Single Dahlia Flower

To photograph is to hold one's breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It is that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.
Henri Cartier-Bresson

To create the textural effects, I used Kim's Stained Linen (a favourite) and Aurora textures. To see other beautiful images made using Kim's textures, please click the link: Kim Klassen's Cafe.

Evolutionary Oddities

Ferns first appear in fossil records as early as 360 million years ago. They still seem ancient and mysterious when their leaves slowly unfurl each spring.

Ostrich Fern

So what accounts for this plant species success over time? 

It is perfectly adapted to a range of growing conditions for one. 

Alaskan Fern

Ferns can be found both in the tropics and in much colder climes. One might even say that ferns have evolved perfectly.

Donna of Garden Walk, Garden Talk has started a regular Word for Wednesday linking party which is an "exploration of words through pictures, where a word relates to the story in photos." This week's word is "Evolution" or "Evolve".

I thought that I might do something a bit unexpected with my interpretation of this week's word and expand on the notion of adaption, with a view to unique plant attributes that have contributed to each plant's successful evolutionary journey. In this post I will also look at plants that seem like through backs to some primeval forest; unusual plants that you might not necessarily expect to see growing in a northern garden.

One of the way plants succeed is to develop elaborate defence systems. 

Take this Cardoon plant, which I found growing in Brain Folmer's 5 acre garden near Walkerton, Ontario. Cardoon is a lesser known relative of the artichoke and is considered a delicacy in Mediterranean cuisine. Apparently, the flower stalks taste like artichokes, with a trace of licorice.

Everything about the plant's stalk says, "Don't mess with me!"

The plants seeds are well protected with a series of barbs that also seem to say, "Just you try and 

eat me and you'll be sorry!" 

Yellow Knapweed

Here is another unusual thistle-like flower that I found growing in the Lucy Maud Montgomery Garden in Norval, Ontario. What do you think? Is it pretty of just plain weird?

Scene from the classic movie E.T. The Extra Terrestrial by Steven Spielberg, June 1982


My next oddity was found in Hamilton, Ontario's Royal Botanical Gardens.

E.T. phone home?

I looked everywhere in the flowerbed to find the plant's identification to no avail. Any ideas 

as to what this is? It is kinda bizarre looking don't you think?

Here is an unusual looking flower from my own garden. This is a Pasque flower or Pulsatilla. I am no botanist, but the plant's spring blooms, which are covered with a soft, feathery down, seem to make the plant look less appetizing (and perhaps also protects this native of mountain foothills and prairie meadow from cold spring winds. Think of it as a plant with a warm coat.) 

The plant's seed heads are the it's most unusual feature. They look rather like an 

octopus, don't you think?

 The flower buds of the herb Borage

Hairy things always are always a bit off-putting, but really they are a plant's way of protecting itself.

This is Bronze Fennel, which I found growing in a large pot at Humber Nurseries. Its soft, feathery foliage was a multitude of colors.

Now, let's take a plunge underwater and look around a coral reef.

The plant life and coral are amazingly diverse here in the warm waters of the world's oceans.

Now, let's come back up out of the water and onto dry land. Now, tell me if this hen and chick flower seem like a through back to its underwater cousins? 

I look at these tiny, star-shaped flowers and think of a coral reef.

Here is a surprise for you! A cactus growing in a Canadian garden! Colin Gosden, President of the Creditvalley Horticultural Society has a couple of varieties of cactus growing in his Mississauga, Ontario garden. They overwinter in the garden. Go figure!

I show this plant here because it has a similar shape to the hens and chicks (coincidence?). Cactus are yet another example of plants that looks after their own interests very well.

Meet Angelica archangelica 'Gigas'. The flower is housed in a small "cocoon" with a leaf shaped tongue.

On the right you can see the flower bud lifting up out of the leafy casing. On the left, you can see the empty cocoon, after the flower has risen.

And here is the deep burgundy flower.

Though I found this Angelica archangelica 'Gigas' growing here at Humber Nurseries, it is actually a native to Japan, Korea and China. It is a big plant reaching 4 to 5 feet in height and 2.5 feet in width. It is hardy to zone 5 and prefers moist, well-drained soil.

I don't want to go away without showing you that not all the exotic plants here in a northern garden are strange looking. Here is a tropical bloom that I have seen in a number of local gardens:

Hibiscus 'Plum Crazy' has diner plate sized flowers and is hardy to some parts of
southern Ontario (zone 4).

Isn't nature just amazing?

To see other interesting interpretations of the word "Evolution" of "Evolve", hop on over to GardenWalk, Garden Talk by clicking the link.

The Last Roses

'John Cabot' is now sadly but a summer memory.

