Backyard Contemplation

Several days ago, prior to the recent spate of drizzling rain and raging storms, I was sitting in our backyard with my afternoon libation, looking out over the flowering colour of our perennial plants and bushes.  I couldn’t help thinking back to how we designed and reshaped our old back yard—the one we inherited from the previous owner.  We prefer our design.

Recounting the pleasure we’ve had from watching the new yard transform as the years rolled by, I remembered the photographic record I kept of our flowering yard each June.  When June rolled around this year I decided that anything I could record now was just a repetition of the last few years, now that the plants and bushes had matured, so I didn’t bother with yet another photographic record at that moment.

I was enjoying the afternoon of relaxation and was dozing off, a new age-related feature of my life these days, when I realised that the present state of the yard colours were different from what they were in June.  I awoke with a start and headed in the house to get my camera.  I needed to record what I was seeing now, in July.

That exercise filled up the rest of my afternoon.  Following are my photographs, each with a few words about the memories associated with each plant or bush.

Delphinium*

Delphinium/Larkspur

This is a relative newcomer to our garden.  We have two plants, one has been with us for four years and the other, two years.  They are a delight to look at and their flowers have a longer life than many.  These were a favourite of my dad’s and I think he would be pleased to see these in our garden.

Normally you see these blooms on the end of a tall stem, but when I looked closely I saw this spectacular and complicated centre of each part of the flower.  With flowers, it is sometimes amazing what you can see by focussing on small parts of the flower.

* I’m not sure if I should be calling this a delphinium or a larkspur.  They are related to each other, but I can’t find a definitive photo comparison on the internet.

False Spirea

False Spiria

I think this is a strange name for the plant.  We have a standard spirea in our front yard and it doesn’t look at all the same.

Nevertheless, it has a lovely flower that the bees love, but, unfortunately, so do the ants.  Those little wonders crawl all over the plant sticking their heads into each little flower cavity.  Of course, that means we have several ant nests nearby.

The flowers don’t have a long life, but when they’re flowering, they are little beauties.

Clematis

Clematis

Year after year, our clematis grows larger and larger.

I started with two small plants.  One died the first year and the other didn’t look healthy.  Now, this survivor is huge and magnificent.  If I had a taller trellis it would continue climbing skyward, but now it comes to the top of the fence then explodes with blooms.  The neighbours get to enjoy them as well.

Ninebark

Yellow Ninebark

This is a yellow ninebark bush.  It is in one corner of the yard, a corner that only gets sun for part of the day.

It replaced a different bush that didn’t have much of a chance because it needed full sun.  All the ninebark bush types do well in partial shade and this one is no exception.  The blooms are completely different from another yellow ninebark we have.  I presume the two are of the same family but a different variety.  These blooms look more like those on our red ninebark.

Regardless, it is doing well and should fill up the corner within another couple of years—which is what I’m looking for.

Potentilla

Potentilla

This is one of the most common bushes in the Alberta foothills and mountains.  It is hardy and when it blooms these yellow flowers add to any garden.

Back in our younger years, when we did a lot of hiking in the mountains, the flower book we used in those days had a different name for them, shrubby cinque foil.  That’s exactly what the flowers look like—five petals on the end of a shrubby looking stem.

Shasta Daisy

These wonderful flowers take little maintenance and show up each year with a few new stalks.  We now have a small bed of them and the bees think they’re wonderful.

Shasta Daisy

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Rain Damage

I had to add this photo to show the effect that the recent torrential rains had on our delphiniums.

These were all nicely staked and tied to support the long stemmed flowers.  The rains made the flower so heavy that they collapsed somewhat and some actually broke their stems with the added weight.  The broken stems are the few that look like they are just short stemmed flowers, however, they are hanging upside down, still attached.  They had to be trimmed.  As you can see from the closeup of the flower, above, the bloom faces up and has many little pockets to collect rain water.  Normally that is a good thing, but they couldn’t handle the intense rain that we’ve had.