A splash of colour....

This year, more than any other since we have lived here, has proved to be a year of colour in our yard.   I've mapped out the various garden spaces and have identified 10 different corners. A bit hard to see here but there really are at least 10 areas - a few corners I've rolled into one.... you might be able to make out the letters on the map and identify them with the list and pictures with the same letter.

Because friends have spoken of their love of lilies and said, "wow" when I mentioned that I had counted 19 different ones in our yard I thought I would gather them here - it will also be important come fall or next spring when I plan to make the needed changes to our 'yardscape' due to the loss of our two giant weeping willows this past year.

So here goes - they range from white to black!  well, almost black.

  our only two 'day lilies'

 

another 'peach' coloured lily - lovely!

burgundy - and somewhat fragile

a very 'fragile' peach coloured lily

  

 double petals

Garden inspirations...

Green is my favourite colour! But it is made more special by splashes of colour. Without the green the flowers would 'overwhelm' me, but together they naturally complement the other - without both the garden would be less... 

 

A few lines from John O’Donohue’s “In Praise of the Earth”

Let us bless

The imagination of the Earth.

That knew early the patience

To harness the mind of time,
Waited for the seas to warm,

Ready to welcome the emergence

Of things dreaming of voyaging

Among the stillness of land.

And how light knew to nurse

The growth until the face of the Earth

Brightened beneath a vision of color...

 

Let us thank the Earth

That offers ground for home

And holds our feet firm

To walk in space open

To infinite galaxies…

The wonder of a garden

Trusting the first warmth of spring

Until its black infinity of cells

Becomes charged with dream;

Then the silent, slow nurture

Of the seed’s self, coaxing it

To trust the act of death…

I am amazed by what the Earth brings forth in the summer garden.  After long months of snow and cold I long to soak in as much greenery and splashes of colour as I can – the feel, the scents, the visual beauty – to hold it close and carry it with me for future reference.

 

This summer I mean to document the flowers and plants of the garden as, due to the loss of two huge willows this winter, our yard of shade has been transformed into a yard of light.  This means a few changes in garden structure and plant locations are in the works for this coming fall. 

The following then documents some of our flowers so far:

 

my favourite daylily!

A new Red Rose - specific names escape me!! But this is the first bloom which opened today.

Dahlia - a new flower for us this summer but we love it!

one of our first flowers out, this iris always impresses and is a promise of more to come

 

our first hydrangea - growing beautifully 

the Daisies bloom unabashedly by the front sidewalk!

in a sheltered hidden place in the front garden

Mock Orange - one of my favourite scents!

first flowers out - Nanking Cherry