Another room renovated

One of our tasks this summer was redoing the main floor bathroom. This is what it looked like when we moved in: simulated black marble plastic tiles with pink trim.

 

We had to act right away on the peeling back wall, so installed a not-very-expensive wraparound tub wall. It will remain for now, though at some future date I'd like to replace it. 

Two years later, after attending to more important alterations, we carried out the old vanity (a difficult job as it was heavy, constructed of very solid plywood), and stripped the plastic tiles from the drywall behind (an easy job as they practically fell off at a touch.)

Michael detached the toilet, which we moved temporarily to the back porch, then removed the linoleum tiles on the floor, the plywood beneath them and finally the fir boards below that to get down to the subfloor. 

He replaced the plywood, laid heating cable over it, 

poured self-levelling cement (the worst part of the job as it didn't self-level willingly), set the new terracotta tiles and finished with a dark-coloured grout. I put two coats of sealer on the grout.

Then I repainted the walls, we installed beadboard wainscotting, which I had already painted out in the backyard, and replaced the toilet. Our new vanity including sink and faucet was acquired from Craigslist, and suited both our colour scheme and the rustic look we were aiming for.

Our old oval mirror that we've had for many years turned out to be a good match for the vanity. We added a new curved shower rod and a half-curtain to the window in colours that matched the walls.

An inexpensive print on the wall and a bamboo etagere to hold towels completed the room.

Cooler weather in the last week gave us an opportunity to test the floor heat and find it is working well. All in all, we're pleased with the transformation.

Old is Good

Grandview Heritage Group has launched a program to celebrate houses that are 100 years old with appropriate signs. We got our sign over a month ago, but it's taken this long for me to post a photo of our proud old birthday girl.

The Group intends to make this an annual project. Perhaps it will teach more people to appreciate the value of what is already there rather than tearing it down to build a new house out of cheaper materials. Our house was such an ugly duckling when we bought it, and yet now so many passers-by comment on how attractive it is.

August observations

We are three weeks into August already and 'Betty Corning' on the back fence is only just losing its flowers.

I took this photo two weeks ago, amazed that it was still blooming since it's been going strong for almost three months. It's not easy to photograph the whole vine as my automatic camera tends to focus anywhere but on the right spot. However, it's great for a close-up:

 This is a fragrant clematis which is one reason I chose it for a location by the back steps where we are always coming and going. I had not, however, expected it to have such a long flowering season.
 On the other side of the steps are two blueberry bushes and, on the right, the flowering currant I recently moved from lower in the garden to this prominent position, where I hope it will be more visible to any passing hummingbird.

 
Since the photo, the currant has objected to the midsummer move by turning brown, but I didn't want to move it in winter when it is preparing to flower. It's a tough plant and will survive.
The fence behind the bushes is host to another clematis, 'Huldine', which is just coming into flower as 'Betty' fades:

There are only two of these exquisite pearly-white flowers so far, but many buds yet to open.
 Two non-clinging species clematis have also been adding to the garden:

Clematis integrifolia





and


                                                                  Clematis recta

The former sprawls around the feet of 'Huldine', while the latter decorates one pillar of the back porch with a little discreet help from garden twine.
All of these clematis are herbaceous and can be tidied up at the end of the year by cutting down to a foot or so of hardly noticeable twigs.

Success with vegetables

Our new vegetable patch has begun to be productive, with green onions, peas, beans and broccoli all demanding to be harvested.

The raised beds are proving very successful.

 You can almost see that patch of corn at the back getting taller every day.

In fact, since I took these photos the beans have sprung up the fence and are waving above the top rail, and the lettuce-leaf basil has finally decided that it is hot enough to begin to grow. Only our second crop of lettuce has stalled in the heat and may have to be replanted when the temperature drops back to our normal cool.

The view from my desk into the back garden has changed in two years from this

to this:

Of course, there's still a lot to do. That patch of grass on the left has to be turned into more garden beds, and there is still quite a bit of brown earth elsewhere waiting for the right plants to cover it. However, brown earth itself is a great improvement over buttercups and other weeds that were providing much of the green in the early photo.

More plants

It's hydrangea time. I'm becoming more addicted to hydrangeas since I discovered how many alternatives to coarse-leaved mopheads there are in the family. I have a young H. serrata hybrid called 'Waterfall' that has put out one bloom this year.

 

As it ages, the greenish-white petals are slowly becoming suffused with ice-blue. The leaves are rather coarse but they are a good sharp green that sets off the flowers very nicely. If it blooms more profusely next year, I think it will earn its place.

A close relative of 'Waterfall' is still in a pot, but it too has produced one flower. I'm not sure I like the colour...

because it's too lush a pink, especially for a plant called 'Purple Tiers'. I think I'll move it to a larger pot, add some aluminum sulphate to push it towards blue tones, and see what happens next year before giving it garden space.

