I Knew This Day Would Come

Eventually.

Winter never lasts forever in Calgary, it just seems so to those of us who may count the days between the first August frost and the … oh, if I say it I'll jinx the whole thing. I've seen it snow and freeze 10 days straight in JULY, so I'm grateful we are now experiencing summer. We went from snow and -15 C (5 f) to 24 C (75 F) in a couple of days. Skipped spring entirely. The apple and plum trees went from entirely dormant to bursting with clouds of pink and white blossoms in three days time.

Cinnamon Fern

The irrigation crew showed up Monday, dug a new bed and and put in three new sprinkler heads to create a "boggy" area for the cinnamon ferns I bought the week before. With any luck these will reach at least 3/4s of the their reputed size of 48" tall and 48" wide. We need something big in that space.

The crew will be back in a few days to put three new sprinkler heads in the front flower bed. That bed is blazing hot and there was not a single functioning sprinkler head in it last summer. Most of the perennials I planted there last spring died of thirst, despite me hauling 100 pounds of hose down there to water every few days.

After the crew left I planted the fern rhizomes (four of them) and (picture me doing my best skippy step) yesterday I added a bit of garden shopping to my list at the Wally World.

First thing off I bought one of these new fangled light-weight hoses. It only weighs about a pound but is coiled like an old-style telephone cord. It's 50 ft long but you're lucky to wrestle 30 feet of hose out of it. I will have to buy a second one to attach to the first one or wrestle with the hose all summer. It also has about 1/2" bore so watering is going to be a leisurely affair. That's fine by me, nothing more relaxing than standing out in the evening watering the garden. Very Zen.

Second thing I bought was some more decorative plastic fencing to put along the walk where I planted the cinnamon ferns, and I bought a half dozen purple Osteospermums, a member of the daisy family, all cheeky Charlie, to plant in front of the ferns, which you can't see, as they are not yet up. These plants don't get very tall, maybe 10-12", but will add some colour at the edge of the bed while we wait for the ferns to wake up.

This is an eight foot extension to the existing flower bed, one which takes the bed right to the concrete pad of the entrance. While most dog owners in the building are considerate, a few simply bring their dog to this spot, right outside the front door, and allow them to use it as their bathroom. Filling it with plants and fencing it should send a strong message that they need to move out to the designated area.

I also added a false spirea in the dappled shade below a Japanese plum, where it is paired with hostas, a lady fern and  bergenia (Elephant ears)  which came through the winter in fine form and hopefully will grace us with its lovely spike of pink flowers soon.

Gardening season has begun. In the next few days there will be a plant-buying-in- earnest trip. Kevin, the owner of our landscaping company, is coming to trim shrubs, weed, add compost, dig out some shrubs which aren't doing well where they are, and plant all the lovely things I will be buying. And the congregation said, "Amen."