Transplanting Day, A Procrastination

Gardening was a welcome diversion from the monotony of studying today. Thus, there were some productive bursts of gardening between the flipping of pages. I am excited to see that I will have my first peony blooms soon. I've had peony plants for about four years now, without blooms. I managed to kill one (planted in a bad spot) but finally my remaining peony has buds. Peonies aren't particularly hard to grow, and are quite hardy to this province. Someday, I will dedicate more of my gardening space to peonies.
My peony is now visited by red ants, thought they don't harm the plant:

Primula saxatilis, a nicely naturalizing primula in a partly-shady part of the raised bed:

I let this primula go to seed and spread its progeny around. In large groups, it makes a nice show with its shades of lilac flowers.
The alpine garden at midday:
I keep meaning to take some pictures when the lighting is really nice, like in the early morning. This raised bed (below) is in full shade by evening, so morning pictures would be best. However, that will require getting up at 4:30 am. Sunrise this morning was as 4:23 am. At this time of year, the broken window shades in the bedroom window are pretty noticeable, with a full three hours of bright sunlight before it's time to get up. At least that's better than going to work in the morning in the dark and then going to home for supper in the dark, during winter.
This raised bed has taller shrubs (dogwood, highbush cranberry, Saskatoons) and delphiniums at the back of it, against the gravel lane. The Saskatoon berry bushes have white blooms right now:

There are still some open spots in this bed, where plants died out in 2009. Thankfully, with a yard this big, there are plenty of perennials to be divided and perennial seedlings left over to fill in the gaps. I spent some time moving tall perennials to the back and short ones to the front. I try to create complementary textures too, like a balance of fine leaves with broad ones, or tall grassy foliage (irises) with low and broad plants (hostas, Alchemilla). I'm sure my garden could make room for some new plants, though. I'm looking for some tall, part-shade loving perennials with moderate water requirements. Ah, that will require studying some other books...another diversion.

Tiny Vegetable Plot

My tiny vegetable garden is having some successes, and some failures too. My yard is mostly perennial flowers and shrubs and lawn, with only this tiny raised bed dedicated to edibles. I do have tomatoes and some vines in pots elsewhere, though it's clear that I am no vegetable farmer. My green onions look great, though these are actually last years onions. They overwintered and continue to grow this spring. I now leave a few plants in the ground in the fall and have never failed to have a nice bunch of green onions in the spring:

The tiny vegetable garden, in which my green beans STILL have not come up. I'm beginning to suspect my seeds were too old. Spinach is looking great, though:

This seems to be an eye-burningly-bright picture, but it illustrates my (edible) rhubarb as an ornamental feature of my raised flower bed. It actually gets more light here than my previous rhubarb locations and seems to be growing well with its large helping of cow manure this spring. I'm hoping for some nice red rhubarb stalks for summer eating.

Double late tulip "Angelique" is just starting to bloom:

This peony-like flower looks beautiful and like any "late" tulip, does very well in our climate. I buy mine from Botanus, because I like how they clearly label all the tulip varieties so that I can know exactly what I am buying. No, I don't get paid to advertise for them, but I get so annoyed at the companies that sell "beautiful pink tulips", without telling you what type of tulip they are (tall, short, naturalizing, early season, late season, etc.). The late varieties will not get damaged by spring frosts and therefore seem to do well here.

Name That Mushroom!

I was digging out some large and lush dandelions growing from below the thinning layer of bark mulch yesterday -- when I saw a pattern among the bark that drew my eye:

I have no experience with mushrooms, but this looks like a morel to me. However, it also looks like the false morel, Verpa bohemica. Northern Saskatchewan is a popular hunting ground for wild mushrooms, including pine mushrooms, morels, and chanterelles. The Saskatchewan government Agriculture website states that there are two mushrooms that look like morels, but are NOT morels, so I'll be careful and not eat them.
Lewisia cotyledon "Regenbogen" (Rainbow) in the alpine/rock garden:

Pulsatilla vulgaris has gone to seed, leaving these pretty fuzzy seedheads:

While in Saskatoon this past week, I browsed through Garden Architecture & Design. It is a very pretty place in summer, with plants artfully arranged among garden furniture, pots, and statuary. I brought home this little friend, which matches the rustic look of our yard. RLM (resident-lawnmower-man) saw it and shook his head, muttering something about silly gardeners.

The junior gardeners love my choice of statuary, so RLM will have to live with it. I enjoy browsing nice garden places as if they were spa experiences. However, instead of coming out with manicured nails and massaged hands, I add to the garden's beauty.