50 Things for my garden

                                                     

  So, it is Farmer's Market, hosted by Chris at Stuff Dreams are Made Of,  and I have finally got on here on a Saturday!  Sadly, here in Ottawa the Farmer's Markets don't start until May, and nothing can be planted until  after the May long weekend (usually around May 18-20), when the danger of frost at night is finally past. To cheer myself up because it is snowing today, and cold, I am going to blog about the garden I want this year.

My plan:
 I thought I would share with you my big plan for my garden this year.  I am turning 50 in May, and I thought as part of my celebration, I would plant 50 new plants into my garden.


 I have some roses (above), and peonies, which are the centers  of my garden and around which my garden is built. It's based on flowers for bees and butterflies, because I love the idea of feeding insects this way.  I get to see the butterflies, and they get much needed nectar  :-)  I do have a butterfly bush, which is the star of my back garden, when it blooms in late July.  Here is a link to a post I did two years ago about some of the little statues I put in my garden during the summer, and here is one about flowers in my garden, from last summer.

Below is a picture of my garden, in July, from this past year.  The butterfly bush is way in the back, between the phlox (the bright pink flowers) and the tiger lilies.

The big plant is phlox, a lovely deep.  

And in amongst the roses, I have these lilies.
                                     


Black-eyed Susans, my namesake!
                     
I even tried gladiolas the year before, of which this lovely pink one came up unexpectedly last year.
                                                                

 These are some of the flowers  in my  garden.  I love flowers, they delight my soul.  I find I am so happy after being around flowers.  They soothe me, and calm me, and I am deeply delighted by them.

So I want to celebrate my 50th by adding more flowers to my garden.

I thought I would ask you, dear blogger friends, what are your favourite flowers?  What do you like to see in gardens?  Do you have an idea or a suggestion for me?  I will as the summer goes on, show the ones I am adding, and give you updates through the Farmer's Market on how my garden is doing.  I will be making a list of 50 flowers that I want to add, once I can figure out how to add to my header pages with this new blogger update.

For now, I am so cheered up doing this post!  Thank you Chris, for holding the Farmer's Market on your Saturdays, and giving us a space to blog about our plants.

some flowers from my garden

One of the things that I love that is giving me great consolation as well as joy is my flower garden.
 I don't have a good picture this year yet of my garden, but here are a few of some of the flowers blooming.  First up is the iris, which was the first flower planted in my garden.  My mother gave them to me from her garden.  They have really loved my soil, and have flourished in the past 8 years we have been in this house.

 
 This is the heirloom rose I found by accident last year at Walmart.  I love this rose.  It's been slow to bloom this year, and this was the first bloom.  Isn't it almost perfect?  I've blanked out on the name, and it's late, so I will come back tomorrow in case you want to know which one it is.

 

 I love the rose picture the best.  I have three rose bushes, and while they are blooming, I am fighting with beetles which are eating them as fast as they bloom, plus we are extremely hot and dry this year, so they aren't lasting long.
 
                                                    
 

 I also have been taking some while out for walks in the city this spring, mostly on the way home from work.
The bottom three are my favourites so far.  It's been a lovely year for blossoms.
 

 

 I love these pink blossoms, the pink was so vivid and gorgeous! 

Gardening soothes me and grounds me, and I love feeling the dirt in my fingers.  No matter how I'm feeling, when I'm in the garden, everything falls away and I have a sense of timelessness for a few precious hours. 

Here is a link to a post I did last year, that has some of the statues in my garden.  I have been building a butterfly and bee friendly garden, I love feeding nature.  This way I feed my soul, and the birds, the bees, and the butterflies!