Reading and Gardening and Reading….

… the perfect way to spend a day off, don’tcha think? Already there is a familiar scent to the air, especially in the morning, when the chill from the previous evening can still be felt, and you find yourself remembering that its almost September. I have always thought that if they could bottle and patent this fragrance….

I walked downtown after finding myself stopped dead in my tracks by the near endless bloom cycle of Gentiana ‘True Blue’. I have pontificated on them enough to last a lifetime, so I’ll leave it to a photo to describe exactly what I mean! Granted, I did plant, now let me see, I think it was three plants inside of a week of each other, and all of them are in an area that also includes the fabulously chartreuse foliage of both Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’ and Pinellia tripartita ‘Golden Dragons’… so I suppose this would be par for the course, but damn!

I have to admit, and it might come across like boasting, so forgive me, that I am thrilled with the recent revamping of the rare and unusual border. It is after all, the first border that one comes across on my postage stamp sized property, and it was created with the vision that it would be crammed with as many rare and unusual plant selections as if humanly possible…. well for me at least!

 For the past two days, I have been pondering relocating two of my most prized possessions to the R & U border, if only to up the ante even more. I readily admit that in the four years that I have been actively seeking out rare and choice woodland plants, this has definitely been the year to reap the magnificent rewards. I remember two years ago being over the moon when a certain Princess Reginae bloomed for the first time. And to think I considered that the penultimate reward! Hello Anemonopsis macrophylla! Salutations Glaucidium palmatum!

Originally they were planted half way down the length of the Shaded Walk, with the Anemonopsis completely shrouded beneath the foliage of an ever expanding Kirengeshoma palmata, and sadly, Glaucidium found herself competing with the equally captivating foliage of Diphylleia cymosa, in a rather awkward planting combination. In a year of horticultural musical chairs, all three plants now have new homes.

Diphylleia cymosa is now planted across from where you see the water bowl in the first photo of this posting. I was forever crushing his newly emerging stems in the Spring when I add my composted pine bark top dressing. He will remain visible [in fact will be more so!] as you enter the Shaded Walk and will add just the right amount of early drama! Those familiar with the garden layout will also notice that I’ve removed the clump of Ligularia stenocephala ‘The Rocket’ and have replaced it with a second Thalictrum delavayi ‘Splendide’ and Veronicastrum virginucum ‘Lavender Towers,’ both of which are under-planted with Melittis melissophyllum ‘Royal Velvet Distinction,’ Phylittis scolopendrium and Triosteum himalayanum. ‘The Rocket’ – well he was just too commonplace for my revamped garden vision.

While you cannot detect his presence, Anemonopsis macrophylla now resides to the right of the foliage of Helleborus x hybrida ‘Cotton Candy’, which is another recent addition to the R & U border! Is it possible to have too much of a good thing Martha? I relocated a Polemonium alpina that seemed to struggle against the bolder foliage of Aconitum kyrlovii, and it was there that I relocated my Glaucidium. [I have yet to take a photo – leave it to the camera battery to let me know I was finished with the glamour/posterity shots for one day!]

Oh…. and then I walked downtown, visited my favourite independent bookseller, Roxanne’s Reflections, where I picked up Dan Pearson’s new book! [See previous video post!] I am enjoying it immensely, even more so that it is riddled with some of the very plants that reside here in Teza’s Garden. You will note a wonderful Clematis tubulosa that the camera lands on once or twice in the previous video posting…… it is doing exactly the same thing in my garden as I type! I wish more people could see beyond the clamoring vine species that to me are far too susceptible to wilt, and would embrace the beauty of the herbaceous woody species that exist!

…. and now I am going to go and immerse myself in my new book yet again! Tomorrow I might just have another wonderful garden surprise…. blue to boot!