The garden on July 13, 2024.

Rain in Montreal on 23 June 2024

 

My Canadian cottage garden on June 4, 2024

It’s June and with the warm spring weather the garden is thriving; some days it feels more like mid-July. Below are some photos taken on June 4, 2024.

The garden has assumed an identity of its own, and I like weeds, I like insects visiting the garden, I like an aspect of the unplanned assertion by nature.

Foxglove

Hostas

It's not that I am particularly fond of hostas but that the garden is 85% shade, and as we know hostas grow best in the shade.

For ten years I had someone cut the grass for me and then, without warning, their business is now "temporarily closed"; so this purchase was hasty and almost impulsive. I used to push a hand mower, one purchased by my mother back in 1963 when I was expected to mow an enormous lawn, I think that mower ended up in storage and I used a gas lawn mower, and eventually I did use the old hand mower here where we've been living since 1997. Losing the person who used to cut our grass I decided I would cut it myself, good exercise I thought... And I didn't want to buy a gas or electric lawn mower, not for a small lawn as we have. So I ended up buying a Fiskars hand driven lawn mower. It does a great job but 1. it was very expensive ("a fool and his money are easily parted" eh?), and 2. it is very heavy to push; as for cutting the grass, it's great! 

The welcome appearance of weeds.

Miniature iris

Vincelli's Garden Centre

The entrepreneur who wanted to build a 12 story mixed condo/commercial building on this site was defeated in a referendum.The fact is this is a poor location for luxury living, it's beside a huge rail yard with the noise of trains shunting, trains coming and going, and cars and trucks entering and leaving the area; as well, the small strip mall across the street from the proposed condo has never been a success, it's maybe half occupied, so who will shop at the stores in the proposed condo/commercial area? And, finally, this is a low density area of single family dwellings, not condos, not apartments, but families with parents, children, the elderly, working people, all living in homes they rent or own; it is an isolated location unless you have a car. The local residents are hostile to the proposed building they attempted to impose on their neighbourhood, they voted against it; who would vote in favour of a year or longer of construction -- danger to their children caused by large trucks, noise, and dirt -- followed by a needlessly large 12 story, or even a six story, building looming over one's home and community and an influx of strangers? How does that affect one's property taxes? How does that affect the quality of one's life? It doesn't. The age of the 12 story complex in this area has come to an end, but what will be proposed next?

Return of the window flower box

You don't see many window flower boxes anymore. I remember my mother standing at her dining room window and planting flowers in the flower boxes beneath the windows. Not many people bother with flower boxes today; maybe the awkwardness and possibly dirt of leaning out of a window and planting from inside one's home is a part of the lack of popularity of window flower boxes. 

    This flower box (pictured) is outside of our kitchen window that faces the street. The brackets holding up the box have been there for at least twenty-six years, that's how long we've lived here and the brackets were there when we moved in. For years I looked at these brackets and thought I would like to have a flower box there and, finally, this last spring that's what I did. I know it's not the most beautiful flower box, it's just a plastic box from a big box hardware, some bagged soil left over from previous years, and some geraniums and a few marigolds not planted elsewhere. The plywood was something I found in the basement workshop and I cut it to size in a few minutes. Not a big job at all but it has given me a lot of pleasure and happiness. Now, when I do the dishes (always by hand) I can see red geraniums just outside the kitchen window. Maybe I'll paint the plywood base if I can get around to it which, knowing me, is unlikely. 

    This flower box gets no direct sunlight and yet the plants were thriving all summer and into fall. It was a very rainy summer so maybe that has something to do with how well they've done. Even the simplest, most crude flower box will give a lot of happiness. It increases the space you have to plant flowers, and it helps beautify you home. It is also an extension of container planting, but the container is attached to the wall instead of sitting on the ground. A flower box at an upstairs window requires watering from inside the house. Hanging plants need to be watered every day, or every week depending on the weather, and during a hot summer they will dry out in a day; so be sure to water them. I don't think you want too many flower boxes, it might look ostentatious and over the top, but it's your home so you decide what you want. They have flower boxes that attach to railings on balconies, I don't really like the look of these but you might give it a try if you live in an apartment. Having flowers is always better than not having flowers. A flower box is a small thing, like a bird bath, but, as I keep saying, it gives a lot of happiness.   

                                         

    And, finally, an inside view.