Oh, I am such a poet, lol.
I am sure you can tell by my title, that I am on my way back to Barbados, sniff, yes, it is true. I am leaving my garden again for the summer, returning in the fall. This year I got to see my mums tree flowering, however I shall miss the eremurus, although I have seen it before. Hope everything is happy over the summer, all my newly planted trees and shrubs, I guess I shall find out in the fall.
When I was looking at my photos from last April, I realized there was quite a difference (approx 3 weeks) between where the garden was in April 2011 and April 2112. So I thought that I would share a few with you.
The Allee
The Allee 2011
The Allee 2012
You can see how much larger the helleborus are this year, finally bulking up, and I found a few seedlings when I was weeding, yay!
Flora Glade
Flora Glade 2011
Flora Glade 2012
Usually I coppice these willows, but they (obviously) started leafing out really early this spring. I think I might leave them alone this year and see how they look in the fall.
Flora Glade 2011
Flora Glade 2012
Hmmm, do not know what to say, but the big difference (to me) is the path. You can see where I filled it in on the left hand side ,and (hopefully) you can see a bit of an opening on the right hand side now. Last fall I moved all the shrubs/perennials that were in the way. I was just waiting for the bulbs to come up, and they will be moved on this visit, and (hopefully) the path gravelled.
Flora Glade 2011
Flora Glade 2012
This is the bed where my mums memorial tree is, last year was the first time the Cornus kousa flowered, hopefully it will again this year.
Lime Walk
Lime Walk 2011
Well other than the muscari are all flowering earlier this year, I think you can see the other change here, lol.
Last week, Diana from Elephant’s Eye, wanted to know, if you could pick one tree, what would it be? Although, I love trees and could certainly think of a dozen off the top of my head, that I MUST have, Cornus kousa is my favourite.
I planted this tree, which was also my mum’s fav, when she passed away a few years ago. And I waited, and I waited for it to flower. It looked healthy, and it certainly grew, but no flowers.
Until last year. When I arrived back in Canada in April, I noticed what appeared to be flower buds on the Cornus. Could this be its year? I watched all of May as the buds swelled, and I could clearly distinguish the leaf buds from, yay, flower buds. But, boo, I was leaving to go back to Barbados the end of May. It would not bloom until June.
Luckily, 2 lovely ladies came to my rescue. First, Carol, from Gardening Tips and Pics, took some photos of my garden in mid June, and there it was, a bloom on the Cornus.
Still greenish, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. So when my neighbour, e-mailed me some photos of the garden,
including a closeup of the now white Cornus, I was ecstatic. And I asked her to go back and take a photo of the whole tree,
I wanted to count just how many blooms were on it.
Yay, there are so many, I couldn’t count them all, so excited.
If you would like to read about Carol’s first visit to Kilbourne Grove (and see a photo of me), you can here.
Look what is finally in flower in my garden.
I planted this Cornus kousa as a memorial tree for my mum when she died in the autumn of 2007. It was her very favourite tree, and one that she had tried (unsuccessfully) to grow. So it was my first choice when I decided to plant a living memorial for her. I was a bit worried, she had lived in Niagara, which is one of the warmest parts of Eastern Canada to live. Owen Sound is much further north. But they were selling it at my local nursery, so I took a chance.
2008 came nothing, 2009 zilch, 2010 again no flowers, but it was still alive. That was something, wasn’t it.
This spring, I noticed for the very first time, what looked like flower buds. But, now I was living in Barbados, I wasn’t going to be there every weekend to check on my garden. So I e-mailed Carol, and asked her to watch the Cornus and see if it was going to flower.
Then my neighbour sent me this one yesterday. Looks like my mum is looking after me!
In loving memory of Muriel Gallaway Combe, 1940-2007. Love you and miss you mum.
Green Theatre 