Garden at St. Philip's Anglican Church

It was June 14th, sunny and mild, and I was walking across the grounds at St. Philip's Anglican Church. 

I like this addition, added this year, if I had the room maybe
I'd build one of these circular gardens for herbs

Not the most aesthetic addition but "A" for effort and originality!

A pleasant place to sit and rest

They should leave the grass uncut here, it gives a country feeling
and avoids a too perfect feeling to the grounds

The garden in mid-May

I always enjoy seeing photographs of other people's gardens; here are some photos of my Canadian cottage garden taken on May 21, 2022.

At the side of the house, a path, and then this lilac bush that I cut  
to about one foot in height and was told it might not survive. That
was about eight or so years ago; it took all of this time to grow back  

There is a special quality to water
in a garden, even as little water as in a bird bath

Last fall I planted this row of hostas in the very rear of the garden; 
all of the plants survived the winter and are flourishing

Hostas

This row of hostas pulls the garden together, frames it so that there is something
where before there was nothing but cedars, shade, and dirt

I added day lilies to another area of the garden in addition
to what you see here, soon the day lilies will be in bloom

A row of miniature irises

The garden is being pulled together; not sure there is any need for
more expansion, mainly maintenance, and dividing and moving
plants when they get too big plentiful for where they are now

How to make your garden larger

If you like an expanse of grass, no problem. But if you want something different, something that combines a feeling of being unfettered, a bit wild, then a cottage garden is the way to go. But if you also have a small space for your garden then you might want to make the garden larger. Often gardens are an expanse of grass encompassed, or framed, by a garden that is on the periphery of the grass, but the grass dominates the garden, it larger than than the garden, even if your garden is made up of perennials and the border of the garden isn't a straight line but various curving designs and formations. To increase the number of feet of garden space, and to make it more interesting, I suggest islands of flowers, garden plots that are cut from the grass. There is an illusion here, when you stand in front of a specific part of your garden you aren't looking at the garden as a whole, but at the specific place where you are standing. You can increase this "standing view" by increasing the paths in your garden and the easiest way to do this is by cutting islands from the grass, and this will increase the length of the paths. Islands of garden plots create paths through the garden. Here is a way to test this, pace off the length of your garden, the border of flowers and other plants on the periphery of the grass, then (if you've added these islands of flowers), pace off the garden including the paths around the islands. Your garden will be larger, you will have added to the variety and number of plants, and the whole garden will have a feeling of being in nature, not in a city garden. Avoid annuals, go for perennials. Aim for a controlled wild look. Grass is okay if that is what you want, but I like a garden that combines different flowers, different types of plants, perennial flowers, shrubs, rose bushes, a few herbs, a different sensibility, a garden that is inviting and welcoming to all who visit, and so on.

This is my garden as of May 1st, 2022. I work slowly so the "islands" don't look like much in these photographs, it's also spring here in Montreal and the season is slow. Just wait! Also, I work slowly, I like to plan and think out what I'm doing. It's the way I work and since a garden is a work in progress, this is what I've done so far. But you never know, I may never change the garden as it is, it's wait and see.

Those are day lilies on the right; they were growing in different parts of the
garden and I've moved some of them to the space on the left. 

Snow in late April

Over 19 cm. of snow fell yesterday, a new record for snow falling on April 19; twenty-four hours later most of it has melted. 

And now it's back to life and getting on with spring, turning the world green after a long, cold, white winter.