Scenes from a Canadian cottage garden

 Photographs taken the evening of September 7, 2023.

Evening, and the light is coming in diagonally and preparing 
for ever diminishing brightness

Phlox are back for a second bloom

 

On the right, that's a sumac tree that self-seeded
and in three years is at least 15 feet high

The brown-eyed Susans are reaching
the end of summer, the cone flowers
are mostly finished

See those little things towards the right?
They are a cloud of little flies one sees 
in the summer

Sometimes the dying and dead flowers
can be attractive

There is that sumac again

A hollyhock, they are a lot more difficult to grow
than they should be; they were weeds in my youth,
now they are biennials and celebrated when flowering

A huge hosta, as though I have some special
ability to grow hostas... well, they grow themselves
and the best advice is to leave them alone and they'll get it right

The house is covered in vines as though old people
who don't maintain their home live here. . . someone tells
me they are bad for the brick work and I plan to cut them back

Some planning can go a long way

Black currants I planted three years ago

This did so well

My wife planted this gingko tree about fifteen
years ago beside our front lawn, it has done well

City adding flower gardens to street corners

A few years ago the City of Montreal began building wider sidewalks in this area of the city, they have also added flower beds at the end of streets. There are other flower beds, like the ones pictured below, in other areas of the neighbourhood, but this is on the next street over from us. Planted here are perennials, cone flowers, brown-eyed susans, day lilies, hydrangeas, and so. They are all perennials and should be left to winter over, no problem with that, but it occurred to be that this fall they will probably get remove all of these flowers instead of leaving them for next spring and summer. Bureaucracy likes to tidy things up, efficiency and economy is what counts. In the meantime, let me congratulate the city on this excellent addition to urban living.

Corners of Coronation Avenue and Chester Avenue

That's Gilbert Layton Park in the background, 
the grandfather of former NDP leader Jack Layton

A Canadian cottage garden in August

 A Canadian cottage garden; photographs taken on 22 August 2023.

You can feel August in the air, it's cooler, the days are shorter, the sun is not as intense as it was in July.

A garden is like an extra room in your house, but it's outside. With enough plants, flowers, a bird bath, a bench to sit on, it is comfortable and inviting. Sit down over here, have a cup of tea, behind you a sparrow just visited the bird bath, all is well in the world.

Scenes from a Canadian cottage garden

One of several videos of my Canadian cottage garden. 

The Canadian Cottage Garden, end of July 2023

 

It is just as I wanted it to be. To sit in the garden, surrounded by flowers, and on a hot summer day to have insects, wild bees, and butterflies going from flower to flower, busy with their work of pollination and collecting pollen and nectar. 

Growing hostas

It is not that I like hostas that much but they grow in the shade and this is a fairly shaded garden, that's why I have so many hostas. I have always regretted the lack of full sunlight on this garden; in fact, I've spent a fair amount of time regretting the lack of sunlight on this garden but I've also come to accept it and even think it is perfect the way it is. 

Hostas are easy to grow, they don't need much care (or any care), or any sunlight.

A Canadian Cottage Garden, late July 2023