Garden Project : Day 6

Today was a very good day for the garden project. The weather actually cooperated, it was overcast and only misty. My landscape crew showed up as promised. We made a LOT of visible progress today.

First, to lay down the stones. My landscaper was very patient with my requests to wiggle this way and that, and replace stones which I thought could be improved upon. The result was very pleasing:


Then the stones were levelled into place, and the sand poured and brushed between. My beautiful granite bench was also set into place:

Here is a closer view of the bench. You can also see the beautiful colours in the stone.

I think I prefer the bench without gravel at the base, I want to bring the soil up to it directly, and then plant a low groundcover to spread beneath it. I will try a creeping thyme first, and see how it performs in the Spring.

Here is a view from the bench looking out from the renovated garden area.

They even brought in a yard of rich garden soil today, and had time to do some planting. On the upper side, I have a row of peonies, with a row of hostas in front of them (to the outside edge, along the lawn). Where there is room, I am setting in small shrubs, to create that "secret garden" feel. To the inside of the garden, I will plant some perennials, but at this time of year, it is getting late to divide and move much there, so I will finalize the planting in the Spring.

Because I had divided the peonies, I ended up with enough to plant a shorter row on the lower side also. It will be interesting to see what it looks like, next summer.

The big decision now is how to plant the inner garden. I think I will keep it low near the bench end, with some fragrant lavenders along the path, and the creeping thyme. I had earlier thought I would pair up my small Syringa Sweginzowii ("Chengfu Lilac") with 2 other lilacs, and make it a fragrance garden. But looking at it now, I enjoy the look of the stone, and bench, and don't know if I should plant so high. Instead, I could keep the center plantings low, with possibly one small (umbrella shaped?) tree in the center. It is an area which doesn't get much sun, it tends to be fairly shady. But the drainage should be good now, since we will pile up more soil to raise that area.

Any thoughts or ideas? The crew plans to visit next Tuesday to bring more soil, and finish any more planting I have for them. Then I guess that will be it until Spring, unless I want to put in lighting (I think I'd rather wait, and not feel pressured, since I don't expect to sit out there - at least not in the evenings - for the Winter).

You Go Girl!

My daughter is practising singing with a bit more expression and movement, and I'm so proud of her, I had to share her latest recording from this evening :



Here's a recording from earlier this year, which highlights her sweet voice: a vocal/piano recital.

Stained Glass Swallowtail and Coneflower

The other day Kate of High Altitude Gardening made a comment about looking for a new winter hobby. One of the first things that came to my mind was to fiddle around with Photoshop and create "stained glass" images from the summer's garden photos. It is something I've been thinking of trying for a long time now, and I think her photo of a monarch butterfly on a zinnia hit me as one which could make a great stained glass image.

This evening I had a bit of quiet time to myself (I think the flu is trying to reclaim me, so I convinced the family to leave me at home, and I crawled back into bed for some 5 hours this afternoon). So I decided I'll try with one of my butterfly images. Here is the final product, which I'm pretty pleased with:

I've done a fair amount of work with Photoshop before, so was able to create this image in just over an hour. I'm happy to share my steps, and hope to inspire someone else out there to try it out, and if you do, please post me your link in the comments section, so we can all enjoy it. I am using Photoshop Elements 2.0, so the specifics may vary in a different version, but the concepts should be the same. I'd love to hear any improvements on the technique anyone discovers.

Step 1: Choose a photo. I chose this one, because there is "lots happening" in it, and several basic colours : yellow, black, green, pink/purple.

Step 2 : Crop it. I cropped to just one flower with the butterfly, and then did a "resize canvas" to add a bit more space along the bottom, so my flower petals would not be cut off.

Step 3 : Check settings. You want the "RGB" colour setting (Image > Mode > select "RGB Color"). Otherwise bad things happen to your colour.

Step 4 : Add another layer, and start drawing the outline. I chose the colour black (RGB = 0,0,0), pixel size 25, opacity 100%. There is a "Layers" tab in which you can make the background visible or invisible (click the eyeball icon), and that helps to be able to check your work as you go, especially on the dark areas. I drew it in segments, so that I could Ctrl-Z (undo) any segment that didn't look good. Note that I added in my own flower bud behind. When improvising, it is useful to turn the background off.

