You may have noticed that I’ve been away for a very long time. But, I’m back. That could be bad, it could be not so bad. Time will tell!

The reasons for my absence are varied. One is time. Or lack of time more correctly. We’ve given the interior of our home a major facelift this winter. – lots of painting, plastering, ceiling work, trim etc, etc, etc. It’s been difficult to find time (energy) to blog and work on the house. And now, all I can say is, if I never see another paint brush again it will be too soon!!

Another reason is all the spammers out there that made my blogging life hell for a while. I can’t believe they actually believe that anyone they spam would actually accept their spammed comments, let alone read/open them!!! How stupid can they be?? I guess some people have nothing better to do.

In addition to the above reasons, I briefly (?) went through gardening burn out. Yes, what I thought would never happen, did! I got tired of gardening. I got tired of weeds, tired of flowers, tired of shrubs, tired of grass, tired of watering, tired of writing about gardening.  Guess all that’s understandable since I’ve been doing it personally and/or professionally for most of my adult life. And, since arthritis became my constant companion, gardening is no where near as easy as it was just a few short years ago. But this year, I’m ready to go at the gardens full tilt.

We have many plans for our gardens this year; new projects to start, old ones to finish. Today, I’ll be starting some seeds. Not in the greenhouse this time, but in my plant stand. That should work out a little better than previous attempts since our cats are older now and a little less curious. Again, the seeds I’ll be starting are varieties that are not commonly found at the local greenhouses.  The other seeds I’ll be sowing are for plants that are too expensive to purchase finished.

Among the gardening tasks I’ve let slide are the cuttings I’ve rooted. They are well past the potting up point, but over the next day or two, they will finally make into soil filled pots. While I’m potting up cuttings, I have a number of houseplants that are crying to be transplanted into bigger pots, so that task will be taken care of too.

Powdery mildew had infected the rosemary plants I overwintered. Rather than resort to chemicals, I trimmed the infected stems off, and rinsed the plants under the tap. That method worked quite well, (I repeated the treatment three times) and now, six weeks later, there is only a very slight trace of powdery mildew left. One more time should do the trick.

Enough of writing about gardening for one day. It’s time to actual do some.

Catch you later!!

THE ENGLISH GARDEN  – What can I say? Being raised with “English gardens”, for myself, this magazine epitomizes gardening as it should be. It is chock full of fabulous photos that will leave you practically drooling. And not just over the gardens, but the beautiful character homes, country manors and yes, castles.  While most of the gardens featured are well beyond the financial reach of the average person, The English Garden is an excellent inspirational tool. It is not too heavy in the how-to’s of gardening. Plant profiles are standard in every issue, however it often features plants that are only a fantasy for many North American gardeners. That said, with a bit of research and a willingness to substitute, you can tweak the elements you would like to recreate and grow a garden every bit as beautiful as the ones in the magazine that inspired you.  The English Garden is published six times a year. Visit their website via the link provided on our website under Worth Looking Into.

GARDEN GATE MAGAZINE – Now this is a magazine that seems to do it all! It inspires, it profiles plants, it teaches you how to garden, how to landscape, how to grow plants, and it offers tips from its readers and its experts. It is full of fantastic photos that make you think “I want that”. All of its articles are well written and directions are easy to understand. Experienced gardeners as well as new ones will find Garden Gate Magazine interesting and helpful. If I have one complaint about Garden Gate Magazine it’s that it features gardens and landscaping that most people can only dream of affording.   However, it often shows you how to do some of the work yourself, making the landscaping projects more affordable. Garden Gate Magazine is a definite read! It is published six times a year and has one of the best websites. Visit their site by clicking on the link under Worth Looking Into.

No petunias allowed!

Warning: This article may be offensive to some gardeners. Reader discretion is advised!

For the life of me, I cannot believe that petunias are the annual of choice for so many gardeners! Every where I look I see petunias in gardens, hanging baskets and containers. There is no escaping them! Talk about cookie cutter landscaping!

Why? Why do so many gardeners plant petunias? What is the attraction? Is it because petunias are drought tolerant? Low Maintenance? Showy? Is it because they are easy and cheap?  For the life of me, I just don’t understand why so many people like petunias!  One theory of mine is the marketing behind the petunia. The gardening public has been inundated with adverts telling us that petunias are the wave of the gardening past, present and future. Well I say it’s time gardeners waved goodbye to petunias!

