There Ain't No Cure

Brazil...
La la la la la la
...

When twilight dims the skies above
Recalling thrills of our love
There's one thing I'm certain of
Return...
I will...
to old...
BRAZIL.

I saw the movie Brazil in the theatre on my 21st birthday with the man who is now my husband. I can't remember what we thought our status was in the middle of February, 1986. My life was complicated. There was this other guy. But anyway. History shows how things eventually turned out.


Purple-leaved Ash Tree, October 2005

A couple of weeks ago my husband (we've been married 18 years) had called the city's Forestry office to have our city-owned tree removed. The tree is an ash, with small fragrant blooms and green leaves in spring that turn purple as the season progresses. The tree -- as all trees of the same species on our street are -- is plagued with a disease that causes black cankers to grow on branches. There is no cure, so it has steadily deteriorated until almost every branch looks like a dog left something behind on it.

Canker, Spring 2008

Tree removal is a bureaucratic process, involving levels of paperwork designed to make sure that no one's tree is removed by mistake. Therefore, when a resident calls the city's Forestry office, the city first sends out a tree expert to determine that the tree really is in bad shape and needs to be removed. If so, the homeowner is served with written notice, and the tree is marked with a painted circle. Crews will only remove a tree that has been properly marked.

In the movie Brazil, a typing error leads to a mixup between the names "Tuttle" and "Buttle", and the wrong man is dragged off to be interrogated as a suspected terrorist.

The other day I overheard my neighbour two doors down (who because of our pie-shaped lots shares a tree with my immediate next-door neighbour) discussing how the next-door neighbour had received notice that the tree was scheduled for removal. Granted, that tree was actually in worse shape than ours, but still. The tree expert had the correct address written on his work order. He just marked the wrong tree.

I happened to be out on Friday afternoon when the work crews came by and removed the neighbours' tree. I arrived home just as they were finishing up, and one of the workers approached me and asked whether we had called the city about our tree. He told me that their work order had our address on it, but that they could only remove the tree that had the mark. Then he told me that their tree expert was going on vacation starting Monday and wouldn't be available for a while.

It was then that I started humming the theme from Brazil silently in my head.

The Trunk of the Tree in Better Days

I went inside to call my husband and suggest that he might want to call the city's Forestry office again, just so things didn't get overlooked. The call was interrupted by a knock at the door. Luckily the hard-grafting city workers were self-interested enough to want to avoid having to come back to the same street a couple of weeks later. After making sure I had given permission to take down our tree, they removed it with a minimum of fuss.

And now it's gone!

The Stump

Actually, they will have to come back another time and remove the stump and plant a new tree (of a different species, presumably), but in the meantime the garden still looks okay without the tree.

Garden Without the Ash Tree

Pretty Pictures

I wasn't sure whether to do pretty pictures or meaningful words for this post, but in the end I went with the pictures. First of all, I have new photos of the frog. The frog is moving closer to the house, and made its way up onto the porch, where I had stored a plastic watering can. When I went to grab the can to water my containers, I noticed this:

Nestled on My Watering Can

A close-up shot (look at the little nose!) reveals that our frog probably spends the night under the mulch somewhere near the step, before climbing the step during the day and exploring the porch.

Covered in Bits of Mulch

From a gardening point of view right now the only real "excitement" is (for the first time since planting it in 2006) the multiple blooms on my dwarf iris 'Grape Orbit'.

Dwarf Iris 'Grape Orbit'

I guess there's very little reason to get excited about weeds in your garden, but these "weeds" keep popping up in the front yard and I love them (they are 'Star of Bethlehem' and are an escaped perennial, native to eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East, originally brought to North America as an ornamental plant). The only problem is, they don't always show up in a place I would have purposely planted them, but I guess I can live with that.