After I had the image, I segmented the background, also in the same layer (originally I started another layer, but then later had to merge them together, otherwise the fill function wouldn't work properly).

Step 5 : Fill the colour. At this point I had the black outline on top of the original image. So I could use the "eyedropper" to select a colour from the background image, adjust it as necessary, and then use the "fill" bucket to drop colour into the appropriate sections. This went fairly quickly, and was quite rewarding. At this point, any further adjustments can be made. Such as drawing in the antenna, which I originally couldn't figure out how to represent, and only when I saw the final product I realized how I could draw them.

Step 6 : Save the image. To JPG or whatever. Save your Photoshop *.PSD file also, in case you want to come back and adjust anything, and "reprint" the image.

The other alternative is to just "play" with all the built-in filters which Photoshop provides, and see if anything turns out really neat. I explored many of them, and found some potential with these ones...

"Glowing edges" is pretty funky:

"Cutout" looks like a silk-screen image (does anyone use that technique anymore? Most everything has gone digital, even much of the professional printing):

"Watercolour" had a pleasant effect:

Okay, your turn. Be sure to send me links to your images, and any tips or techniques you can share with the rest of us.

Bug Animation Videos

Thanks to Does Everything Grow Better in My Neighbor's Yard?, for introducing me to the "Minuscule" bug animation series on YouTube by "bentekr". They have been perfect for killing time at midnight while waiting for my husband to come home, wondering now why I didn't go to bed hours ago....

Some of my favourites are these:



And finally, for Christmas...

Garden Project : Day 5

It hailed this morning, just as I was saying good-bye to the kids at school at 9am. I had left the umbrella home, taking a chance with the overcast sky. So I was pelted by hail all the way home, which fortunately is only a couple of blocks.
Happily, my landscaping crew still arrived later in the morning. It rained lightly all day, as they worked, but they pulled on their hoods, and kept going.

Today they hauled up sand, and then compacted the path in preparation for laying the stones (click for a slightly larger view - this first photo shows a bit of the colouration of the stone, but I'll need to snap a closeup one day):


They also removed the grass and set the stones into the lawn, between the stairs and the new flagstone path:

Garden Project : Day 4

This morning we had a short reprieve from the rain. There were actually mostly-blue skies when I walked the kids to school in the morning. But by noon it was heavily overcast, and by early evening, rain again.

The forecast is not very comforting:


However, I was very pleased to see my landscaping crew this morning, carrying my 2" flagstone and bench to the upper yard. Better yet, I had planned to work from home today, so was available for consultation as necessary (I tried not to hover around until asked).

By noon they were carrying loads of gravel. With the arrival of the gravel, the path suddenly has taken shape. The stones sitting around the perimeter will be laid in place once the gravel is compacted and covered in sand:

The gravel is delivered one wheelbarrow load at a time, carrying it some 100' distance and 20' elevation gain. I am happy to see it get done, and not tempted to help!:

By the time the crew is finishing up at 4:30pm, it is getting dark, so my photos are either blurred or dimly light by the flash. We picked out 6 large stones to lead from the stone stairway and the pathway:

Once they are laid in place, one of the guys cuts the edge, and will eventually remove the grass below, laying the stone directly into place. I suspect they were anxious to cut the edges, before I changed my mind about the placement of the stones, since we tried a number of stones and arrangements until we got it right. By the time they packed up to leave, the rain had already begun:

The flagstone is called "Mountain Grey". I wish you could see it, it is not just grey, but has swirls of browns and other colours across it. On my occasional visits to the landscape supply yard over the last year or so, I picked this stone as my favourite every time. The landscaper tells me today that when he ordered it, they had JUST enough stone for the project (we'll find out if we're a bit short, but so far it looks good!), and NO additional stock of the 2" material (only a 3/4 - 1" version). They wouldn't be bringing any more until the Spring. I humbly thank God for the timing, because I would not be willing to choose another stone, and the thought of waiting until Spring at this point would be more than I think I could bear.

