud....

.....the peonies are still showing great promise....with the intense heat today, they should be blooming in all their glory very soon....

...the pale pink flowers of a wigelia given to me by my Mom, is always a steady performer here in the garden... 

....a section of the back stone steps as you round a hidden corner of the garden, laden with blossoms....
and ivy growing among the crevices in the rockery....

....the Duchesse of Edinburg clematis, just beginning to show off....

....more peony promise!

....I am often asked if I have help in the garden.....the "muscle men", as I call Joe and his crew, look after all the heavy grass cutting, trimming and leaf collection in early Spring and the massive fall clean up....
I spend every minute in the garden I can, tending the beds, terrace pots and border gardens, making it my mantra to fuss and pamper the plant material we have spent so much time and energy to cultivate and encourage to grow, and be happy here! There is always something to do.....but I don't consider it work...
I linger in the garden at dusk, the light filtering through the trees is magical then....

...all growing in the shade of a hardwood forest....more roses planted this Spring....which I shall post about soon....and the peonies....
in the meantime...content with what the shade endowes  us.....
.....a short garden tour for my very appreciated blogging friends...

N.xo