tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-279592682026-05-14T13:47:09.488-04:00For gardeners with acreages & those who just wish they had a bigger canvas...Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.comBlogger285125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-352656290663199022012-01-30T17:06:00.000-05:002012-01-30T17:08:37.644-05:00

Our four-square garden after a successful renovation Our country property is for sale, and if you're curious, that story is over at my new blog. Our plan is to downsize in preparation for my husband's retirement in a year or so. I also have a three-part post about how we renovated the garden above to make it simpler and easier to maintain.  Here's that story.

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.comHamilton, ON, Canada43.243603 -79.88907543.0585365 -80.204932 43.4286695 -79.573218000000011tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-27810135899463394582009-10-15T23:08:00.000-04:002009-10-15T23:08:40.903-04:00

I have new post on this topic at the new blog.

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-67238170537185798352009-10-07T23:44:00.001-04:002009-10-07T23:44:55.719-04:00

I have two new posts over at Countrygardenerblog, about Eco-lawn and you can find them here: Eco-lawn - how low maintenance is it? My new blog now also has a sign-up form to you can get your updates directly from there via email. I hope you'll check it out. I think it's working properly now, but please let me know if you have any problems. © Yvonne Cunnington, Country Gardener

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-32734564076951873912009-09-19T20:18:00.004-04:002009-09-30T21:59:13.355-04:00

My new post about fall color, this time all about terrific trees and shrubs for autumn display. This blog has moved, please visit countrygardenerblog.

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-39842404688710884182009-09-18T21:16:00.005-04:002009-09-18T21:26:18.533-04:00

I have a new post up with lots of pictures of ornamental grasses in the fall. Please go to my new blog to read it. In working on the blog change-over, I have found that transfering the content from this blog to the new one isn't practical for me, so I will leave this one here. I'll be posting from the new blog from now on. As soon as that blog is incorporated into my website (another techno

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-44395585443750510272009-09-14T12:09:00.006-04:002009-09-14T14:42:08.477-04:00

Blog notice: I want to let you know that my blog is moving to a new location. It will be two-step move, first from blogspot to WordPress, which has been done. Please visit the new blog in its new format at Country Gardener Blog. Eventually the content from this blog will migrate to the new blog. Work on that will begin this week.Step two will be to incorporate my blog into my website,

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-20152393183001296592009-08-30T14:36:00.026-04:002009-08-31T18:20:24.841-04:00

Garden bloggers Helen and Sarah Battersby of torontogardens.com, who visited my garden last month and posted a delightful slide show of my garden, put me up this blogger's meme.To participate in the "Meme Award" you need to:* Link back to the person who gave you the award.* Reveal seven things about yourself.* Choose seven other blogs to nominate, and post a link to them.* Let each of your

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-74286041433640200842009-08-29T13:21:00.008-04:002009-08-29T14:25:56.074-04:00

I recently finished reading Break of Day by Colette (translated by Enid McLeod from the French "La Naissance du Jour"). It has in it the most poetic description of digging the soil to make a garden that I've read. (Never mind that these days no-till is the prefered solution to starting a new garden bed.)From Break of Day:To lift and penetrate and tear apart the soil is labour — a pleasure —

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-58746809509465762672009-08-21T21:00:00.002-04:002009-08-21T11:11:58.332-04:00

I sometimes want to post pictures without garden articles, so I've started a separate photo blog for that purpose. You can visit it here.If you're within easy driving distance of Hamilton, there's a two-day garden photography workshop on Sept. 12-13 at Royal Botantical Gardens led by garden and landscape photographer Ian Adams, author of The Art of Garden Photography. He will also give a talk at

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-87804294798657035262009-08-20T00:01:00.004-04:002009-08-20T08:28:39.763-04:00

One of the chief joys of country gardening is the many birds that summer on our property. I had never really noticed grey catbirds until we disturbed their nest while pruning the lilacs at our side yard entry.The Palibin lilacs have very dense foliage, so David (my garden helper, who is a great animal lover) had already cut off the branch in question when he noticed the nest and three baby

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-67759363476760049772009-08-18T00:01:00.003-04:002009-08-19T18:20:49.052-04:00

Would you do this to your favorite lilacs? We did - and we did the deed in mid-July, about a month past the ideal time to prune. The shrubs in question are five Meyer lilacs (Syringa meyeri 'Palibin').Why? The pictures here illustrate the problem - the shrubs had walled us off from a lovely view of the garden.Meyer lilacs are supposed to be compact, and I suppose for lilacs they are, but they

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-16685737877114756032009-08-15T00:05:00.004-04:002009-08-15T10:45:39.115-04:00

There are lots of flowers blooming in our gardens around the house, but for this Garden Blogger's Blooms Day* I'm going to feature our wildflower meadow, which has never looked better.It's been a strange summer with far too much rain and low temperatures (until it got hot this week). The effect on the meadow has been to slow the blooms down, and keep the flowers fresher for longer. I think the

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-8773250388142102952009-08-08T21:47:00.012-04:002009-08-09T21:18:14.382-04:00

The conditions very early in the mornings have been exactly perfect for meadow photography. Here's how our meadow looked to my camera eye at sunrise a couple of days ago.A heavy dose of EchinaceaUp close and personal Monard didyma, usually finished blooming by this timebut extended by cool, wet seasonLiatris and Ratibida coming on strongwith Monarda in backgroundRatibida with soft Monarda colors

