Hydrangea Love

When the seasons change, I'm always a little sad about what I need to say goodbye to, but what awaits me often makes up for it. Like autumn and hydrangeas. Yes.

If I were to list my favourite autumn flowers, hydrangeas would be at the top. There are others (Japanese anemones and Turtleheads come to mind) but it's hard not to love those gorgeous billowy flowerheads with their delicate tones of pink and green. I have four types of hydrangeas in my garden: Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, Hydrangea paniculata 'Unique', oakleaf hydrangea and Hydrangea macrophylla. The two that do best in my garden are Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora (PeeGee) and Hydrangea paniculata 'Unique'. Although the PeeGee blooms are beautiful (they're in the photo at the top), the Unique blooms are my favourite. There's more space between the flowers so you can appreciate their individual, graceful shapes.

Hydrangea paniculata 'Unique' and asters on my painting table

It was still in progress at this point.

I started a painting last autumn of some of the Unique blooms. It was almost finished and then, for some reason, I put it away in my painting drawer. I can't really remember why. I got it out again last week and with fresh hydrangeas from the garden put the finishing touches on the painting. It just needed a little more depth in places and a few more details.

Here's the final result. I tried to convey the frothy softness of the flowerhead while also capturing some of the delicate details. I hope to have it available as a print in the next few weeks.

I need to get out into the garden as much as possible in the days ahead. The nights have been very cold the past few days so things are going to change dramatically. This weekend, I plan to bring the last tomatoes in and cut some herbs for drying. And more hydrangeas!

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

Drying tip: I like to dry the hydrangeas and enjoy them throughout the winter months. I read a tip years ago by a favourite gardening writer, Lois Hole, on her preferred way of doing it. She suggested placing the cut hydrangeas in a vase in about an inch of water and letting it evaporate. She said that the flowers retain more colour this way than if they are air-dried. This is the way I always do it now.

As Summer Slips Away

Where did the summer go? And what an odd summer it was in some ways.

I began the summer with a back injury in early June. It kept me from looking after the garden the way I normally do. I also didn't swim or walk as much as usual. So frustrating but a lesson in taking the time to look after myself. After a couple of setbacks (sorry), it is finally feeling better.

The weather this summer has been changeable. We've had incredibly hot spells, dark and rainy periods and this past week actually felt more like autumn than late summer.

We got away briefly twice this summer. My husband and I went on an impromptu vacation to Maine for a few days at the beginning of August. Emma and Chloé stayed here with Meeko. It was the first time we have been away together (sans enfants) in eight years and the first time that our daughters stayed home on their own. Everyone survived. We all travelled to Muskoka to visit family. It was a great visit but Emma, Chloé and I all ended up with a terrible cold and we decided to go home a day early. It's just been one of those summers.

Some things are thriving in my vegetable garden and some are doing poorly. Tomatoes, what happened to you? The weeds are towering over my perennials in my flowerbeds and filling cracks and crevices throughout the garden. They may think they have won but I am coming to get them! Meanwhile, the flowers are definitely in late season mode. There is some sadness at how quickly the summer has gone by but I've always liked this time of year. The garden quiets down, the light becomes more subdued and there are still weeks to go of garden enjoyment.

These photos were taken this morning with my iPad on a pajama tour of my back garden! I love that the shrubs surrounding our back garden are now tall enough to provide us with total privacy from the neighbours.

One of the weedier parts of the garden.  I would say that half of the plants here are weeds.

Self-sown and pretty verbena bonariensis with snapdragons in the background.

I was happy to find this cucumber at the back of the vegetable bed this morning.

Two late summer friends: hydrangea paniculata and echinacea 

Rose hips (Rosa glauca)

Obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana)

Phlox paniculata 'David'

I haven't painted for a few weeks now. I can't wait to get back at it. There will be time in the weeks ahead. Emma moves into university residence on Friday. Big changes. (I can do this.) Chloé is back to school on September 2nd. Soon my days will be filled with studio time punctuated by walks with my friend, Meeko.

And speaking of him...as I was writing this blog post, I felt that I was being watched. I was. This is for those of you needing a 'Meeko fix'.

❤  ❤  ❤

Come Walk With Me

I've spent most of the last two days on the computer trying to improve my relationship with Photoshop and my printer. I might need a therapist on this one. My family will vouch for the fact that I am definitely in a better mood on the days that I paint.  I literally floated after finishing my little chickadee painting on Sunday. Gravity and I have had a closer relationship the past couple of days. :)  

It occurred to me that it might be a good idea to take an extra long walk today with Meeko and my new camera.  Fresh air and focusing on nature can be a good way of recharging the batteries (and avoiding complete insanity).  Come along with me and Meeko.  Despite the grey clouds, it was a very pretty walk.  I was astonished by the life and colour that is still in our neighbourhood and my garden this late in the season.

I call this photo 3M (the m's stand for mushrooms, macro and Margie, the owner of a beautiful blog that involves all three!).  Hey Margie, I got my knees wet taking it!

