Plants: An Experiment

A small, container-based deck garden in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. CR side blog: copperhawkthoughts

[copperhawkplots]

This string of sunny days has got me in my garden planning feelings, even though we’re also finally getting below-freezing temps. New things I’m planning to grow this year:

Little Snappea Crunch snap peas;

Rido Red watermelon radishes;

Chervil;

Wild bergamot;

Lunaria

Also nasturtiums, but I always grow nasturtiums. They’re my favourite.

[xesusrl]

These tiny little blue flowers were wondering where the sun was, and the sun was there, hiding behind the clouds, after I left, they met .

(Fragas do Eume )

[calamitys-child]

What's everyone's favourite flowers that aren't like. The normal ones. Like everyone's a fan of roses and sunflowers what's a more niche one. One you don't get in gift sets. Mine's sweet peas

[copperhawkplots]

This is how I keep my hummingbird feeder open in below freezing temps - a large mason jar wrapped in paper towel and tin foil and filled with very hot water.

It gives off enough heat to keep the juice liquid in mild freezing temps like today’s -5C, but tomorrow’s forecasted -14C will probably be too much for it, so I’ll combine this method with swapping out my second feeder throughout the day.

[copperhawkthoughts]

One minute and thirty seconds of chill

ID: a series of time-lapse clips of the same view of a lake and distant hills, showing the passage of clouds across the sky at different times of day

[copperhawkplots]

Catastrophe!

A big ol’ cloudburst plus hailstorm swept through and knocked over my sunflowers. I tied them up to the trellis, so maybe some of them will recover. I’m worried about the two closest to the camera - they seemed loose at the roots.

Everything else will recover ok, but I had been planning to fertilize today 🫠

[copperhawkplots]

May 15, 2023

With this spate of ridiculous weather in the middle of May I have gotten almost the last of my garden planted for the year! All that’s left is to pick up a basil sometime this week.

I have some old favourites and some total experiments going this year - clockwise from bottom left:

- “Jilly Blend” zinnias (front) and “ProCut White Lite” sunflowers (back), both from West Coast Seeds and courtesy of my MIL’s Jilly Box subscription.

- Just planted, “Celine” bush beans and “Glass Gem” corn, also WCS

- round blue pot, empty for now (basil pending)

- round purple pot, blackcurrant mint

- larger round grey pot, “Arp” rosemary and “All Season” Mexican tarragon

- smaller round grey pot, thyme and chives

- three-tiered stand in the back corner, a mix of wildflower mixes from WCS (Pacific Northwest blend, Bee blend, Hummingbird blend - whatever I had left over)

- hanging from the railing, the left and right ends both have “Laguna Dark Blue” lobelia and “Vermillionaire” cuphea. Centre left is “Superbells Lemon Slice” calibrachoa and “Supertunia Black Cherry” petunia. Centre right is “Superbells Blackcurrant Punch” calibrachoa and “Surfinia Heavenly Blue” petunia, all from Proven Winners.

- terracotta strawberry planter, “Bloody Mary” nasturtiums from WCS

- back right corner, a carnation my kid picked and a pot of self-seeded California Poppies (and also several native varieties of moss, lol)

- little purple pot, something random sprouting from the root ball of an aster that didn’t survive the winter. It’s probably a weed but I kinda wanna see what it is

- hanging on stand, strawberries

- domed standing planter, half carrots and half mesclun

All that in not a ton of square footage! Some of it is definitely experimental (corn? Full size sunflowers? FAFO I guess) but the local hummingbirds will be happy in a couple weeks anyway!

[copperhawkplots]

Made a little friend at the nursery today. Looks like it might be a Bold Jumper, which means it’s not local. Must have hitched a ride on some shipment or other.

[copperhawkplots]

I love the way the sunlight carries the colours through the petals

[copperhawkplots]

Fosteriana tulips - ‘Zombie’

[copperhawkplots]

This is what these look like closed up for the night

[copperhawkplots]

Fosteriana tulips - ‘Zombie’

[copperhawkplots]

Happy Spring Equinox!

I opened all the windows today to let the fresh air in, but the joke was on me - the nearby farmers clearly decided today was the day to start spraying manure 🤣

[copperhawkplots]

Dec 23, 2022

[copperhawkplots]

[copperhawkplots]

Nov 5, 2022

Spring bulbs planted and garden tidied for fall. What’s with the chicken wire? Squirrels.

[copperhawkplots]

Oct 30, 2022

One of the two shrubs at our front door bit the dust this summer, and when the landscapers came through they cut it right back, but they left the stumps behind. No big deal, until it suddenly looks like a tempting shortcut to the door in the rainy dark tomorrow night.

Since I don’t want any overeager trick-or-treaters faceplanting onto our porch, I grabbed these pumpkins and gourds (half off!) and made a nice, visible obstacle.

[copperhawkplots]

Updated planters for fall!

The weather here persists in being unreasonably nice. High today was 26, and while it’s cooling off the forecast has full sun and temps into the 20s all the way through next weekend - mid October. Since that’s the case, I replaced my fading summer planters with some cool weather plants.

The grass in the first photo is not dead - it’s a carex called ‘Toffee Twist’, it’s meant to be that colour. The lemon cypress with the white growing tips in the last photo is ‘Snowcrest’.