Happy Canada Day! 147 years young as a country. On Sunday the Greater Toronto Bulb Society had its annual picnic at the home of Laura Grant in Niagara-on-the-lake. The day was hot, sunny, and steamy. There were some lovely plants, and garden images to photograph. The first garden below is Sheila Hirsch, who has an eclectic mix of trees, shrubs, clematis, summer-flowering bulbs in beautiful placed and planted pots, spuria Iris, and an unusual pond with an equally unusual cast of characters; both inanimate and living.
Garden of Sheila Hirsch
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| Whimsical succulent bark boat |
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| Clematis Mrs. Harvey |
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| Digiplexis Illumination Flame- A fairly recent annual introduction and cross between Digitalis and Isoplexsis, a Digitalis relative from the Canary Islands. |
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| Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy'- highly recommended to grow for the foliage, and the bonus of the pineapple lilies. |
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| whimsical water garden- blend of colours, and textures is marvelous. |
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| Metal frog statues spitting water into the pond. Gorgeous Colocasias flanking the water garden. |
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| Speckled Colocasia 'Mojito'- beautiful ornamental plant. I'm ready for a Mojito! |
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| Wondrous frog statues spitting water which the dragonflies enjoyed taking quick sips from. |
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| Mourning Dove with her young nesting in the statue of an iron owl. What Irony! Pun intended. |
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| Iris spuria- Cinnabar Red- Enough said! Stunning, rich velveteen red. Must get those in the fall. So in love with them. |
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| Iris spuria 'Arbitrator'- unusual striping with two tone yellow-purple. What a lovely colour combo. |
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| Cornus kousa |
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| Japanese Koi in the water garden- The colour of the water is blue to stave off algae with a blue colouring. |
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| Sheila has assigned names to her Koi such as Elizabeth Arden, who is a small Koi ( not pictured her|)with red lips and red around her eye. She was difficult to capture in a photograph. |
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| Feeding- Yum yum. |
Laura Grant's garden is also an eclectic mix of interesting trues, shrubs, conifers, a huge water garden, actually a pond , with a large collection of bulbs such as Amaryllis, Watsonia, Brodiaea, Agapanthus, Rhodohypoxsis, all of which she winters outdoors. I cannot winter these in Toronto without protection, but Amaryllis would never survive a Toronto winter outdoors. Truly astonishing really, but they do have a slightly warmer zone at 7. Laura has an impressive collection of Rhododendrons, and water lilies, as well as other water -loving plants. This home is her summer cottage, and was originally a railway station. She has gutted the house from within , and is working on rebuilding it. The gardens occupy one acre roughly. She had numerous birds nesting in a variety of places some in tress, some on the ledge of the house. A splendid day it was.
Garden of Laura Grant
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| Bog garden containing Drosera, Sarracenia, and Vaccinium sp. which is a cranberry, and sedges. You can see a solitary cranberry on the moss. |
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| Sarracenia purpurea |
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| View of the water garden flanked by stimulating views of climbing scented roses, and various Clematis cultivars. A lovely Musa sp. ( banana in the centre) |
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| Purple water lilies- simply beautiful. The dragonflies abounded flying frenetically on every flower open or otherwise. |
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| Dragonfly on water lily. |
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| Dragonfly on Pontederia cordata- Pickerel Rush a native plant |
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