A Cautionary Tale

I purchased a Dwarf White Pine from Mori Gardens, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario on Saturday, July 12th. I couldn't find this pine in my area, and on a family trip to the Niagara area I decided to visit Mori to see if they had one.

There was one left, located in their prime display at the front of the garden centre, priced at $99.99.

I brought it home and planted it on Monday. Unfortunately, the pine began to turn brown by Wednesday. I called Mori and the employee I spoke to led me through the usual questions about how I had watered it or not, etc. I explained that I am a horticulturist and garden designer, and that I've worked for CBC radio as a gardening phone-in expert. Yes, I had watered it and no, not too much.

Mori Gardens' dead Dwarf White Pine

The new garden with Mori Gardens' dead Dwarf White Pine

Mori's guarantee on nursery stock reads as follows:

"The Mori 100% two year guarantee is subject to the presentation of your receipt and the dead nursery stock. We will replace the full amount paid once for guaranteed plants that die within two years after the purchase date by a credit note - no cash refunds."

The employee insisted that I bring the dead plant in, as per their policy. I explained that I lived near Sudbury, an 8 hour drive from the garden centre, and could I just email them a photo? The answer was no.

I know exactly what happened to this plant and why it died. At some point shortly before I bought the plant, it had been allowed to totally dry out. Conifers cannot handle this, but unfortunately they don't show the damage for several days. This poor pine was doomed before I even laid eyes on it.

What I have learned from this expensive experience is that I will never buy a conifer from a garden centre (and certainly not from Mori Gardens!) that is any distance away from my home. You can't tell right away that they haven't been cared for properly.

'Frosty Beauty' Daylily

'Frosty Beauty' finally bloomed! This is the daylily that I had planted in my street garden, shown in my post called Anatomy of a New Garden from June 23, 2008.

I've been working away on the backyard since I returned from Quilt Canada 2008 in early June. Photos will follow soon!

Introducing Baby May

This is the story of Baby May.

At 8:30 a.m. of May of 2007, Nurse Angie of the Martindale Animal Clinic, Sudbury, Ontario stepped outside the clinic to see a taped cardboard box left beside the large trash bin. She could hear purring, and through a hole in the box, Angie could see a tiny paw waving in the air.

She brought the box into the clinic and when it was opened, she found a 5 month old kitten with one eye severely injuried, from an apparent dog bite.

Dr. Dan Ransberry, the veterinarian on surgical duty that day, called the SPCA but they couldn't take the kitten because of her serious injury. Dr. Dan gave her a pain shot. The kitten continued to purr when handled, despite her condition.

Since the kitten was probably unadoptable, Dr. Dan decided to keep her. He called her Baby May, and she turned out to be a cuddly beautiful little girl. I met May at Dan's house. Her one good eye is a lovely China blue, and she has the most gorgeous patterned coat. Dan says she is a Silver Tabby and Lynx Point Siamese cross.

Dr. Dan is the vet for our two Golden Retrievers. His clinic has been voted Sudbury's favorite animal clinic 4 out of the past 5 years, for many reasons including his compassion for cruelly discarded, wounded kittens.

Baby May's colours

Happy Canada Day!

Happy 141st birthday, Canada!

'Dancing Butterflies' Peony

My friend Gisele shares my passion for single peonies. She phoned me yesterday to come to her garden centre (Gisele's Greenhouses in Chelmsford, Ontario, Tel: 705-855-6621) and take some photos of her display gardens. The peonies were in full bloom.

'Dancing Butterflies' Peony

'Dancing Butterflies' Peony blossom

Alas these flowers have no scent. However they survive rain storms and strong winds without blowing over, and never need staking. I'm always a fan of less work!

Introducing Joyce Nicholls-Goudsmid

Joyce bought my Leaf Magic Little Quilt pattern from me at Quilt Canada 2008 three weeks ago, and has already created an awesome variation. She combined all 6 leaf designs into one wall quilt, then embellished it with leaf stamps and a few appliqued leaves, leaf sequins and beads, and a bird button. She noted that she had everything in her stash, including the backing which was perfect of course! Joyce told me that it was very fun to make and just what she needed to do to wind down from QC 2008.

This is how Joyce describes herself:

"I have been quilting for about 10 years, not long after I moved to St. John's, Newfoundland. As an adolescent and young adult I sewed many of my own clothes, but never really found that satisfying. However, I retained a love of fabric and all things fibre! I went to my first quilter's guild meeting in 1998 and was immediately taken with the possibilities. I've hardly missed a meeting since, and my fabric stash cost more than my furniture! I think that quilting is about creative expression; every quilt that you make is your own, regardless of the pattern you use. And for me, the less traditional the pattern and the bolder the colours, the better I like it!"

Thank you Joyce for sharing your beautiful quilt.

Anatomy of a New Garden

I made a new garden at the corner of our street and driveway this past weekend. We had a landscape construction crew in for over a week that (among other things) created a stone retaining wall using huge granite blast rock boulders.

They found an interesting rock that they thought I might like to use at the entrance to our driveway. It turned out to be a perfect "Heaven" rock when installed vertically. I was able to find corresponding "Earth" and "Man" rocks as well, and our back hoe operator Elliott slung them into place. The Heaven, Earth and Man rocks illustrate the principle of the three forces, oshakei, which is a classical aesthetic tool in Japanese garden design.

The rocks were dug in approximately 1/3 of their height. This is a view of the back side of the rocks. I began with a stake in the centre, and dug a 5' radius to make a perfect circle. The Heaven rock was installed in the very centre. The Earth and Man rocks were installed to complete the triad. I removed the sod and added garden soil.

I'm beginning to install the black plastic edging. I've dug a vertical line with a spade. I use a small stone to brace the beginning of the roll, and place the edging so the top rolled edge is level with the top of the soil (not the top of the grass).

You can see the level of the edging.

I've completed the edging and added many wheelbarrow loads of garden soil!

Holes are dug for the plants, and bonemeal scratched into the bottom of the holes.

This ornamental grass is a transplant, so I plop the plant into the hole, add a bit of soil, then fill the hole with water. I wait until the water drains away, then I fill in the rest of the soil.

The garden is planted. I've used: 1 x Miscanthus 'Malepartus', 1 x Blue Rug Juniper, 1 x Filipendula rubra, 3 x 'Frosty Beauty' Daylily and 3 x Heuchera 'Lime Rickey'

Landscape cloth installed around the juniper at the front of the garden. I used the cloth here because the juniper is permanent, and I won't need to dig in this area.

Newspapers! This is my old Master Gardener's trick. I use 5-7 sheets thick around perennials, where I will have to plant bulbs and eventually split the plants. The newspaper is a wonderful weed suppressor, takes about 3 years to break down, and keeps the underlying soil moist.

I am beginning to pile shredded natural colour cedar mulch over the landscape cloth and newspaper. I never never never use coloured mulch. It looks awful. And don't even get me going about white or pink quartz as a mulch, unless you want your garden to scream "tacky". That's my garden designer rant for the day.

The garden is mulched about 3" thick, including over the side of the plastic edging. Now you can't see the plastic, and I've graded the edge of the garden so the lawn mower wheels can run on the mulch and cut the grass without a trimmer being required.

The front of the garden. The "Man" rock is on the left, "Heaven" is in the centre, and "Earth" is on the right.

I'm working on the front of the house now. In between rain storms, which never seem to end.