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-89925505100696989692009-08-03T10:13:00.012-04:002009-08-05T17:46:32.026-04:00

My husband said yesterday: "I'm so glad it's August and the beginning of the end of summer." A minority opinion, I'm sure, but we both prefer the fall over summer, that is, a normal hot and humid summer. This season it's hardly been hot at all. We've had only one day over 30C (86F).Click on photo to see it largerThe Agriculture Canada map of Ontario's precipitation since April 2009 tells the

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-26433134788916275022009-07-24T16:18:00.021-04:002009-07-31T22:33:08.481-04:00

We had torrential rains over the weekend: many separate waves of severe thunderstorms delivered 1.75 inches of rain on both Saturday and Sunday. These heavy rains came on top of almost 2 inches of rain earlier in the week.Flood waters rushing down from the tree farm behind usWe had flooding, as we always do during heavy rain events. Fortunately, although torrents run through the low area of our

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-26666005804999101252009-07-24T15:40:00.007-04:002009-07-27T10:06:55.525-04:00

I have been meaning to put a slide show of my garden into this blog for a long time, but gardening always seems to get in the way.Now Helen and Sarah Battersby, sisters and neighbours, who blog at Toronto Gardens, have beat me to it. A couple of days ago I met them for the first time in person when they came for lunch and a tour of my garden. Here is their post and the slide show. The pictures

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-13492828589587327832009-07-20T21:44:00.010-04:002009-07-20T22:09:42.921-04:00

Our meadow is beginning to come into bloom. Here are the first flowers:Monarda didyma - I love their soft color and interesting shapeRudbeckia hirta with what I'm guessing is a switch grass(Panicum virgatum)Echinacea pallida - the delicate-looking pale coneflowerPurple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea)We saw this in Colorado, and grew it from seedand added it to the meadowButterfly milkweed (

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-39992886313738161482009-07-15T00:05:00.002-04:002009-07-25T11:54:17.215-04:00

Flowers seem to be a week or two late this year. We've had very cool temperatures, and lots of rain. The past two nights have gone down to 6.5 degrees C (43F), and daytime temperatures are comfortable. Is this really July?I'm liking this summer very much. Heat and humidity: who needs it? Apparently, the tomatoes do: they're not growing well at all, but I only have three plants.Here's a selection

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-82651582195877571612009-07-14T17:02:00.009-04:002009-07-15T18:07:04.147-04:00

Getting ready for a group garden tour is bit a like preparing for the opening night of a play. You want everything to be perfect, or at least as close to perfect as possible - as neat and trimmed and weed-free as you can get. With a big garden that's always growing and changing week by week, that's a tall order. But the garden looked great, and I think our guests, the Royal Botanical Gardens

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-83001642514760811142009-07-09T05:30:00.001-04:002009-07-09T09:01:58.738-04:00

Since we moved here 11 years ago, our summers have been dominated by drought. Indeed, the worst drought in 50 years plagued gardeners and farmers throughout 2007. So it feels really odd to be experiencing the second wet summer in row - at least so far.According to the local paper, we had 30 percent more rain than normal in June and temperatures have been an average 1.5 degrees cooler than normal

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-22144177617510567832009-07-08T15:07:00.014-04:002009-07-08T19:08:42.257-04:00

Lewisia redivia in the wild - growing in dark basalt rockWhen my husband John started rock gardening, one of the attractions was to grow little-known and unusual plants such as Lewisia. Native to western North America, these alpine perennials are named for explorer Meriweather Lewis. (Maybe you have dim memories of learning about Lewis and Clark in high school too?)One lovely Lewisia in our rock

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-72411319579175354732009-07-01T22:09:00.002-04:002009-07-01T22:29:58.351-04:00

We've had a lot of rain this week. More flooding down at the creek today, as we got our second inch in as many days, and the ground was already sodden with the 2.25 inches from last Thursday. And to think I was complaining about the lack of rain just before this wet week started.Which would you rather have: too much rain or drought? I'll take this over the once in 50-year drought we endured in

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-29244858692990525392009-06-25T16:28:00.003-04:002009-06-25T16:43:15.450-04:00

I had been hoping for rain to give us some relief from a dry couple of weeks, and our current heat wave. Well, it rained, and how!Creek banks flooding onto our propertyOur little bridge across the creek under waterThis was the scene following two and a quarter inches of torrential rain (and a bit of hail) that came down during the lunch hour. As always, the creek flooded and the lowest part of

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-85099133442979937602009-06-15T00:01:00.005-04:002009-06-16T09:10:12.899-04:00

The most colorful spot in June - John's rock gardenMmmmm, it really smells sweet here right now, particularly in the evenings. At the side door, the last of Palibin lilacs waft their scent and from behind the house comes the lovely perfume of the black locust trees.Dame's rocket growing under a stand of sumacsnaturalized area around our siloWalk to my husband John's rock garden, and there's the

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27959268.post-28129710357334038812009-06-10T20:23:00.006-04:002009-06-10T20:48:45.583-04:00

They look pretty cute, these chipmunks, but they are systematically clearing my garden of all of its crocus and tulip bulbs. I keep finding holes they've dug everywhere around the house. Our house is on a hill, and our patio is terraced with large rocks. Unfortunately, it's perfect chipmunk habitat, and I guess the thing to do is plant more daffodils, which I'm told they don't touch.© Yvonne

Yvonnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03098282222368869353noreply@blogger.com5