So the project proceeds. Hopefully tomorrow morning the sand will be carried up the hill, and the placement of stones can begin. By afternoon it is 100% (gotta like those odds - NOT!) probability of precipitation - up to 20 mm (just shy of 1 inch)! I had only 1 meeting scheduled at the office, which I've switched to Thursday, so I plan to work from home again to enjoy the progress.

Garden Project : Day 3+

It has been a very rainy November. When I talked to my landscaper last week, he said he was surprised by how suddenly the weather has changed to rain. I don't know if we've had any full 24hr without rain since that first week of November, which had a few dry days.

My landscaper came last Thursday and did a bit of digging out of the pathway. I would have dug it out a bit deeper, but then again maybe it's a good thing he did what seemed to me a poor job, since in my experience, if you dig in that area, then it starts to fill with water (the area slopes lower than the drainage pipe across the top, so the water will take the lower route if it can), and then it's not a good situation.

So instead, if he fills with gravel & sand, and then places the stones above, I will ask him to bring in a load of soil, and raise the beds around the path. That will anyhow be a good idea on the side which was lawn, since there was probably only 3" or so of soil there on top of the clay. And the center of the path should be raised since I am planning for some lilacs there, and from what I read, they prefer a raised bed, for better drainage.

Here are some photos at the end of Day 3 :


Today counts as Day 3+, since he had the flagstone and the granite bench (I hope!) delivered in a pallet onto the driveway this afternoon. I was very happy to see it when I arrived home from work.

So it feels like a little bit of progress, anyhow. Although with less than 6 weeks until Christmas, and no sign of an end to the wet weather, I am really hoping it can be done before Winter sets in.

I made some progress on the lighting. I decided against a lamp post. I think the light will be disproportionately bright for that small area, and I didn't see any I really liked the look of. Instead, I will go only with a low voltage system - some lights along the path, maybe some uplights into trees or downlights from trees. So this can be put in after the fact, like in the Spring. No need to set them out just to be abused by the weather all Winter. Since I'm not likely to be sitting out there this Winter - or at least not in the evenings.

Fraser Foreshore Park

Since we were all home for Remembrance Day today, we decided to take a walk in the afternoon, between rain showers. We haven't been to Fraser Foreshore Park in Burnaby (BC) for some while, and had forgotten how peaceful it is, to walk along the trail next to the Fraser River, under tall cottonwood trees, which have turned quite yellow this time of year.

The snowberries (Symphoricarpos albus) in the underbrush along the sides of the trail caught my attention, and I snapped a number of photos of them.




When the kids were small, there was a very large snowberry bush / thicket in the neighbourhood, and the kids were delighted at the popping sound the berries made when stepped on. I guess those fond memories are one of the reasons I kept two snowberry bushes in our yard, which popped up on their own, even though they sucker terribly, and I keep wondering why I keep them. (Actually, I had 3 originally, but the one in the center of my upper yard became unmanageable, and a year or so after removing it, I am still chasing down suckers and removing them.) So when we reminded the kids today, they rediscovered the joy of popping the berries, and we had a hard time stopping them from collecting berries once they got started.

Finally, I reminded them that this is a food source for birds in winter, and we'd better leave some for the birds. They respected that. The start of the rain also helped to focus our attention on getting back to the car.

There were also a noticeable number of red osier dogwood, their leaves turning yellows and reds (sorry, no photo), and these bright red rose hips:

I had taken only my daughter's Kodak Easyshare camera, since it fit in my pocket, unlike our Canon EOS, and anyhow I expected it to start to rain while we were there (which it did, but only as we were leaving). Then we encountered some chickadees along the path, and I suddenly wished I had brought the Canon.

Later when I heard an eagle's call high up in the cottonwood trees, I really wished I had the Canon. So I did my best, but the zoom on the Kodak was quite inadequate, and these are the best I could manage, of the pair of bald eagles:


I was lucky that as I was snapping photos, they flew off, and I caught this one as it took flight:

I hope you all had a relaxing and reflective Remembrance Day or Veterans Day today.

Garden Project : Still Day 2!