My tree hydrangea that I hope will eventually dominate the northeast garden bed is, however, living up to expectations. I love the crisp look of the flowerheads...

 ...and the big velvet-textured leaves.

None of these new additions has supplanted 'Beni-gaku' as my favourite, and that's not surprising when its combination of beautiful foliage and delicate flowers is so exquisite.

Elsewhere, a couple of thistle relatives are looking dramatic in the dry part of the front garden. One is Eryngium giganteum aka Miss Wilmott's Ghost.

Miss Wilmott, a rich, eccentric Englishwoman, so liked this plant that she used to secretly scatter seed in other people's gardens. Its mysterious arrival following a visit from her led to its unusual nickname.

On the other side of the front path competition comes from Echinops ritro 'Taplow Blue'. Both plants have a metallic sheen that makes them almost pulsate in the summer sunshine.

What they both need is more companions to cover the bare earth at their feet. I'm still contemplating candidates for that job.
Meanwhile my lavender hedge in front of them has become a reality. I've just clipped off the dead flowers and, with the exception of a couple of plants under the canopy of the street maple, they've now grown together, just as I had hoped, to form a continuous line along the sidewalk.

 Slowly I am making progress.

Poppies and their Partners

In spring I scattered poppy seeds in various bare patches to fill in the beds while I went about selecting more permanent plants. They have come up in a variety of doubles and singles, all of them attractive.
Although I didn't plan it that way, all the poppies sown among my scarlet peonies that flowered last month are also red.

Not far away, another group has all opened baby pink.

And there are also some lovely dark raspberry singles.

I get contrasting colour from low-growing Geranium 'Rozanne' next to the red poppies,

...and am just waiting for two pale yellow partners to open: Anthemis 'Sauce Hollandaise' and a species hollyhock.

Meanwhile on the fence Schizophragma hydrangeoides continues to impress me with the colour of its leaves.

Another impressive sight is a single Allium giganteum as tall as I am. The bulbs are rather expensive, but I think I'll have to indulge in a few more to accompany this one next year.

Beyond the flower garden, the vegetable plots are filling up.

 

In the foreground arugula is already flowering, but we're leaving it so that we can collect some seed for another crop. Soon we will have peas and beans climbing that back fence and screening the unattractive lane behind.

Defiant flowers

June has been such a rainy, grey month this year that everyone is calling it Juneuary. Nevertheless, flowers continue to open on their own internal calendar, probably hoping for  change just like the rest of us.
The red peonies I mentioned in an earlier post, were bravely upright mid-month before their heads filled with so much rainwater that they all flopped.

I'm quite pleased with the way they are blending with their companions...

...a Nectaroscordum siculum and the purple-flushed leaves of Ligularia. In the background is Sanguisorba with matching red bottlebrushes.

On the wall behind this explosion of colour, the seedheads of pretty Clematis 'Willy' whose flowers I mentioned in spring are hardly noticeable, which is a pity. In future years, as the clematis bulks up, I hope there will be enough of them to have more impact.

The peony flowers are a mixture of double and semi-double with a few almost single. Although with many plants I prefer the single forms, in this case I feel there's nothing quite as sumptuous as a double peony.

My photograph doesn't do it justice as it's a darker, richer red than this. I've done some tinkering like adjusting the black level but just can't get it more true to life.

Geranium x magnificum, however, is living up to its name and all that saturated blue-purple is legitimate, untouched by photoshop.

My shady corner is beginning to fill in now.

Left to right are Hydrangea nigra with the black stems, Hosta 'Krossa Regal', my favourite hosta, the airy cream flowers and purple foliage of Heuchera 'Stormy Seas', and Schizophragma hydrangeoides climbing up the fence behind. The little foreground plant is shrubby Clematis ochroleuca. I'm not sure why the Schizophragma leaves are so red unless they are responding to the rusty hues of my metal rooster. They are supposed to be silvery green, but as long as the plant seems healthy, I'm perfectly happy with the current colour.

I've since added a lovely long-spurred Aquilegia to this composition.

The blurry foliage behind it is Japanese painted fern, but the Aquilegia's own foliage is a similar blend of sea-green and purple.

Another shade plant a little further long in the same bed is Astrantia 'Shaggy', a really nice plant for brightening up a dark area.

By mid-month the roses were beginning to open. 'Ghislaine de Féligonde' was full of buds,

and I eagerly awaited the first flower.

Also in the front garden is delicate Rosa 'Dupontii'.

Blue-grey foliage, pink buds and pristine white flowers, fragrant and still faintly tipped with pink, make this plant special. Later, I'll get red rosehips for an autumn display.

In the back garden 'Rosa Mundi' is much less subtle.

It smells as a rose should smell, and is highly popular with the bees. If I'm not mistaken, I unexpectedly caught a blue orchard bee approaching another of the flowers late on a rare sunny afternoon.