Beautiful Late Season Gentian

My one Gentiana septemfida is bigger and better this year and its blooms are so beautiful. If you don't have this hardy perennial, you should definitely get one. It is a nice lush green compact plant with large bell shaped flowers of the deepest true blue.




Here's a lesson I should be learning, but refuse to acknowledge: Primula denticulata does not appreciate our climate. It really does need a moist location and spends most of it life in a wilted state under the ash tree in my yard. Two out of the three drumstick primulas are quilt wilty (the fourth plant here being a hosta). I suppose not everything I admire in Victoria, BC will grow here. So unfortunate.


Center raised bed, with annual pink Lavatera "Silver Cup" in the center.

I am still mulling over my fall bulb purchases, waiting for the catalogs to have their "last minute" discounts as the big season approaches. I think I'll order mostly from Botanus in BC, but when I find my Veseys catalog again, I'll be picking a few from there too. I know that one or both of these catalogs five a discount if you quote the code printed on the catalog, so hopefully Veseys sends me another one.

I can never have enough tulips! Of course, the wallet will tire of shelling out for tulips before I will ever have too many. Thankfully RLM is also of the opinion that the potential resale value of the house increases with the beauty of the landscaping. What I good thing I have going here...

Wild Orchids and Friends

The wild lady slipper orchids (Cypripedium acaule) are blooming right now. If you live in town, get out in the boreal forest and take a look!

The "Blue Diamond" Double Late Tulips have gotten more beautiful with age. I guess they only start to look good once they fully open.

Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) is now blooming in its shady bed:

A visit to BB's garden resulted in these pretty pictures of plants I don't have but would like, such as this Gentiana acaulis:

Happily, a seedling from this Aquilegia glandulosa got in my car and came home with me!

Dodacatheon pulchellum is also in bloom in my friend's garden. All the plants in her yard are not coddled or protected from winter in any way, so this plant must be quite hardy.

"Tres Chic" Lily flowered tulips, BB's favourite large-flowered tulip type.

A beautiful Lewisia cotyledon at BB's yard. Oh so beautiful and mouthwatering!

Kona got a great walk yesterday. Sniffing the grass, marking the grass, and generally running amok brought tongue-dangling joy to the big girl! Poor girl couldn't catch a muskrat if dinner depended on it though...

Fall's Gentian Blues

There were beautiful sunshine and clear skies today, showcasing the effects of last night's -5 degree celsius temperatures on the wilted annuals.

A lucky petunia that has not yet succumbed to frost:

Fall colors of the Siberian Dogwood, a shrub I picked for it's touted "winter attraction". The younger stems are a brilliant red, which if the snow is not too deep, you might be able to appreciate!

Lupinus polyphyllus "Gallery Yellow", another perennial that hasn't looked this good all summer:

Reblooming Campanula persicifolia:

My first blooms of Gentiana septemfida, the lovely blue crested gentian. This one was given to me by a local gardener friend. I see that Kate's (in Regina, SK) crested gentian bloomed in the end of August! Mine is a month late (and 518 km/322 mi north), though this is its first summer in my garden.

Kona is giddy about her new straw bedding. Her house may look over-stuffed now, but it is her bedding for the winter and all the frosty -45 degree celsius nights we are looking forward to! Of course, her fur will also have to keep her warm, since she pulled the rubber door off of her house last spring.

September Garden Colors

My garden is still a work in progress and I have yet to fill in the perennial beds. However, several plants are blooming now whether through natural processes or fortunate accidents creating out-of-season flowers.

(Right) Blue flowers of Gentiana dahurica, a small perennial with lovely true-blue flowers.




(Right) The Japanese pink-flowering crabapple has tiny red apples on it. The tree is really just ornamental, as the little apples aren't really worth picking.





I was suprised by the delicate-looking yet tough little primulas in the perennial border. They have bloomed from spring to late summer! These are yellow "Spring fever" primulas.





Potentilla "Helen Jane" is one of the new color varieties of the plain-old common yellow potentillas of shopping-mall-parking-lot landscaping.




Wild and domestic roses are making bright red rosehips. We discovered that the doggie likes eating rosehips! Her diet will be certainly be complete in vitamin C.