Poppies

Cimicifuga, Black Bugbane, Fairy Candles

Here is a link to a perennial I would like to remember from our 28 year old home.  This perennial was originally planted about 25 years ago in the front flower bed and never really thrived there.  I planted it there as there was a big spruce tree shading the flower bed and the Bugbane is known as a shade plant.  When we redid the front bed as a full sun prairiescape garden I moved the Bugbane to a garden tucked beside the house with a northeast exposure.  Since then it has thrived and this year, by mid July, is already showing signs of flowering.  The foliage on this plant is healthy and a vibrant purple black colour.  Not knowing whether I could split the plant and have it thrive I dug beside the plant and carefully uprooted one single rooted plant.  I planted this "upstart" plant in Amy's shade garden out at the cabin.

New Start at Sylvan Lake

Foliage of the original plant

Look carefully and you can see the flower starting

Update October 8, 2023 (Thanksgiving Sunday)

The tiny volunteer shoot from the original plant, transplanted in 2015 to the cabin and then to the Lakehouse in 2016 is now in fall of 2023 a thriving  Black Bugbane with showy blooms.  Next year I will take a photo a little earlier in the fall before the frost and when the background is more worthy of it's stateliness.  Yesterday Papa took down the sundeck railings and some of the decking in preparation for our new deck.   We have had frost for a couple of weeks now but this morning was the first sign of damage to the Bugbane.

A few more interesting facts about the Bugbane:

The Cimicifuga has many common names.  

Snakeroot because of the sinuous nature of the roots.  

Bugbane because it was used to chase away bugs.  Its scientific name, Cimicifuga says the same in Latin.  

Cohosh is an Algonquian name meaning rough referring to the root that is not black, but dark brown.  

Fairy Candles because the tall raceme has the appearance of white tapers.

"Pastel Splendor" Itoh Peony

Fast forward to spring of 2016.  The Itoh Peony has moved to Norglenwold after spending the fall and winter in Kuusamo, both on Sylvan Lake.  The lake was out the earliest as far as available records could be found, April 15, and it seemed like a good time to move the Itoh.  We have been preparing the front flower bed and moved the Itoh on 

Sunday, April 17, 2016.  Stay posted for further growth. 

April 17, 2016

July 2014

This Itoh Peony was planted near the end of July in Benny's garden (southwest exposure).  

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July 6, 2019 First blooms of many more to come this year

July 6, 2019 First blooms of many more to come this year

July 7, 2022 (First planted in Red Deer 2014) 

8 years old now

July 7, 2022 (First planted in Red Deer 2014) 

8 years old now

Rhubarb

1. We now have eight rhubarb plants in the yard and are hoping for a good crop of rhubarb for pies, jams and crisps.

   

   The two newest plants, seen below, (July 2014) are "Canada Red".

   Click Rhubarb for a link to more information.
   

   
   

   

   1. 

   Of the other six plants, six of them are Strawberry Rhubarb (three clumped together), which is similar to the Canada Red.  The sixth rhubarb is a greener, hardier, yet less sweet variety (perhaps a German Wine).  
2. Rhubarb is a vegetable, but it is often cooked, sweetened and combined with other fruits as a dessert.  It is an ancient plant traced back to China in 2700 BC.  It was used for medicinal purposes as a laxative, to reduce fever and cleanse the body.

I have always cut the rhubarb stalks when harvesting but recently read that it is better to pull the stalks rather than cut them.  The stalks detach easily and this way doesn't leave a stump to rot.  The leaves are poisonous and should be discarded.  It is best to pull the young tender stalks, leaving three or four strong stems.

Peony Bed- Elsa Sass

This Elsa Sass Peony was planted in the Peony Bed to replace one of the peonies that didn't survive this year's harsh winter (2013/2014).  It is in a northwest flower bed at the front of the house and receives full sun.  

Tulips

 These tulips were planted in a front flowerbed with full sun in the fall of 2013. After a winter with record snowfall and extreme cold they bloomed about June 1 while Grandmaman was visiting in Ithaca.  Thinking they might only last a few days Grandmaman took these photos on June 3 but much to our surprise they are still stunning almost 2 weeks later.

It is now June 24, over three weeks after the tulips bloomed and they are just beginning to fade.  Perhaps the cool spring and late arrival of summer weather gave these tulips just what they needed to maintain their blossoms.  In the photos below you can see that the red ones are loosing their petals and the red and white ones are beginning to wilt.

 

Pumpkins and Bunnies

This year we planted a pumpkin plant in the front garden along with grasses, a weeping caragana and a bergenia.  It was planted as a small plant as soon as the threat of June frost was over and now about four weeks later it has overtaken the area and has a multitude of blossoms that will hopefully soon become pumpkins.  We plan to crop extra vines in order to allow the pumpkins to grow as quickly as possible, given our short frost free season.  

 This garden is visited regularly by the neighbourhood bunny who likes to rest in the shade of the plants as well as on the cool shaded lawn.  So far he has nibbled on the tall grass but has left the pumpkin and bergenia alone.  

Lots of male flowers 

A female flower with the start of a pumpkin

The pumpkins are growing very quickly now

The pictures below were taken on September 7, 2013.  The pumpkins have been growing quickly over the last week.  The above pumpkin was the largest but has been overtaken by the pumpkin in the pictures below.  The color of the pumpkins confused me.  I always thought pumpkins were green before they ripen to their bright orange colour.  So I turned to Google once more and found out that "Giant Pumpkins" start out yellow.  These must be giant pumpkins.  

I have "pruned" the pumpkin patch twice now.  Today I cut off all the tiny pumpkins, vines that went nowhere and any remaining flowers.  Under one pumpkin I placed a plastic lid and under another a foil plate with holes.  Hopefully this will keep the pumpkins from getting soggy.

This is our largest pumpkin as of September 7, 2013.  It is 13 inches long and has a circumference of 24.5 inches.  

5 days later, September 12 we remeasured.  Our pumpkin now measures 16 inches long and is 28.5 inches.  In five days it grew 3 inches in length and 4 inches in circumference.

 We are closely watching the pumpkin patch, as the littlest pumpkin (below), which used to be the largest pumpkin, began to get soggy underneath so we harvested it today (Sept. 12).  It has started to change into a deeper orange colour but although it isn't quite "ripe" we removed it from the vine before further damage occurred.  We will watch daily for any damage to our biggest pumpkin.