One would hardly say that roses are a tour de force in the garden at the moment. In fact, they are small, scattered pockets of 'pretty'. The flowers are imperfect and a sometimes even a bit spotty, but hey, I'll take them warts and all! 

Usually, a frost would have carried off the last of the roses by now. So fresh roses at this time of year are a treat and I treasure every one!

 I planted 'Carefree Beauty' by the front door, because I knew I would have to walk by it frequently.

This is just one of those little miniatures you often see at the grocery store. The blooms are teeny, tiny jewels at the foot of a big, hulking hosta.

I can't resist bringing a few blooms indoors.

Many of the roses inside the picket fence have performed poorly this summer, because they have become crowded by more aggressive perennials. In the spring, I will have to liberate them, if I don't want to lose them altogether.

For fun added a rose themed quote on top of this picture of a David Austin rose called 'L.D. Braithwaite':

"I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in bed, but fine up against a wall." Eleanor Roosevelt.

Here are a few other things she had to say:

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself."

"A woman is like a tea bag-you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water."

I have a feeling that Eleanor was quite an interesting character. I would have liked to meet her.

David Austin's 'The Mary Rose' has also re-bloomed.

I have lost the name of this red rose.

The 'Fairy' roses are still doing well in front of the white picket fence.

Just this morning as I was rushing out the door, I noticed that 'Marjorie Fair' has fresh flowers. Perhaps these aren't the last of the roses then...

I am also going to link to Lisa Gordon's Creative Exchange. There are always amazing photographs to be found on Lisa's blog, so check them out by clicking the link.

I am also going to link to Tina's Tuesday's Around the World. To take a glimpse into other blogger's Tuesday's, please click the link.

On Friday, I am going to link to Fertilizer Friday at Tootsie Time. To see other beautiful gardens, please click the link.

I will also link to Photo Art Friday. With the exception of the first image, all the images make use of textural layers. The crackle effect is created using a texture that I made by photographing a piece of furniture. The antique cupboard had a beautiful cracked paint surface that I stepped to create a crackle texture. You can see the cupboard and texture in this older post.

To see some other amazing digital artwork, please click the link: Photo Art Friday.

The Garden in the early days of October

Hey, we Canadians may be the last to experience spring, but we are amongst the first in North America to get frost....

Wait a minute! I guess that is one race we may not want to win.

That being said, it has been unseasonably mild here. Last weekend was our Thanksgiving. While it is usually a chilly, warm jacket kind of weekend, we were thrilled to have shorts and T-shirt weather instead.

Still, there are probably only a few days left until we have our first big frost and the garden finishes the season. This is probably the last time I can participate in GBBD without a trip down a memory lane.

So what is blooming in my garden?

Throughout the garden, the various hydrangea bushes have gone from crisp white to...

soft pink to ...

a deep rose. In the next couple of weeks they will fade to a soft, paper-bag brown.

The sedum pick up where other perennials have left off.

There tiny flowers are quite something on close inspection. Sedum spectabile 'Stardust'

My pink sedum have gradually deepened from soft pink color to a deep rose.

Sadly, my main occupation these days has been to pick up green golf balls off the lawn! Our enormous black walnut that has produced a bumper crop of nuts this year. 

In the fall, crossing the lawn is like strapping on a set of roller skates and going for a ride!

Meet the Nut Wizard!

Normally, I am not one for garden gadgets. Give me a good shovel, a spade, some pruners, a rake and an edger and I am good to go. The prospect of again having to pick up literally hundreds and hundreds of nuts however, sent us shopping for an easier method than the usual endless, tedious raking.

My dear hubby discovered this little Nut Wizard at Lee Valley Tools and I have to tell you that it is just great! 

You just roll the little metal wizard over the surface of the ground and the nuts get drawn into the ball. To empty the ball, you simply part the spokes and let the nuts tumble out. 

If you have fallen nuts or fruit, this may be the widget for you.

Here is another idea. I don't know about you, but my annual containers and urns are looking a bit tired. I gave them a simple instant up date but inserting cabbages that I got at the local grocery store.

These cabbages are really intended for floral arrangements, but I have given them a fresh trim and inserted the stem into my container plantings. Leave about 6" of stem on each cabbage. Then just push them down into the soil. No digging required! As long as you keep the soil moist, I find they do pretty well.

I even added a few somewhat cheesy, fake pumpkins...

Elsewhere in the garden, the 5' tall Rudbeckia still has a few flowers. Rudbeckia 'Herbstsonne'

And the roses continue to bloom, but I will save them for my next post as this one is already too long. Until then, Happy Garden Blogger's Bloom Day! 

To see other October gardens in bloom, be sure to visit May Dreams Gardens.

Have a great weekend!