This is a frustrating week for me. I have already waited patiently for over a year for my garden project to start. Seeing the beautiful clear weather this week, I phoned the landscaper, and found out that he is doing his "last" lawn cutting of the season for his clients this week, and will not be coming until next week. By then we could be back into rain!

On top of that, he lost my descriptions of the flagstone and bench which I had picked out already a long time ago. I'm sure I kept a copy myself, but also misplaced it, after waiting so long. So somehow I may need to fit in a visit to the landscape depot again.

All I can do here is pace around, and try to visualize the new "secret garden" better. So here goes....

From the stairs, individual (large) flagstones set in grass take the visitor to the top of the hill, gently directing them to the garden on the right....

...where they will pass through a vine-covered arbour into the "secret garden"...

Okay, here you need to visualize the arch, since I haven't bought it yet... I saw this little beauty (Panacea Vine Arbor) on the internet last year (and it's still there this year!), but couldn't track down anything like it locally (i.e. in Canada), so still have it stuck in my mind:

The walkway leads to a small bench (a granite one, not the metal one I placed there today so I can check out the "views").... (From this upper side, I am thinking of placing back a row of lush peonies, with higher plantings behind, to give some sort of veil around, not totally blocked off, but a somewhat obscured view of the garden.)

The bench looks out between the branches of a young coral maple, toward the house...

Looking back out from the bench, through the archway, I guess there is a view of the chess set:

Here is another view from inside:

Where the white post is, I'm thinking of a lamp post, for evening lighting. The center garden will feature fragrant flowers, including a beautiful collector specimen Syringa Sweginzowii ("Chengfu Lilac") which was given to me recently by my gardening friend JJ. It is small, but I think will grow into that area nicely. I am thinking of setting it with 2 other lilacs (it may be a bit crowded, but I like fullness in the garden), each blooming at different times, and then lavenders and other smaller plantings around them and around the bench.

Here is a final photo from our 2nd floor balcony. We'll be able to see into the secret garden in winter, but it will be mostly hidden from the house in summer:

The Walking Stick Life Cycle Turns Again

I am thankful to my sister who tracked down a pair of stick bugs (walking sticks) a year ago October for my birthday gift. This is a photo re-cap, with some never-before-published photos, celebrating their life cycle. If you want to read my previous posts about the stick bugs, click the "stick bugs" Topic on the left side of my blog.

The original female laid a total of 25 eggs before she died. Here is the cage with a number of eggs on the bottom. They need to be kept moist until they hatch, so I used layers of paper towel which I regularly watered.

Of those 25 eggs, I believe 18 hatched. In this photo a newly hatched baby stick is next to an egg, with an out-of-focus sibling behind. It amazed me how the baby stick could fit into the egg, if it hatched out that big! Unfortunately, despite my constant watching, I never did see a hatching itself, I only woke up to the new hatchlings.

The stick bugs are an interesting pet. During the day, anyhow, they rarely move, and when I had only 2, there was little sign of them eating the blackberry leaves which I kept fresh for them. But on rare occasions, I actually saw them chowing down on the leaves:

Occasionally they would molt, and leave some spooking looking skin hanging from the top of the cage or a branch:

After some while, I had a full cage of stick bugs:


I would be fine with that, but if each of the females had 18 babies, that would have been a bit too much. So I have adopted out 8 of them, and am down to a more reasonable number now, I think 5 females and 6 males (I counted them last time I cleaned the cage, but have forgotten now). My original male is still alive more than a year later, although I can't tell anymore which one is him, since there are a number that are the same size now.

Happily, the cycle continues, as I found my first egg last week, and am now keeping the bottom of the cage moist and waiting for more. I found two eggs attached to the top of the cage, but I don't know if they would make it. For interest, I've left them attached, but am not hopeful, since they would certainly not be moist there.

Garden Project : Day 2

I was pleased on Wed to see my landscaping crew of 2 arrive at 10am, and resume my garden project. They were scheduled to come Thursday, but the weather was clear during the day on Wednesday, and it was expected to rain after that - which it did.

