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.

A Canadian Cottage Garden, late July 2023

 

The garden's new fences

A few weeks ago I had fairly extensive landscaping done at our home, which included new fences for the garden. The old, collapsing, wooden fence that we had by the side of the house may have been countryish and maybe it had another ten years before it would have collapsed, but it needed to be replaced. There was another fence, in the back of the garden, and it had completely collapsed; it may have been sixty years old. 

Our Cape Cod Cottage, and there are many of them in this neighbourhood, were built in 1950, after the War, for returning veterans; they housed a family of four people, they are single family dwellings, they have a backyard, and the same design of house was constructed in many parts of Canada. Cape Cod Cottages are remarkably well constructed and quiet inside, if quiet is as important to you as it is for me. Only seventy-five years ago this area of Montreal was all farmers' fields, there were also apple orchards, and it was the country; that is all gone now and few people either remember how it was or know anything about the history of this area. 

There is one thing most old people would agree on and that is to prepare for the future. We know the future we don't want but it takes some effort to avoid it; we want to stay independent and to do this requires at least basic ambulatory health and some mental acuity; fortunately, the Quebec government seems to be working to keep old people in their homes for as long as possible, they pay to have someone visit the elderly everyday, and this is a lot cheaper, and better for the elderly, than having these old people institutionalized. We saw what institutionalized care for old people is like, it's something we all want to avoid, among other things it was also a breeding ground for Covid-19. So, the message is, Prepare now! That is one reason I had these fences built, so I can have a nice environment now and not worry about the place falling apart when I'm older and not able to look after it.

These new six foot fences may seem extreme, but they also make the garden feel private and enclosed. I told someone when the fences were being constructed that I didn't want the Berlin Wall and then I realized they hadn't heard of the Berlin Wall; ah, the young . . . I suspect that fences are what a garden needs, to be enclosed for privacy; I am also reminded of one of the greatest children's novels, The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett, well worth reading by yourself or to a child.  Fences enclose the garden and make it feel private, like a room, a place of flowers, birds, and being a little closer to nature, be sure to add a few chairs so you can sit for a while, and enjoy the garden you have created,  

Gardening

 Photos taken end of July 2022.

Garden mulch (and being visited by a hawk)

It's about a week before Christmas. Returning from buying groceries I walked to the backyard to check out the garden. I remember a few years ago, in early spring, pushing aside some mulch, that's just fall's leaves raked onto the flower beds, and seeing a plant coming back to life, it already had some new green leaves. Since I know where most of my plants are in the garden it was like seeing an old friend, it was actually a happy occasion and similar to how I feel when seeing honey bees in the garden, I don't generally like insects but I have a love and fondness for honey bees because I was once an amateur beekeeper. Mulch is the way to go if you garden, don't rake and bag and discard those leaves, rake them onto your flower beds. Mulch protects the plants during our very cold winters, just a layer of leaves will save some of your plants from dying; it doesn't cost anything and most gardeners will recommend doing this. Then, as I was taking some photographs of the mulched flower beds (as seen below) I saw a hawk in the cedar hedge at the very rear of the garden. At first I wondered if he was injured, sitting right in the cedar hedge. But he wasn't injured at all, he jumped out, walked a few feet across our neighbour's backyard and then took off into the sky. What a great sight that was. Nature restores the soul, nature returns us to the essentials of life. And that is why we need to protect every vestige of nature we have left. 

Community Gardens, Rosedale and Cote St-Luc Road

 This community garden is just two blocks from where I live, on Rosedale Avenue just above Cote St- Luc Road. This isn't a mini-farm, it's gardeners growing vegetables and flowers for their own use. These are quite large gardens, tools and supplies are stored in a locked shed, compost bins near the gardens. Photos taken in May 2015, but not much has changed since then.

Garden work in late October

 

Bee balm, cone flowers, and day lilies;
photo taken in August 2021

Due to illness I didn't do much garden work this passed summer, I didn't even sit in the garden that much. I used to sit outside every evening, I'd be entertained by fire flies. The Covid lock down has been great for gardens, we've seen the return of birds not seen for some time, some urban wild life, and honey bees. I noticed, and I wonder if anyone can corroborate this, that in the morning during Covid , around eight or nine a.m., the air in the garden was so fresh and clean, something I have previously noticed only when living in the country. I've pushed myself and done more garden work this September and October than is usual. I've weeded, transplanted plants, put a row of hostas at the rear of the garden, hoed, dug, and watered. What a great time! Inside the house, I look out of my window and I see sunlight in the tops of trees, where the leaves have turned yellow and the autumnal leaves are brilliant when the sun is behind them. Keeping up my outside work, trying to prepare the garden for next summer, I weeded ground cover that came from a neighbour's yard, it was everywhere. I pulled it up, dug up the roots, and then I realized how large a space I had that was mostly wasted on ground cover. I'd been thinking of expanding the garden but always careful not to expand it too much or possibly I wouldn't be able to keep up with what I'd done, or I wouldn't want to do what had become extra work. But this area, by the side of the house path entrance to the garden, is large, and what a great discovery. I have cone flowers that I planted years ago and that have outgrown the space where they were planted. I moved several of these and it was interesting to see how much they had grown, they are very sturdy plants, and I moved about four of these plants to the new space. Something I just noticed that will be discussed another time is a rose bush I thought had died last winter, unbeknownst to me, it was still alive, and returned to life. Nature is resilient. I have not had a lot of success with roses but now this might be changing. Anyhow, I am very happy with the revitalized and renewed garden space just worked on. I thought this space was good before but now I know that, weeded, tidied up, it will thrive next summer.

Cone flowers were under the window on the left, some of them have been moved to 
the newly turned over flower bed; a few weeks ago I trimmed back ivy that covered
the brick walls on two sides of the house; photos taken on 24 October 2021

All of this space was waiting to be cultivated; there is a row of miniature
irises, bee balm that is now established, and some cone flowers

On the far right are some raspberry canes and behind them is a lilac bush that
wasn't expected to survive after being cut down to ground level about ten years
ago; it is now coming back to life and thriving

A bare piece of land doesn't look like much but the soil here
is pretty good and I expect everything will thrive

 

Community Gardens, The City Farm Garden

 

All photos taken in October 2021

I used to post photographs of the City Farm Garden, the area where herbs and flowers were grown, located behind the Hingston residence on the Loyola Campus of Concordia University; this area has been either built on, ploughed under, or left to go wild. Left to go wild is my preference. The larger part of the City Farm Garden seen above, just a few hundred feet from the other area, is thriving and abundant. They grow food that goes to Montreal-area food banks including homeless shelters. .