Sproeten and her Sisters

Here is a post about some favourite rhodies.

Sproeten and her sisters - Garden Gallery - Canadian Gardening Forums

A plethora of Azaleas

This last weekend couldn't have been a better time to view azaleas here in our garden.

A plethora of Azaleas - Garden Gallery - Canadian Gardening Forums

Rhododendron and Azalea Time

The bloom season for the rhodies and azaleas is in full swing. We have invited anyone who might enjoy them to come for a garden visit this Saturday and Sunday afternoon from~12-4PM.

It often seems that people are more liable to visit if there is a "perceived" event. "Busyness" still seems to be prevailing here at The Willow Garden. If the cold nights ever let up, some of the tender plants may actually get to their garden beds. 5C seems to be a not uncommon early morning temperature! We did have a nice respite last weekend while attending the ARHS Garden Tour and Potluck in the Liverpool/ Port Mouton area. There was a dedication and unveiling of a plaque at Pine Grove Park in Dick Steele's memory.  

We had quite a stroll through the lovely pine forest. It had been quite a few years since our last visit. Most of the rhododendrons were almost finished, but the azaleas were a riot of colour.

Rain descended in full force for much of the afternoon, but we still enjoyed garden visits in the area.

It was interesting to see some of our plants in Ruth's garden. Audrey's garden, as usual, was a masterpiece. The rainy weather somewhat inhibited the picture taking!

We had a brief visit to the rock garden at NSAC in Truro on our way home. It has matured considerably in the last few years. We don't seem to be adherents of alpine gardening, but do admire the efforts of others. I think I, at least, lack the discipline required.

I had quite an early morning walk to hopefully get some pics before the sun was too bright. It was a challenge to get a decent pic of this rather nice yellow rhodie we moved earlier this spring.

It has been a rather strange bloom season for the rhododendrons. Many plants are fully covered in bloom, but others had minimal bud set last summer.

There are always many surprises in store.

One of our favourite rhodies seedlings hails from 1992....we call her "Sproeten", which means "freckles" in Dutch. It is a cross of  Barbara Cook x Janet Blair.

This year she is at her blousy best.

The azaleas are getting to be in full glory.

We are patiently waiting for more blooms to open on Homebush. In the meantime Spicy Lights seems to be outdoing itself....the fragrance from this plant is wonderful. It is due for a haircut very soon. It is impeding traffic on the path through the back perennial bed. Perhaps a bouquet is in order.

Likely the last of tulip time

Spring is progressing and we are almost finished with tulips, but some are still very nice.

'Chameleon' has been a very entertaining one this year. It will be interesting to see if it makes a comeback next year. Tulips seem to have a mind of their own wrt perennializing!

Here is the lnk to a post from Canadian Gardening.

Likely the last of tulip time - Garden Gallery - Canadian Gardening Forums

Does Spring Always Have To Be So Busy?

Spring has found us in what seems to be a frenzy of "busyness".

We have just finished the marathon of Plant Sale preparation and execution. The very early spring meant we had more time to dig plants, and seemingly didn't quite know when to stop.

All went well on the two sale days this past weekend, and we thank those who dropped by.

Our next venture is a two part Garden Course on the next two Thursdays. We have done these for Antigonish County Recreation for a few seasons. Our "theme" this year is soil, of course, plus a session on flowering shrubs.

The following week we are participating in GASHA's Wellness Fair at St. Martha's Hospital. I guess we need to somehow show that gardening is a contributor to "wellness".

One of the ever present problems here at The Willow Garden is the surplus and crowdedness of so many rhododendrons and azaleas (to a lesser extent). Bill's nursery beds seem to overflow, and we often can't get plants moved on to more spacious beds.

Bill did one foray into moving plant a few weeks ago. The newly expanded "gulley" bed received a contribution of about twenty rhodies that were ermarked for moving. They included neat stuff plus some named plants that we wanted to be able to show better.

We had the brilliant notion of trying to persuade members of the Atlantic Rhododendron & Horticultural Soc. to make some "field trips" and perhaps find some plants here to expand their plantings.

It has proven to be quite difficult to explain to those who have never visited our garden just how much and varied material there is. Even photographs don't really help.

The mystery involved in finding out over time what a certain seed lot will produce, appeals to some more than others. There are many plants from as far back as 2001 that we still can't pin a certain description to.

A tremendous amount of guesswork goes on after inspecting the qualities of both the Seed  and Pollen parents. Most hybridizers have some aim when making a cross, but the outcome is usually not very straight forward.

We feel that a reasonably good plant form is as important as the bloom. Rhododendrons do, with any luck, have foliage all year and flowers for only a short time!

I prepared a mini-list of some representatives from several nursery bed areas to try and illustatrate some of the diverse crosses and to get a hint at what the "aim" of some were. It often requires thousands of seedlings to find that one so-called perfect plant, so our relatively small sample size likely may not do. We are often very pleasantly surprised by various outcomes and hope to persuade others that it is a worthwhile pursuit.

Granted, many plants will need a bit of TLC when moving to new homes. We get to see the good, the bad and the ugly as we peruse the various rows of plants.

We should have been far more ruthless and thrown many "over the fence" long ago.

A crowded plant will often have a "bald'" side where it was shaded by its neighbors. This can usually be rectified in about a year by planting that  bald side towards the sun.

Some of our seedlings simply need to grow in a slightly warmer part of the province. The hardiness of some of the parents is "pushing it" for our area.