Tangled Brush

The front garden isn't looking too bad, at least the corner nearest the entrance path. Look at all the pretty colours: The hostas are, of course, from the previous occupants of the house (and not my favourite plant in the garden, though I know many appreciate them). But I have added the happy yellow pansies, cheerful pink and orange roses, and orangey pink lantana. The lantana is a plant I know from India. My father's bungalow had bushes of lantana, and I would pick the bright orangey crowns. After they finish blooming there are green berries. The flowers have a spicy smell. They don't last the winter, but this year I may bring them in and see if I can keep them going.

A few weeks later, the sunflowers are approaching the fence! It is such fun to watch them grow, along with the other wildflowers I planted in the bed. The cosmos is fluffy and tall and doing great, as are the bachelor's buttons that came in the packet of seeds. Also growing from that packet are some tall green plants that I can't identify. When I rub them there is an amazing smell...it reaches back into my subconscious and makes me think of something green I smelled a long time ago...memories like that usually reach to India. Is this a plant I knew in India, so many decades ago? Time will tell. I will wait for it to bloom and reveal its name.  The wildflowers were growing so well that I decided to add more flowers! I dared to plant perennials - cheery coreopsis (in burgundy and gold), hot pink sweet william, and a tall plant with spidery pink blooms. I have seen it at the Experimental farm and never knew its name. I googled it this time ("tall pink...

I love orchids - those exotic, many varied epiphytes growing high above the trees in their native state. Of course, in Ottawa, we only see them in pots at the grocery store. Also wonderful! But did you know we have some native varieties? The pretty pink lady slipper (which I have never seen) and, a wild green elfin one. What does it look like? This!                                                This was the latest, exciting thing to grow in the drain pipe corner. Prior to this I had: lily of the valley and white violets, then columbines, then primroses, and now two wild orchids! Maybe I should call this the Magic Corner!!