When I returned from work on Wed, I saw that they had fixed the drainage issue, levelled the soil, and laid out a hose in what they were imagining the walkway location to be:

So I attached a second hose, and expanded it to what I am imagining:


Actually, I may want to scale that back a little on the lower side, near the Sweet Gum and Maple trees, to allow room for them to grow out, and not block the path. But I figure that while we're at it, we may as well do it right, and provide a nice island garden (with bench) in the center of the path.

The plan will be to set some stones in the lawn to connect between the stone stairway, and the garden path. Then at the entrance to the garden pathway, I am imagining an arbour. And high plantings on either side, to give it the "secret garden" feel. What do you think?

Good thing they came Wednesday, since I've been very sick since then, and yesterday hardly left the sofa. Some sort of flu, but not the dreaded H1N1, I don't think. Nasty cough, fever, aching all over. Today I'm feeling much better, I think mainly because I'm taking Advil to keep the fever under control.

But last night my son reported a sore throat, and was coughing hard during the night and also had a fever in the morning, so he's my little companion in sickness at home today. I hope we're through the worst of it, and the other two don't join us. Between the weather (scattered showers and 80% P.O.P. predicted for Saturday) and sickness, I don't think this will be a very fun Hallowe'en.

Garden Project : Day 1

I have been dreaming and scheming about a garden reno project in my upper yard for over a year now. Today the shovel finally hit the soil, and the dream is starting to become a reality.

I have a "problem" area in my upper yard which has been causing me some grief for what seems to be years now. From the outside, it looks like a pretty nice and orderly garden. Here it is in June, with beautiful pink and white peony blooms, and a tidy row of hostas providing edging (click any photo for a slightly larger view):

Here it is in August, still looking pretty nice from the outside:


But one step inside the garden area, and the story changes... Here, the landscape is wildly overgrown with monster grasses (mainly my dreaded Carex Pendula, which found itself too perfect a spot in this moist area, and proceeded to reseed itself by the millions!!):

In this area, a drainage issue means that at times the whole area is muddy, pulling the garden clogs off anyone who dares to step there. There is a drainage pipe running along the base of the retaining wall, and then in this area, takes a sharp angle to pipe the water across the yard and then down to connect into the foundation drainage. The problem is that the pipe is barely below the surface, so if I dig anywhere in that area, the water prefers to run into that new low spot, rather than take the turn to run along the pipe. After that, it finds its way down the slope, making the whole hillside very wet.

My plan last summer was to lay down a small triangular flagstone path, to allow access into this area, careful to keep the soil level high to keep the drainage system working as intended. I had even picked out the stone for the path, but the landscaper I spoke with, didn't make time to come, and I eventually got too busy myself as well. So as I waited and continued to plan, I realized that while I was spending time and money on this project, I may as well really expand and make this area more useful.

This year, the plan has become quite clear in my mind. The area will be a sort of "secret garden", with higher plantings around the edges, an oval flagstone path with a garden area and granite bench (and likely a lamp pole too) in the center, and an entrance through an arbour covered (eventually) in clematis or other vines. There will be a less formal stepping stone pathway through the lawn, connecting this new pathway to the stone-faced stairway from the lower yard to the upper yard. A faint drawing (you really need to use your imagination - or click to expand and it is somewhat more readable) is below:

The garden area will be expanded, to allow for a reasonable sized island garden in the center of the path, and to take advantage of the flatter upper part of the area (the lower part is quite sloped). Here is the new garden edge I planned, outlined with a hose a few days ago:


Happily, my landscaper, who delayed me all summer for some reason or another, finally (after many phone calls) showed up today with a helper, and the two of them dug out all the plants in that area, and will continue on Thursday with levelling and preparing the area for the walkway's sand base, as well as tackling the drainage problem (they got a nice stream running today, after digging around that area). Here is the project at the end of this first day, with the lawn removed to the new garden edge, and the plants waiting in pots to the side:

Fall Colours in the Garden

In Burnaby (Vancouver) BC, the degree of fall colours depend on how much cold weather we get before the rains begin and take down the leaves. This year we have been very fortunate to see some brilliant fall colours. Sadly, recent rains have knocked the leaves out of the gorgeous yellow-to-red maples on the lawns of City Hall, and my neighbour's yellow-to-purple Katsura, neither of which I managed to photograph in time.

