April snow storms bring May flowers!

Take a plane to Vancouver, take taxi to the Museum of Anthropology. Walk eastward about 5 blocks, take the trail through the forest (careful, it's steep in some places), down to the beach.

Have fun (nudity is optional - staring is bad manners.)

Of course! Anthropology - where else would it be? No poison ivy, is there? That could be a real problem.

Thanks, Victor. Leucothoe populifolia sounds like a good possibility, and it's the right height. I guess overall the areas I'm thinking of are more shady than sunny.

I have a number of Viburnum myself (one of my favorites) and some have been nibbled a bit, but not devoured. The sprays help.

There is no poison ivy on the beach - it's all sand and big logs to lean against. You look across the harbour up Howe Sound and see the spectacular coastal mountains edging the Pacific. It is truly beautiful.

The forest you walk through is a dense, west-coast rain forest, though by summer the forest is rarely damp. There may be poison ivy on the West coast, but I have never met anyone there that had encountered it.

On your short journey through the forest, you will hear countless bird, perhaps see a racoon, or maybe a small red squirrel. Overhead, there could be bald eagles. There are LOTS in BC. If you take a little dog with you on your trip, you really will have to watch that an eagle doesn't take it.

Also, if you hike in the mountains of BC, you could encounter any of the following: black bear, grizzley bear, cougar, wolf, wolverine, badger, moose, deer, coyotes, rattlesnakes, black widow spiders . . . and extraordinary beauty.

Does 'extraordinary beauty' refer to the nudes??

Definitely not. I have met exactly ONE person who actually looked good naked, yet if I describe her, that would not be the impression at all. She was above average height, slender, with collar bones that stuck out, heavy brows, but the combination of perfect formation, flashing dark eyes, short curly hair - she would literally stop traffic.

She was more handsome than barbie doll pretty - but totally unforgettable. Silly thing got pregnant at 17 - don't know what happened after the baby was put up for adoption. Real shame. Her parents had money, she could have studied anywhere in the world.

As for the rest of us poor mortals - we had better keep our clothes on! Or accept that on a normal curve - the truly beautiful lie outside three standard deviations from the mean - and thus, by definition, are freaks of nature!

Did she get pregnant on the trail???

OK OK I know I am late jumping in here, but pirl, those are my pink New Guinea impatiens! You bought them all up before I got there.
Great wreath, grammy, did you get a topiary frame or is that just a regular wire wreath frame? I have a living wreath book that has some great pix in it. The lady made one out of leaf lettuce!
Lovely pictures, all. I love azaleas and rhodies. If you do, check out the Norfolk botanical garden down in Norfolk, VA, and check out their thousands of them planted by a group of female CCC workers that forms the bones of this garden. Callaway Gardens in georgia has a massive collection too. Of course, us northerners have to wait until april and may for ours.
Here's my prize for this year. I had a really ugly corner where the addition of my house was connected to the old house. They put the sewer connection in and it had to be concealed by some ugly concrete. SO, I planted shrubberies in front. since I am from NJ alongside the Delaware River, I found 'Delaware Valley' and they have thrived there for over 10 yrs. I don't know the name of the hosta in front but they make a lovely companion planting. The leaves on these stay green all winter. the dryer vent is right next to them and gives them a little assistance in the depth of winter for a microclimate. I love my DVs. They look like a cloud come to earth today.

Gardenmart, thats a beautiful shrub!! You really covered the concrete well!!!!

gardenmart - nice arrangement in the corner garden. Beautiful shrub. I used a special wreath frame for the living wreath. It comes with a bottom section and a removable top section. I bought it from the Maine wreath company. I'm glad you like the wreath - it was fun to make and even more fun to watch it fill in.

actually, it's two shrubs. but you can't tell them apart any more. I go out to look at them twice a day and I stick my head out the living room window above to look down at them several more times. I guess they like their pine needle mulch.
Martha

WOW! the pix are awesome. I'm into gardening a bit.. more and more as I go along.. I have so much to learn.. this forum seems amazing.. I'm up in Canada, bought some big palms to go by the pool, and then the night temp dropped drastically@!! I have 3 that I'm not sure of.. heres hoping they make it!
I have some gardens in front of our house but we only planted them a couple of years ago..

themuffin, what are you thinking of???? Since I arrived in Massachusetts from Vancouver, I have been convincing Americans that Canadians live in igloos and open beer bottles with their teeth.

