Favourite Leaves

Trio
Hosta Tsunami
Frosty

Leaves are a great subject for garden photographers. Here are a few of my favourites from the last few months.

Trio: I would love to know what this first plant is called. I took photos of it in Florida and Australia, so it's a tropical.

Hosta Tsunami: This was taken as the plants were just maturing in the spring so everything was perfect then - no slug holes anywhere! I think this might have been Hosta Krossa Regal.

Brunnera: This looks like Siberian Brunnera - very delicate silver leaves with the green edges and veins. I know someone will send me a comment if this isn't the correct name, and would appreciate it very much! It's a spring bloomer with small light blue flowers and then has leaves that are pretty much perfect through the summer.

Hope you are enjoying all the beautiful leaves in your garden and neighbourhood!

Marilyn

Rugged Muskoka

I was out on an island in Georgian Bay over this past weekend. I'm told that winds surpass 146km an hour in the winter, and the pines with their leaning shapes and bended brances attest to this. Lobelia Cardinalis was in full bloom - brilliant red against green grasses and blue water.

Longwood Gardens Visit

I went to Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia, PA on the weekend.  We stayed with friends in Reading, PA about an hour away.  With the head, there was a mist each morning, so I had a chance to take some photos of the lovely picket fences and house lines in Roger and Irene's neighbourhood.   

At the Longwood entrance are some beautiful flower gardens - this year there was a bed of verbena bonariensis.  The butterflies were constant on the bed, so gave me the opportunity to get a few butterfly shots as well.

The big attraction this time of year is the water lily courtyard.  There are hundreds of flowers and likely a hundred varieties of water lily, plus all kinds of water garden plants.  I'm posting a sampling of the water lilies on display.

More to come...

Ridley Daylilies

I realize we're past the peak of the daylily (hemerocallus) blooming season and want to catch you up with Ridley Daylilies at on Ridley Blvd (Avenue Road and the 401) in Toronto.  

I got to visit their garden 2 weeks ago.  It has an outstanding collection of conifers, perennials and interesting plants and trees.  It alone is fantastic to visit.  They have the daylily beds displaying their hybridizing material and also beds with plants for sale - which they did for you right there.  There's quite a range of plants for sale besides daylilies - hostas, small conifers, and other interesting items. 

Happy gardening!

The Houtby Farm

The Lilycrest Garden field where my brother, Dr. Brian Bergman grows and hybridizes thousands of lilies is owned by the Houtby family.  They've been market gardeners in St. Catharines for a long time.  There are rows of zucchinis, lettuce, beans, tomatoes, sweet peas, currants, raspberries, spinach, swiss chard, and so on.  

In terms of flower production, they start early with pussy willows, and have a lot of peonies, which they store throughout the summer in the big cooler room. Their biggest flower production is gladiolas - there are as many rows of glads as there are of Brian's lilies. Each week, they are cut for the surrounding markets. The glads come into their own as the lilies move on, so I've had a lot of opportunity this summer to photograph them while Brian hybridizes in the field. 

The red tractor (1953) is still used regularly, and Mark Houtby says it's never needed any major work.  I caught him on it a few weeks ago.

Here are a few scenes from the farm, then 2 lily hybridizing vignettes, and finally the gladiola field and a Gladiola abstract flower image.

Bracebridge Gardens

Frank Kershaw, well-known horticulturalist and garden expert, organizes and hosts day tours to gardens in Toronto and to areas a comfortable bus-ride away from Toronto.  He has extensive knowledge of gardeners and gardens all over Ontario, and the trip yesterday demonstrated this expertise.  The day tour went to the Bracebridge area where we saw 4 gardens.  Two of these - Rocksborough Flower Farm and Artful Garden are both open to the public.  We were lucky, though, as Frank also took us to 2 private gardens that were amazing for their design and their choice of plants.  All of the gardens were at their peak (perhaps they always are) - beautiful perennials, lots of water features, interesting garden sheds, and arbours, benches and chairs both whimsical and practical.   I was particularly impressed with the architecture of the homes and buildings.  Each was beautifully integrated with the landscape.  

Be sure to look up Rocksborough and Artful Garden and even get in a visit this year.  The Artful Garden is the main feature article in this summer's Harrowsmith magazine - it is an open air display of art in their gardens and grounds featuring over 40 artists.  Rocksborough is close-by and sells interesting and unusual plants which are grown on the property.  Both of them are enchanting and delightful.

If it's sounding like you might  want to go on one of Frank Kershaw's tours, they at published on the Mary Morton Tours website.

Found at Lost Horizons

Lost Horizons is located near Acton Ontario and is an extraordinary nursery.  It also contains display gardens designed by owner and collector Larry Davidson.  For those who are looking for a garden boost in August, there is a wide variety of plant materials and types of plants for sale.  These will appeal to the specialist collector and to the average gardener alike. There is lots to choose from and the plants are in excellent condition.  

Here's a flower portrait of Echinaceas for sale at the entrance benches. 

Ralph Suttell - Dahlias and Lilies

Yesterday was another great garden day for me. My brother and I went to his Lily field in St. Catharines, then on to Ralph Suttell's who is a hybridizer and competitor in lilies and dahlias. Our day concluded with a trip to Ridley Garden to connect with Reggie and John for hybridizing.

Ralph's garden an acre and a half in Beamsville at the lake (yes, I'm jealous). It's a spectacle of plantsmanship and horticulture. Every dahlia is perfect and there seem to be hundreds of plants. They are specially grown so with a hoop house so that he can cover them before the competition to keep the blooms perfect from the elements (e.g. rain). He's not just a dahlia grower, though. There are a lot of lilies that he's working with. His garden is beautifully landscaped with interesting materials and there's a beautiful vegetable garden.