So the Fall colours I did photograph this year are from my garden, with the exception of this large neighbourhood oak tree which I snapped this morning. Many years the oak trees in the Vancouver area turn from green directly to brown, so it wonderful to see the reds this year.

I am fortunate to have 4 Euonymus elata (Burning bush) in my garden, and at this time of year they are glorious. This one, sheltered against my upper neighbour's fence and retaining wall, is the last to change colour. To its left is a purplish red Sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua). To its right, a climbing hydrangea, turning yellow:

This photo of the other two bushes in the back yard was taken about a week ago. The lower bush is now bare twigs with red berries (sorry no photo):

I didn't catch a photo of the burning bush at its "peak" in our front yard, but here it is, slightly faded, behind our strikingly red Japanese Split Maple. Behind it, the variegated dogwood shows a nice pink blush.

A final Burning bush photo, shows the stunning red leaves behind a Fuchsia magellanica "Aurea":

The Callicarpa bodinieri (Beauty Bush) is the most stunning in Winter, when the leaves fall, and the twigs appear purple. But this year I am enjoying the Fall colours, too:


This red Japanese maple cascades beautifully over our concrete retaining wall in the back yard:

I have started cutting back the peony stalks for the winter, but the leaves are also showing nice Autumn colours this year:

Elsewhere in the garden, yellows are showing before the browns set in, such as this Astrantia major (Masterwort):


For more photos of Autumn colours unfolding around the world, be sure to check out The Fall Color Project 2009 at The Home Garden.

Cheam Lake, Agassiz

On the weekend, our family found ourselves taking an easy stroll around Cheam Lake in Agassiz BC. The last time we were there, we were enchanted by the many damselflies. This time they were noticeably absent. So I was excited when my son called to me to come look, and he had spotted this gorgeous red dragonfly on a post:

This gave us a chuckle, imagining the birds telling each other their addresses.

A neighbouring house (with a wonderful yard) must have a wonderful view of the lake - and the view back toward the house is pretty neat, too.

Bittersweet nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) berries are poisonous, but they sure look delicious:

Happy Thanksgiving

To my fellow Canadians, Happy Thanksgiving! We have much to be thankful for.


To our American neighbours, Happy Columbus Day!

P.S. Is there any special festivities on Columbus Day? Or is it mostly a day off work?

I'm off to have a big turkey and ham dinner at my sister Rose's. As I head off, I am thankful to God for good health, a happy family, prosperity, opportunity, freedom, peace, abundance of food, work, school, a wonderful garden, friends, and a sister who is willing to cook a turkey and host our family get-togethers!

Rice Lake and Magical Mushrooms

We took the kids to Rice Lake last weekend, to enjoy the beautiful sunshine which we may not see too much more of, as we head into the rainy fall season. Rice Lake is on the North Shore of Vancouver, and although a small lake, is stocked with rainbow trout, so is a fairly popular fishing spot for young families.

The two "boys" tried their hand at fishing. The two of us "girls" just talked, and my daughter read a book for a while. We were torn between hoping they'd catch a trout, and hoping they wouldn't, so we could just go out for dinner on the way home, rather than go home to prepare the trout. As our luck would have it, we stopped for pizza at Fresh Slice on the way home. Fresh Slice is of my favourites, and their 8 slices for $9.99 picked from the counter (so each person can pick what they like) is so fast and convenient. But I digress.

Here are a few photos of Rice Lake to enjoy.




It is that magical time of year that the Amanita muscaria mushroom is appearing in various places, including along the paths at Rice Lake. It is the classical fairy tale mushroom - red with white spots:

I have never before seen the yellow version, the Amanita muscaria var. guessowii:

One of the moms was collecting an attractive mushroom which was dark brown on top, somewhat soft/velvety, and bright yellow underneath (in the gills). Apparently it was edible. Anyone know what this might be? My brief attempts to identify it have not been successful. I wish I had taken a photo of it at the time.

There were other mushrooms also, which I did get a photo of:




On the way home, I amused myself with the "fireworks" setting of my daughter's Kodak Easyshare camera, by jiggling the camera around, and catching some abstract traffic images: