2024-5 In Review

After taking a couple of years off from writing this blog, I realize how much it has replaced my photo albums of previous years, and so it seems appropriate to resume with an overview of the missing years. Much has remained the same, so I think one or two photos from each month will be a sufficient reminder of the highlights.

January, 2024 was a challenging time for Vancouver gardeners. Mild end-of year weather with virtually no snow, even on the mountains, was followed by below zero temperatures mid-month, and then by an "atmospheric river" that left the ground saturated with water. We missed the worst of this, having escaped to Mexico. 

A highlight of the trip was a visit with an old gardening friend, David Tarrant, whom many Canadian gardeners will remember from his time at UBC Botanical Garden or his hosting the Canadian Gardener series on TV.

 

 

 It was no surprise that David's new, small garden is already a delightful, plant-filled oasis.

 February saw us back home, enjoying the few hardy bulbs that always seem to be impervious to the weather.

I was surprised to be able to count Iris reticulata 'Katherine Hodgkin' among the survivors. In the past, I've found this little beauty quite temperamental. I'm hoping it likes its location enough to multiply and make a substantial clump.

 March felt more like February with many plants slow to recover from the winter weather, leaving me with little to appreciate other than the silhouettes of the maples on our street,

 ... and the ancient pear tree in our backyard with its cloak of emerald moss.

 April was a month for small delights, like seeing new leaves sprouting on the tips of our tree hydrangea that has now reached the balustrade of our front porch. This amazing plant stands tall and upright with no support except its own  slender stems .

 Close to its feet is another encouraging sight: a tiny shoot emerging from the roots of Hydrangea serrata 'Beni Gaku', a favourite plant that I thought I'd lost to the severe winter. I hope this is a sign that it will eventually recover. 

May is peony month and my current favourite is Paeonia obovata 'Alba'. With beautiful mahogany-infused foliage and a pure white flower it is an elegant addition to my small mostly white area. I acquired it as a wounded bit of tuber and wasn't very hopeful that it would survive, but it has put out a single flower and with luck it will continue to thrive.

By the end of the month, my sage plant had burst into bloom. Not just a useful kitchen herb, its rich lavender-blue flowers appeal to pollinators like this little humming bird.

A very different late May flower was Clematis 'Samaritan Jo' on a section of wrought-iron fence in the front yard. This is one of the smaller Raymond Evison varieties bred to grow only 1.5m.  

 

 

June is rose time and my big beauties enjoying the sun on the back fence never disappoint me. That's 'Lykkefund' on the left and'Ghislaine de Féligonde' on the right.

 

 

Although they look similar in my photo, they are actually quite different. 

'Lykkefund'  has pale pink buds opening to loose semi-double flowers and has a scent that permeates the air, especially on warm evenings. It only blooms once a year, but all those flowers produce bright red rosehips that brighten the branches throughout the winter months.

 

"Ghislaine de Féligonde' has apricot buds opening to double peach flowers before fading to white. It is only mildly scented, but it has the advantage of blooming a second time with even a few buds still struggling to open at the very end of the year.

 

 

Both these roses have been in commerce for over a hundred years and are exceptionally healthy. It's a pity that they are so rare, superseded by longer-blooming, more brightly-coloured varieties.

July brings one of my favourite combinations. Clematis x durandii has spent the previous months snaking its way through my oakleaf hydrangea, and always blooms just a little ahead of its host. A nearby lavender echoes echoes its lovely blue.

 

Meanwhile in a shady area nearby Hosta 'Krossa Regal' rules over a cloud of pink Gypsophila 'Bristol Fairy'. The dark foliage of Actaea 'Hillside Black Beauty' and a small clump of  Heuchera 'Blackberry Jam' provide contrast.

 In August the garden takes a bit of a holiday, like many of us, before gearing up again with late-blooming perennials. However, those plants that do bloom now tend to make strong statements as their colours are much more intense than the soft pastels of early summer flowers. Lobelia cardinalis 'Victoria' is particularly eye-catching with its near-black foliage and deep scarlet flowers. It is a favourite both of mine and of the hummingbirds.

 

On the other side of the garden, Helenium 'Moorheim Beauty' is almost as  striking. It would clash wildly with its companions if it bloomed any earlier, but it has this corner pretty much to itself by now with just a few pale blue spikes of another lobelia, the rather unfortunately named Lobelia syphilitica, for company.

 

September sees the flowers of last month still blooming, joined by the crisp white flowers of tall Anemone japonica 'Honorine Jobert'. In front is Amsonia hubrichtii, whose striking foliage is just beginning to turn colour. By the end of the month it will be entirely golden, as dramatic a garden accent as any flower.

 

 

By October few flowers remain, but this is showtime for one of my favourites for its late bloom. The cobalt blue spires of Aconitum 'Arendsii' command the garden all month, attracting the remaining bees and other pollinators, as well as the attention of human visitors.

 

In November, it's all about fall foliage even where you might not expect it. Rosa spinosissima, always my first rose to bloom in early May, won't flower again until next year but compensates with a remarkable show of colour as its leaves prepare to drop.

Finally, the star of December has to be the aptly-named Mahonia 'Winter Sun'. Too big a plant for the garden proper,  it occupies a corner of of our parking space in the back lane, and delights us and the overwintering Anna's hummingbirds with its nectar-rich, bright yellow flowers. Strands of rose 'Lykkefund',whose flowers I featured back in June, contribute their red berries to complete a Christmas picture and end my gardening year.