Fragrant Narcissi and Finally Some Tulips

The raised beds are now blooming with color, with all but the single late tulip varieties in full bloom. Here's the larger raised bed, showing some obvious bare spots. I'm hoping to get some new perennials to fill in the "holes". It would be really nice to have some short flowering perennial to sprawl over the rock wall edges. I'll be working on that for next year.

Here is double late tulip "Blue Diamond", which is open only in the morning and early afternoon, closing by supper. From a distance, you can't tell that it's a double-flowered tulip, so it blends in with the single blooms of a similar-colored tulip. I'm not totally impressed, but the close-up shot is pretty.

Double late tulip, "Blue Diamond" from above:

Trumpet Daffodils and Negrita Triumph tulips:

An oddly side-facing "Zurel" bi-colored tulip.

Poetaz Narcissus "Geranium" has got to be my favourite narcissus (not that I have an extensive collection). It is beautiful and smells absolutely wonderful, two qualities that any gardener might personally strive for! Here it is in the sloped rock garden.

Another photo of Bergenia cordifolia's flowers, just because I really like this perennial a lot:

Bright morning sun on the tulips:

Aha! The Papaver somniferum (breadseed poppies) seedlings are coming up! I let last year's plants self seed and a nice number of plants has come up in the back of the raised bed this spring.

Flowers in a Very Slow Spring

Several locals have been talking about this spring being an especially late one. I'm not sure where this trend extends to; perhaps Montana, Alberta, and Winnipeg are all feeling this late spring chill along with us in Saskatchewan. The trees here are now breaking bud...finally. There is probably another frost tonight, but I'm going to be bold and plant out some annuals tomorrow. The weather looks good for the next week.

Below: Raised bed filled with perennials and a few shrubs. The white mounds are Arabis caucasica, an easily divided perennial. I like the look of these so much that I plan to divide and spread it around. Unfortunately, Arabis blepharophylla "Spring Charm" has not appeared this spring and I fear it has departed from my yard.

Here is the least-appealing corner of the yard. Today, my mother (who is visiting) and I tore out the rambling wild raspberry canes and quack grass. I preserved the patch of pink-flowering yarrow, which is invasive enough to command control over this lawless bit of earth. I also threw in a bunch of flowers seeds that I'd probably never otherwise use, including annual poppies, alyssum, and candytuft. I'm hoping they grow quickly to disguise the remaining ugliness.

Intriguing bloom of Frittilary meleagris, a very hardy bulb I grew this season for the first time.

Frittilary meleagris (white and purple blooms) amid Scilla siberica (blue). On the right is a Primula auricula division from a friend's garden. I have tried many times to start P. auricula from seed with no success, so I'm glad to get this one.

Hosta foliage poking out of the soil.

The first primula blooms of the season:

Narcissus hybrid "Full House" has been in full bloom for a week and it already has inspired me to plant some more daffodils next year. The daffodils seem to bloom a few weeks earlier than the large tulips.

Shrubs Shouldn't Have to Wear Clothes

I believe that trees and shrubs that require burlap clothing to avoid browning and death in a prairie winter should just not be grown in the prairies. This is stupid. Trees and shrubs should be able to hold their own and I can, in turn, respect them for their hardiness. Then again, I also have a need to grow azaleas (Northern Lights series) in my yard. I found out that they need to be wrapped to prevent bud kill from late spring frosts. The azaleas are protected by the little brown burlap "mushrooms" to the right of the cedar (arborvitae):

Narcissus bulbs, newly planted in anticipation of fragrant blooms for Christmas:

Here's a new outlet for frustrated Canadian gardeners in the winter: aquarium plants! I haven't had a plant in my aquarium for years, mostly because the fish uprooted and ate them. This is some type of variegated Acorus:

Horses Ride into La Ronge!

And now for a slightly less garden-related story...we were priviledged to have the RCMP musical ride here in town for a show this evening. The weather was beautiful. It rained this morning and was cloudy and cool today but the sun was perfect for the horses this evening. I was impressed to see that several of the riders were from Saskatchewan. The event was fundraising for a local girl with retinoblastoma (cancer in both of her eyes) who has to travel to a distant children's hospital for treatments.

The members rode in formation to recorded music including the theme song to Hockey Night in Canada. In the back of the program for the evening is a public service announcement: Say "neigh" to drugs. Ah, you gotta love us Canadians! I have no idea how I'd never seen the musical ride before in my life, having only ever lived in cities much larger than La Ronge. For answers to questions on the musical ride, see the RCMP site. The horses are Hanoverians mixed with Thoroughbreds, bred in Ontario specifically for the fashionable black color. Yes, apparently in 1937, it was noted that the red serge looked particularly stunning against a black horse. I also liked the maple leaf they imprint (not a brand, just creative grooming) on the horses' rumps.

Here's a picture of my Narcissus Poetaz "Geranium" in the last evening light:

Resident-lawnmower-man takes our fluffy companion out for a walk. She's pretty impatient about pictures when there's an impending walk!