(Can You Believe These Are) Weeds in the Garden

And finally, a couple of pictures of pansies from my containers. The pansies are doing brilliantly in the cool, wet, overcast weather we've been having. In fact, many of the plants are really thriving, though it seems to me that my rock rose and Johnson's Blue hardy geranium might be a little late in blooming. That's all I can really think of. Anyway, the pansies love this weather.

Ruffled Pansies



Avenging Angel


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

Random Friday Garden Post

Well, this is pretty much another random garden post, sort of a continuation of my last post, with some non-related stuff in there too.

I am pleased to note that the frog has returned, even though he (she?) disappeared for a while. I didn't take any more photos, though. How many photos do you need to see of a sleeping frog -- albeit a very cute sleeping frog. I might even be willing to kiss it if I thought it would turn ME into a princess. (I don't need another Prince Charming, as it happens.)

EDIT:

Okay, I relented. I will let sleeping frogs lie, but if they are awake, anything goes. Here is a photo of our garden guy.

Froggy

But I digress...

I haven't yet shown the plastic urn planter in its full glory.

Black Plastic Urn Planter

One of the few good things that can be said about dull, cloudy weather is that it makes good light for photographs. Here is a closeup of some of the African daisies in this planter.

African Daisies

Another thing I mentioned in the last post was waiting for 'Samobor' to bloom. Well, here it is. (The flowers are quite tiny, and they point downwards, but I managed to get one decent photo -- larger than life by the time I cropped in close enough.)

Hardy Geranium 'Samobor'

I also have a picture of 'Elizabeth Ann', which is blooming nicely. I love this plant for its bronze-coloured, deep-lobed foliage, and its delicate flowers with petals that curl under, like decoupage.

Hardy Geranium 'Elizabeth Ann'

In the last post, I showed the first bloom on my Lewisia plants. My second Lewisia has bloomed. This one is 'Regenbogen' ('Rainbow' in English).

Lewisia Cotyledon 'Regenbogen'

This year I have a third Lewisia, 'Little Plum', bought at Wal-Mart (!). I am hoping the flowers are similar to what is shown on the label, a sort of white-edged mauve. Of course, I don't have any flowers on the third plant yet, or even buds, so I will finish off with a photo of the Lewisia that bloomed first.

Lewisia Cotyledon


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

Blooms, Food, and Frogs in the Garden

Remember I said I was waiting for the Lewisia to bloom. Well, here is the first flower.

Lewisia Cotyledon



The dwarf iris 'Grape Orbit' also got its first bloom recently.

Iris 'Grape Orbit' Flower



And it looks like there are plenty more to come.

More Blooms Coming

The rhubarb is about ready to harvest. Rhubarb is the only food I grow in the garden. It's hidden at the back behind the Japanese maple. I'd like to say I've always meant to grow more foodstuff, but the truth is that my garden is just for show. Except for rhubarb. I love rhubarb.

Rhubarb

I thought the fritillaria were finished, but it turns out they were just overwhelmed by the hosta whose leaves are now unfurled. (When the fritillaria first bloomed, the hosta was only just poking its pointy shoots out of the mulch.)

Fritillaria Overshadowed by Hosta

I found this "weed" growing in the mulch in my garden. I'm thinking it is a native wildflower, although it could be an errant seed from one of my cultivated plants. The thing is, though, we do have a native cranesbill that grows in the woods nearby, so I'm hoping this is actually the wildflower version.

A "Weed" in My Garden (Possibly Native Cranesbill)

And speaking of cranesbill, also known here as hardy geranium, I have many varieties of them. I can't wait for my Mourning Widow Cranesbill (Geranium phaeum 'Samobor') to bloom, as it will have dark purple flowers.

Mourning Widow Cranesbill (Geranium phaeum 'Samobor')

Also on the topic of cranesbill, the story of 'Hocus Pocus' (I think it is 'Hokus Pokus' in Europe). I thought I had killed it by planting it where it got the full brunt of the afternoon sun. The poor thing fried before I figured out I should move it. So I moved it to a much shadier location (not quite full shade, but as close as my garden gets) and I am pleased to note that it has come back this year, despite having only one wilted leaf left last year when I moved it.

