foxgloves – Chester Garden Club

A Bouquet for Canada Day

By spda99 | July 1, 2013 | Comments 0 Comment

A particularly rainy spring, followed by a brief heat wave that was followed more rain, has produced wonderful growth in Chester gardens. Thus it seems appropriate that we celebrate Canada Day with a selection of flowers now in bloom in our area: our Canada Day bouquet.

paeony - herb — An old-fashioned peony that bears a lovely fragrance when brought into the house.

Many local gardens feature Irises, and both the Siberian and bearded varieties are showing their colours.

Perennial poppies, too, have been making a show. The orange one below is a Spanish (Rock) variety.

DSCF6942 — A band of tall straight perennial poppies contrast with the twisting branches of a hamamelis contorta

Early varieties of day lilies are beginning to open, and old favourites like foxgloves and spiderwort are making their appearance but the rosa rugosas and peonies are looking quite bedraggled because of the rain.

DSC_8546 - edit — Tradescantia “Sweet Kate” (spiderwort)

DSCF6970 — Foxgloves claim their corner amid a few other strays in a neglected garden bed

Flowering shrubs are part of the picture. The arching branches of a Beauty Bush (Kolkwitzia amabilis) laden with blooms, at right, contrast with the light feathery foliage of a dappled willow (Salix integra, Japanese) below.

And finally, at the bottom, two Weigelas, both a little the worse for wear due to heavy rainstorms. These photos present a small sample of current garden blooms. Honeysuckle, lupins, dogwoods, Explorer roses, pink spirea, and others now also in bloom may fit in a future post.

Whatever the weather in your area, we hope fellow Canadians will enjoy celebrating Canada Day on July 1st, preferably near a garden!

And a shout-out to our neighbours, the Americans, whose national holiday falls on July 4th.

Thanks to Herb for many of the above photos.

Summer Gardens: Pretty in Pink

By spda99 | June 29, 2012 | Comments 0 Comment

As we enter the lazy hazy days of summer, the temperature in Chester has been fluctuating from warm to hot to cool again but gardens are flourishing. The ring of climbing roses above (a mix of “old moss” and the paler cuisses de nymphe) surround an old well and are anchored by a healthy crop of pinks. The pale pink poppy on the left has opened to the max.

Gardens that appeal to humans entice other critters too. Here, a chickadee hops into a birdbath for a refreshing shower. Even the face carved into the stand of the bath seems to be sporting a shy smile.

A full border of perennials including Peonies, Delphiniums and Campanulas, is set off by more pinks set among garden stones that define the edge of the bed.

The colour pink dominates many gardens here at this time of year. These tall foxgloves are mixed in with blue corydalis and pink campion. Another pink “beauty”, Kolkwitzia amabilis (commonly known as Beauty Bush), is shown bent over almost to the ground following a torrential rainstorm that weighed down its branches.

A much paler shade of pink emerged with the flowering of a clematis (Nelly Mosher) on a nearby fence.

The peonies in Chester gardens vary in the intensity of their colours. This shot shows one of the deeper pink blooms just after a shower. The photo below, showing the head of the harbour at low tide, was taken on an overcast morning, from the small park known as the Cove Garden. A row of pink rosa rugosas runs along the edge of the garden above the sea wall.

The Cove Garden is owned and maintained by the Chester Garden Club, whose members volunteer their time and energy to weeding and pruning the plantings. The Parade Square garden, shown below, is also maintained by volunteers from the club but, in recent years, as members aged and the weeds proliferated, the struggle to keep it in good shape has been more difficult. As seen below, the weeds appear to be winning. Brenda and Chenda are standing on what used to be a wide gravel path.

The good news is that Chenda will soon be embarking on a mission to rehabilitate the path – flagstones and wooly thyme to replace the gravel and the weeds. We’ll be delighted to post photos of the results when the work is done.