Petunias are one of the few plants that I will not allow on my property and I include calibrachoas in that ban. Now, I have grown petunias in my garden and, in my greenhouses. Thirty years ago when I was first learning to garden, petunias were the recommended annual for a novice gardener. I soon learned of their shortcomings and within two gardening seasons I came to detest petunias and my garden to be a petunia-free zone.  So intense is my dislike of the petunia, when I was operating the greenhouses, my staff could always tell when I was planting petunia seeds by the frozen scowl on my face and the constant muttering coming from the propagation area. Even with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (the most beautiful music ever composed) playing in the background, I my mood could not improve until the last petunia seed of the day was planted.

Why do I detest petunias? I find them boring, blowsy, overused and just plain ugly! Not to mention they become weedy looking by mid summer. And, they are sticky little things. The use of petunias shows no imagination whatsoever.  Why limit yourself to petunias when there are hundreds, thousands of alternatives available?  Flowers that are every bit as easy to grow, and just as colourful, not to mention more interesting. 

If you are among the millions of petunia planters out there, I encourage you to explore your local greenhouses, skip over the petunias and you will discover how much more beautiful and interesting your gardens can be sans petunias. 

The Herb Garden

A few observations:

The spring bulbs are all but done, replaced by irises, dames rocket, lily of the valley, aquilegia and bleeding hearts. The old fashioned roses have begun to send out a few brave blossoms to test the waters. It will not be long before the rest of the rose buds follow.

I have noticed the irises and lilacs are producing smaller flower heads than in previous years. At first, I thought ours were the only ones blooming on the small side, but travelling the county, I see a good many in the same condition. The same with the aquilegias.  A result of the extreme cold and deep snow of this past winter perhaps?

Now that the perennials have leafed out, the effects of a cold winter and a wet spring can really be seen. We have lost all of our foxgloves, delphiniums, lupins and perovskia and a few ferns. Will they be replaced or will we take this opportunity to redesign the gardens, adding different plants? We won’t make that decision until the summer when we’ve had a chance to live with what’s left and given our imaginations time to dream up new landscapes.

The bridal wreath spirea hedge at the front of our property is blooming more prolifically that ever before! I was beginning to think that the hedge I fantasized about when we first planted it would never happen. How nice to be wrong!

This weekend has been set aside for planting up container gardens. Having learned my lesson a couple of years ago when I potted up forty-three container gardens, this year I’ll stick to five or six. Oh wait, I’m already at six, so maybe I’ll limit myself to nine.

Year two for the “new” herb garden and it is already too small! The perennial herb plants have grown like crazy leaving no room for annual herbs. Guess the annual herbs will have to go into containers. So much for limiting container gardens to nine! This fall we will have to seriously re-think the size of the herb garden. I foresee an expansion in the future.

Come to think of it, our entire yard seems to be shrinking more and more every year. Hmmm. Either the gardens have to be downsized, or we have to eliminate most of the remaining lawn area. Or we have to move to a property with more land!

Spring is at last in full bloom in our little corner of the world. It seemed to take forever to get here, but now that it is, we are revelling in the colours and scents, warmer days, the gale force winds and pounding rains.

We have had more than our fair share of rain and high winds of late making it difficult to get into the garden, never mind mow the lawn. Somehow, gardeners, hardy lot we are, manage to find a way to putter away at our hobby in spite of Mother Nature’s attempts to confine us to the indoors.

This weekend, the seedlings will need to be transplanted. Though I started them several weeks later than usual, and cut back considerably on the number of seeds I usually plant, I foresee several hours of transplanting ahead.

Some of the spring flowering bulbs are ready for deadheading. I need not worry about a lack of colour though as I had the foresight to plant early, mid-season and late flowering bulbs. If the weather does not warm up too quickly, we should have bulbs in bloom until the end of May.

The wild violets are already done as are the spring anemone. The Star of Bethlehem has not even bloomed yet in our garden, but in a friend’s garden twenty-five kilometres north of here, they have finished blooming already. Where’s the justice? The apple and pear trees are in bud and about to burst into full bloom any day. The cherry tree is already in full colour.