Meadow Cranesbill (Geranium praetense 'Hokus Pokus')

By the way, the label for this plant said "sun to part shade". I think I would amend that to "part sun to shade". This plant does not like the afternoon sun.

And finally, to finish up, I found this little green frog sleeping on my front porch in the cold this morning. I hope he sticks around, like his cousin Bob the Frog from a couple of years ago.

Green Frog


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

It's Time For Planting Containers

Well, I went plant shopping with my son and we nearly broke the bank with our spending. I thought we had enough to fill the containers for spring, but no. I will have to see what I can do about getting some more. Probably buying the plants from a less expensive source would help with that. I should check out Wal-Mart and the big box stores instead of going to the nursery.

In the meantime, here are some photos of spring in my garden.

Globe Container

This year, the globe container has primula, celosia, snapdragons, African daisies, coleus, lamium, pansies, and an ivy geranium. I love the colour of these African daisies:

Purple-Orange Blend African Daisies

I also love the spoon-shaped petals of this African daisy:

Spoon-Shaped Petals on African Daisy

Staying in the front yard, here is the display near the doorway. A two-level rock with ivy surrounding it supports a container-planted heuchera 'Prince of Silver' and of course my Buddha head ornament. Sadly, the daffodil blooms are finished for the season, but the tall foliage still works well here. I bought a new poppy to add to my collection, which you can see in the background.

Front Step Display

These daffodils in another part of the yard are still blooming.

Daffodils, Three to a Stem

And nearby some moss phlox and a last remaining 'Pink Fountain' fringed tulip. Most of those tulips only sent up leaves and no blooms this year.

Moss Phlox and Pink Tulip

A few tiny buds on the magnolia tree escaped the frost and we have some late blooms that are white and pink, without the brown frost damage.

A Magnolia Blossom that Escaped the Frost

And a couple of photos from the back yard. I am showing the Lewisia Cotyledon plants, because the buds are just coming out and in a few days the riot of blooms will start. (I'm glad these plants survived the winter. There is another one where the main plant did not survive, but it seems as if a daughter plant might have fared better.)

Lewisia Cotyledon, Waiting to Bloom

And finally, the triumph of my attempts at growing daylilies from my own seeds, this year's crop of champion seedlings:

Champion Daylily Seedlings, Grown from Seeds Gathered in My Garden


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

Tulipmania

Okay, well, the mania is mine. I love tulips and I've been planting them for a few years in my garden. Mostly the front yard, but I have a few out back, too.

In keeping with the purpose of this blog, being my garden journal, I am going to use this post to document the many varieties of tulip that bloom (or still bloom) in my garden. I plant new varieties every year, but they don't all return. So this is a record of what's blooming in Spring 2008.

Yellow-Orange Tulips
I Kept Three as an Exception to My Purple and White Theme




Pink Diamond
Only Two Tiny Ones Blooming this Year




Zurel Tulips
Still a Few Small Ones Blooming




Pink Fountain (Fringed Tulip)
Only One Small One Bloomed




Shirley's Dream
I Planted a Lot of These, So There Are Plenty




Jackpot
Only Two Tiny Ones Blooming




Raika
They Keep Coming Back!




Blue Heron (Fringed Tulip)
Two or Three of These Are Left




Dark Purple Parrot
A Few of These Bloomed From Last Year's Planting




Possibly 'Ballade'
I Keep Replacing 'Ballade' with Lookalikes, So I'm Not Sure


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

Spring Garden Photos

Well, I was going to do a "purple" post, since that is certainly a dominant colour in the garden this spring, but I think I'd rather just post random photos from the past few days (minus the two rainy ones) in the garden.

Buddha with Tradescantia "Halo"



Iris and Fritillaria



Garden Looking West



Fritillaria Closeup



Pasque Flower



Peekaboo Daffodil


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.