My Garden Tour Part II

Good morning! Blogger has updated its picture uploading feature and I like it a lot more! I was able to upload all the photos I wanted all at once. Progress!

So let me continue taking you on my garden tour, since I can't take you on a house tour, things are not organized up to my standards just yet. In any case, it's summer, it's too nice to be spending time in the house cleaning and organizing, don't you agree?

Here's a peaceful little oasis in our backyard. My husband wanted to leave this bench at the old house and I said, "What for?" Glad I didn't listen to him, it looks so nice here.

Now here is a strange container. Before the renos, the house had an old, useless, indoor barbecue that was probably not safe. We had the whole thing taken down to replace it with a bank of pantry cupboards. Now this indoor barbecue was topped with a copper vent. Imagine this empty, turned around and hanging from the ceiling. (Unfortunately, I can't find the before pic!) Not wanting to throw away a piece of copper, I asked the demolishing crew to put it aside. I was going to sell it to a metal scrapper, until I had a divine inspiration. Turn it into a planter! I like the fact that I can keep it as a piece of the house's history. It needs polishing to restore its shine and I am planning to put a curlicue wood decoration at the front to dress it up a bit.

Now this was the barbecue door! Again, I thought it was too pretty to scrap, so it is now in the garden. My friend thinks it looks hideous and keeps trying to get me to throw it out, but I don't want to and it's my house, so there, lol! 

Again, I like the fact that it's part of the house's history.

The heart shaped curlicues of the barbecue door are echoed in this half-moon garden gate. Beyond the gate is the golf course where the blue heron sometimes swoops in and where the goose family lives. Such peacefulness!

 More of those lovely columbines I so adore. This variety is called "Pink Swan". 

They remind me of little ballerinas.

 Honeysuckle growing near the gate. Love this pink-orangey-yellow!

We now move to the front, where this little red weigelia is in full bloom. It contrasts 

nicely against the blue salvia.

No idea what these purple flowers are, but love 'em!

Now we're back in the backyard, where I am in the midst of creating a rosebed. I'm a huge fan of roses, always loved them, always will. Isn't this colour wonderful?

And for the grand finale, a perfect pink rose with a little drop of dew.

I swear I didn't stage this, Mother Nature did!

Hope you enjoyed my little garden tour! I'll update it as it evolves throughout the summer.

Garden of sharing

I have talked about my garden already, how it is somewhat an expression of who I am. I need to add that it is also a reminder of my friends, an extension of their lives into my garden.

Anybody who is into gardening tends to share. Their plants overgrow and need to be divided in order to keep the garden light and airy. That's when friends exchange plants with each other. I have many plants that were given to me and I remember who gave me every single one of them.

I lost my friend L. last year to breast cancer. Among other things, we shared a love of birds and flowers, beautiful gardens, nature, etc. However, ours was a complicated friendship and in the last few years of her life, we had fallen out. I had hoped that we would resolve our issues some day, but that day never came. I was perhaps a little too honest to her liking about her shortcomings as a mother and as a friend and she made it clear to a mutual friend of ours that she did not want to see me again.

During her last days, under the influence of heavy painkillers perhaps somewhat mixed with the lucidity of a dying person, she asked her son why I wasn't coming to see her. He replied: "Don't you remember, Mom? You had a fight." She said: "We did? Oh, please tell her I'm sorry."

I couldn't go to the funeral. I couldn't bring myself to. I carry a lot of sadness and a lot of guilt still from our falling out and it weighs heavily on my heart. I did however write a long, heartfelt letter to her family to let them know that I still cared and still valued our fourteen years of friendship.

I also told them about how every time I was in my garden looking at the phloxes and the black-eyed susans L. gave me, I thought of her and how these flowers were really a way for her to live on.

Then there's M., my wonderful friend and neighbour. M. gave me hostas, ferns and other flowers. M. was an avid gardener who tended to her gardens with great care and perfection, which in itself was a true reflection of the military training and discipline she had received while in the Royal Air Force.

Unfortunately, last summer my dear friend M. suffered a debilitating stroke that left her confined to a wheelchair. Her husband and her had to sell the house and move into a condo to accommodate her wheelchair. No more gardening for her...Now, there is a young couple living in their house, and they could care less about gardening. The whole thing is slowly getting overtaken by weeds and their big dog is trampling over all the plants. So sad.

Before M. and her husband moved out, I asked if I could take a few plants with the promise of taking very good care of them: a giant Blue hosta which was M.'s pride and joy and a lovely vintage rosebush which blooms its little heart out well into fall, which they both cherished.

In hindsight, a very smart move, as these gorgeous plants would now be neglected. Now safely tucked in my garden, I cherish and appreciate them every day, and keep that wonderful connection with my dear friend.

My neighbour S. on the other side, gave me her surplus hostas too. These hostas look totally different from the ones I already had, so it adds interest. She also gave two gorgeous rosebushes because at the time, her children were very young and she was scared that they would hurt by the thorns. These rosebushes remind me what a caring mom and a caring person she is!

And finally there is my friend J. who gave me a few pretty columbines, and to me, they are a perfect reflection of her: they are colourful, charming, vivacious and hardy.

Like my circle of friends, all these elements come together to form a harmonious vision, and I revel in their company and love every one of them, thorns and all.