Aren't these golden cutleaf maple leaves beautiful? I saw them a couple of days ago and didn't have my camera with me.

Meeko decided they were the perfect backdrop for a modelling session. He was very intrigued by some noisy ravens which helped him stay in place.

This maple leaf was just waiting on the pathway for a photo.

Back in our garden now.  Guess who's been eating my beautiful crabapples? (Shameless, isn't he?)

Apparently they are delicious.  Actually I am surprised that there are that many of them left on the tree as this is a regular snack.  If I go into the yard and ask him what bad things he has been doing in my garden, he joyfully runs to my crabapple tree to show me. (I don't think he understands the weight of adjectives.)

I found this verbena still flowering in its pot.

This is a gorgeous oak-leaved hydrangea shrub which has never flowered for me in eleven years.  I can forgive it for that when it gives me an autumn display like this.

I couldn't believe it when I saw how alive and well the diascia was.  This pot is not visible from the house.  It's a great annual if you're ever looking for one that is frost hardy and doesn't complain about being in the shade or sun.  It also comes in pink and white.

My delight in finding the pockets of colour is because most of my garden right now is the colour above--brown.  I am one of those messy gardeners who leaves most of the perennials in place until the springtime.  It may not look beautiful but the birds appreciate it. The chickadees and goldfinches will enjoy the echinacea seeds in the months ahead.  I love watching them tip the stems with their weight as they harvest the seeds.

Notice the leaf in Meeko's hair (wheatens have hair, not fur).  He comes into the house regularly with the evidence of his activities attached to him. Not a clever criminal. But cute.

These are crabapples from my Sir Lancelot tree, a sweet, small crabapple that gives just enough height to provide us with privacy from the back neighbours  (when it has its leaves of course).

There are many violas still blooming in my square foot garden that is normally a vegetable plot.  I can't wait to show it to you in the springtime. It's an efficient and pretty way to grow vegetables in a small yard. Actually the classic method is more efficient than pretty, so I added the 'pretty' to my method.  That way, it appeals to both the left and right sides of my brain (which is important to me)!

Remember this little guy?  My alyssum growing in the crack of our front steps made it to the end of the season!  I think it may be be hugging the oak leaf for warmth. :)

Thanks for joining me on my walk.  It did me a lot of good.

I hope to do some more painting this week. I appreciate all of the warm and encouraging comments about my recent paintings. I hold your comments to my heart.

It occurred to me this week that when I write about my painting, I lose the garden, nature and dog enthusiasts.  When I write about my garden and nature, I may lose the art lovers. When I write about Meeko, I lose the not-so-crazy-about-dogs readers. (He's going to have a hard time believing that one!)  I hope it all makes sense over time as they are all things that are part of me and my life.  I appreciate you coming here to share them. ♥

The Space Formerly Known As My Garden

Do you remember 'the artist formerly known as Prince'?  Well, that's a bit the way I am feeling about my garden these days.  I mean 'the space formerly known as my garden'.

I have had my garden for 11 years and I have put an enormous amount of time and energy into designing, maintaining and constantly changing it.  One of my relatives has referred to it in the past as 'the botanical garden'.  I have flower beds everywhere and they are full of trees, shrubs, spring bulbs and perennials.

But, this past season, it has been suffering.  It didn't help that our spring was miserable which made planting annuals in my normal early- to mid-May window foolish.  So I waited.  Then I got caught up in a huge, time-consuming volunteer project for my youngest daughter's school in June, designing and publishing the yearbook for the graduating Grade Six class.  So I waited some more.  We left for our holiday in London and Paris right after school ended.  We returned to our house in July and a garden full of empty pots and bare annual beds.  Weeds had taken full advantage of my absence and were towering over the perennials in the mixed beds. My vegetable bed, normally an organized, productive and beautiful corner, only sported the few brave herbs and flowers that had made it through the winter or reseeded themselves and, of course, a terrifying tangle of weeds.

Veggies anyone?

To complicate things further, I have also been dealing with a very challenging garden pest that I will leave for another post.

There are still pockets of it that are beautiful.  That's the advantage of using perennials, shrubs and trees.  They can manage on their own for a certain amount of time without too much human intervention.

The hydrangeas in the top photo have been blooming beautifully.  One particularly gorgeous shrub this year is a rose of sharon bush (hibiscus syriacus) that I planted 11 years ago.  This year, it had a huge growth spurt (perhaps it's approaching adolescence?) and has been covered with masses of blooms.  The past few days, it has been just stunning.

I went out this morning to take a picture to include in my blog and guess what I found?  It toppled over during the night and is bent in two.  It's not broken, just really, really bent. We had a thunderstorm last night and I guess that the wind coupled with the weight of the blooms were too much for it.  I'm going to have to prune it sharply.  I don't have the heart to do it while it is in bloom, so I think I will leave it the way it is for now, an archway for any elves or dwarves who care to visit the 'space formerly known as my garden'.