Tomorrow, my job will kick into high gear as my crew starts work for the season. There are many jobs lined up already and many more to come as we travel the county sprucing up gardens, trimming trees and shrubs, building new gardens, renovating old ones. My back is aching already at the mere thought of all the work ahead! But, it is a great job and I consider myself very fortunate to be working in a field I love.

Enough chatter for this morning! I cannot justify sitting at a computer when the sun is shining, the wind has died down and the temperature is warming up quickly. It’s time to head outside and putter away in my own gardens and to get those seedlings transplanted!

Gardening has been my hobby for most of my adult life, and my career for nearly half of that.  It still is my career. And I still like gardening, but the passion is gone. Every day I ask myself why? And, what happened? But the answers seem to be buried at the very bottom of the compost heap that is life. I’m thinking a backhoe is the only way I’ll ever be able to dig up the answers.

Is it burn out? Not likely or I wouldn’t enjoy my job and the bit of gardening I still do.

Is it boredom? Have I been there, done that? Have all the challenges that come with gardening been conquered and there is nothing left to try? No way! There is always much to learn, to experiment with, to play with.  That’s the beauty of gardening. It’s always changing so boredom never gets to set roots.

Perhaps I’m feeling outdated? Newer trends have brought significant changes to the gardening scene that are not always to my personal taste. But I’ve never been a trend follower so that shouldn’t bother me. And, as long as I have my own gardens to counter the trendy necessities required in the gardens I install professionally, I can play with the best (or worst) of both new and “old”.

Aha! Maybe that’s it! Maybe I am getting too old for gardening? Nah! You’re never too old to garden!

No, it appears the answer to my problem is deeply seeded and much more digging is required to make my passion for gardening sprout new growth. While I’m working on that, I’ll start some seeds, and maybe, if I’m lucky, the answers will come to me and the passion for gardening will return.

The last of the sweet peas of 2008

Photos of the plants still blooming after our 6″ snowfall.

Black-eyed Susans blooming under a blanket of snow

Another garden surprise.

When I began writing this particular instalment of Bert’s Bloomers on November 14, the temperatures were relatively warm for November. The thermometer has suddenly dropped out and we now have a dusting of snow on the ground, but, Mother Nature is still astonishing me with her stubbornness to let go of the growing season. In other words, what I wrote about, is still current news.

A tour of our rather wild and barren garden this morning has brought many delightful surprises! Still blooming are two roses – New Dawn, and The Fairy, as well as sweet peas, black eyed susans, alyssum, feverfew and garlic chives (we’ll pay dearly for that last one). How exciting to see anything blooming in November in our area!!  I can perhaps understand the cooler weather plants, but how does one explain the tenacity of the roses? Heat loving, sun loving roses?  While I’d like to take the credit for the survival of all those spots of summer, I can’t. The credit goes to Nature herself.  Incredible, wonderful, never to be understood, Nature.

Having survived the shock of seeing plants in bloom, my attention was drawn to a number of gardening tasks yet to be attended to. There are still containers of plants to be emptied, still some perennials languishing in pots, a bird bath to be stored for the winter and let’s not forget about the patio furniture that has to be stored yet. And leaves to be raked off the lawn. I should forget about writing and go outside.

I guess while I’m out there, I really should shut off the outside tap and drain the hose, and store the hose.

Some of the more delectable plants (according to our neighbourhood rabbits) need to be caged. Those would include all of the roses, the flowering quince, the chestnut and a dwarf burning bush. Caging them may prevent the ravenous rabbits from pruning them down to the ground. I say “may” because if we get enough snow built up around the cages, the rabbits will still be able to reach the plants. 

I haven’t cut back any of the perennials nor do I intend to! I’m leaving the seed heads for the birds, and the stalks for added winter protection for the crowns of the plants. The theory is, the stalks will cause snow to build up around the plants, and the snow is a natural insulator, therefore, no winter mulching is required. That’s been my story for twenty odd years, so I’m sticking with it! Besides, it really does work.

One bit of trimming I continue to put off is removing the wild grape growing between the walls of our greenhouse. Perhaps the description of where it’s growing is explanation enough for why it has not been removed. And since it isn’t interfering with the greenhouse, I figure, why mess with it? If it ain’t broke and all that. Common sense says I’ll kick myself some year for not dealing with it. Maybe when we re-skin the greenhouse the grape vine will be dealt with?

Enough rambling for one day! I’m off to the gardens.