I have pictures of the bombadier buses on the Jasper Icefields, and I tell them it is the highway to Vancouver in early June!

And you show them pictures beautiful gardens in Ottawa and write about palm trees? How is Canada to maintain her reputation as the Great White North, when you give photographic evidence that we are really just Miami North. Sigh . . . . (giggle)

This message was edited May 22, 2007 9:39 PM

Hey Muffin! Welcome!

themuffin - welcome to the group! So you gave seandor away and things aren't that primitive up there in the north country!! You have a beautiful home and your gardens look nice. My gardens are only a couple of years old also and this group will teach you a lot about gardening. You'll have a lot of fun in the process cause they're always going off on a tangent in some other direction than gardening!! grammyphoeb

Welcome Muffin. Corn is my favorite.

Welcome to themuffin from me and the cats, Holly and Wallingford.

Hi Muffin - welcome.


I couldn't imagine this azalea having more flowers on it than it does - Vuuk's Johanna

Welcome Muffin!

Beautiful little azalea Al.

Harper

Clematis 'Ice Blue'

C. 'Reiman'

C. 'Will Goodwin'

'Reiman' again, more fully opened and in sunlight.

WOW!!

Thanks. Clematis and J. Maples are my current obsession. Wish I had more room though, for the JM's. Can't fit many more.

Buy a second home.

I'd love to. Don't even need the home.

Victor, your clematis are beautiful. I don't have buds on mine. Are they heavy or light feeders?

Harper

Very nice Victor - pretty.

victor - beautiful clematis!! These are two vines that I have had for a couple of years and I have tried to give them a little extra love and care this year because of your inspiration. They are actually growing better than before and the one on the right has buds. Can't remember the names - have it written down but too early in the a.m. to look it up - haven't had my coffee yet!! When I get my new garden done (in the pi patch) I'm going to plant some clematis next year.

This is an old Nellie Moser that has been moved several times and I hope this is it's final resting place. This is on the edge of my new garden. DH has to cut down those branches shading the area and that is on the agenda for today if we don't get pi.

My DH and I have had this running debate as to whether our clemantis is a type 2 or type 3 - Well, this spring pretty much did the poor thing in - or so we thought. I cut down the dead vines- and low and behold, there a vines galore growing again from the roots - much thicker and lush than ever before - now we will see when it blooms . . .

Your clemantis look fabulous, Victor. For the fragrance garden, I bought "Betty Corning" she was planted last fall - really tiny, from Bluestone Perennials - but a massive root system; already she is almost 3 feet tall - and has one little blossom starting.

Welcome, The Muffin.

Beautiful clematis, Victor.

I have a clematis candida lanuginosa that I've moved twice. It disappears each time I move it, but shows up the following year. I never got it far enough along to see it flower. I'm getting ready to move it again, but to quote Grammy, this will be it's final resting place.

Beautiful Victor - I have a picture of mine still in the camera. When I download them, I'll post it.

By the way, the place where I took up the Nellie Moser, there is something that resembles a clematis coming up!! I'll leave it there if it is. Must not have gotten all of the roots - a tough little plant - good thing if it's in my garden.

Hi, muffin. welcome to the best forum on DG. good luck with your palms

Victor, beautiful clematis! they are quickly becoming a favorite of mine, too. I find myself looking for places to add more. I have loads of buds so should have pics soon.

Thanks all. Harper, according to the 'experts', they are heavy feeders. However, like I have said with other plants, I am not real big on fertilizing. I just threw some on the older ones yesterday. I did fertilize the new ones I planted this year at planting time. I use Mill's Magic - the same organic stuff I use on roses and other plants. I may be lucky that my soil has a good amount of Phosphorus.

Great thing about Clems is that they don't have much of a 'footprint' so space is rarely a problem. I grow most of mine through shrubs. If you treat group 2's like 3's for the first couple of years and cut them way back, they will produce more stems. Also, planting deep (crown about 2 inches below surface) and at an angle seems to help as well.

I have a relatively boring one blooming (Houdine?) and another getting ready to bloom. I have some new babies I planted too. I'll get a picture.

One of a few in bloom on the Obelisk.