Watching the garden grow

This 20-year-old image shows our garden as it was about 20-years ago. The below picture is updated to show how the garden has changed over the years.

Garden journal / photos combine to document your garden journey

Anyone who follows this gardening blog knows how important photography is to me and the content of this website.

Documenting the garden and its inhabitants – both the fauna and flora – is not only a favourite pastime, it’s an important resource for me from year to year to plan for next season and well into the future.

Remembering where the coneflowers or wild ginger were planted and when they bloomed previous years, or how the native wildflowers found a footing in the crevice on the large boulder, are just a few of the many benefits of documenting the garden through images and in written form.

The garden today with its black-eyed susans and native grasses and ferns dominating the back garden.

This is another view of the front garden as it is today showing a corner of the Japanese-inspired garden. The bench in the top image is replaced by yellow Adirondack chairs in front of a fern dominated garden.

Consider a garden journal

A garden journal like this elegant 5-year garden Journal (see image below) from YouTuber extraordinaire Linda Vater is an excellent way to document the garden from year to year. It also can make the perfect gift for the gardener in your life.

There is nothing like flipping through a well-worn garden journal filled with insights, drawings, tattered photographs and meticulous notes about the garden to inspire you either to get out in the garden come spring or dream and plan throughout the winter season.

Adding your own photographic images to the journal is an excellent way to enhance the journaling experience and work as a visual reminder not only from year to year, but decade to decade.

This elegant 5-year garden journal not only helps you record your garden journey, it’s a fine way to stay organized.

Even if you are not overly interested in extensive garden journaling, simplifying the process using only a photographic record to document your garden is both fun and rewarding.

Simply documenting the garden annually through photography and using inexpensive self-published books to create your own visual garden journal is a worthwhile endeavour. Or, you can create one larger book that includes a more long-term record of your changing gardens.

To read more about how easy creating your own photographic book is, check out my earlier post here.

The importance of documenting the garden over the years came into sharp focus over the past few weeks as I began scanning the thousands of slides and negatives I’ve accumulated over the past 45 years since first discovering the joy of photography.

Of course, documenting the garden’s growth took on a greater importance since I started this website, but even before the website I was using traditional analogue photography (prints and slides) to capture moments in the garden – from planting our first serviceberry tree to the changing face of our front and back gardens.

The images even show the history of the almost complete elimination of the massive lawns that carpeted almost every square inch of the property when we first moved in more than 25 years ago. Replaced, obviously, with a woodland-style garden.

Front garden transformation

The image at the top of the page illustrates how the front garden has changed in the past 20 years, going from a sunny garden with lots of flowers to a more shade garden using textures a subtle colour.

It shows a very different garden than our current front garden. For example, when I came across this image in my files, I barely remembered the drift of purple coneflowers and large grasses.

This image from about 20 years ago includes several areas of grass –long since gone – and an immature serviceberry tree on the left that is now quite large and shades out a large part of the existing garden.

The coneflowers died out many years ago, probably from the excessive shade that took over after the serviceberry pictured here staked off, grew into a mature understory tree. The grasses were removed after getting out of control and ferns have taken over the back area that once boasted a number of hosta and trilliums. There are still remnants of trilliums that emerge before the ferns take over that area of the garden.

Today our front garden is a combination of mature trees, ferns, grasses, a ground cover of pachysandra, creeping phlox and black-eyed susans. We’ve also added large boulders down the side of the driveway to hold back the garden.

This decision to use natural boulders as a retaining wall not only helped clean up a problem area in the garden, it gave us another micro-climate where we can use the heat generated from the boulders to grow rock-garden loving plants like thyme and allow the creeping phlox to drift over the rocks and cascade down between the crevices.

It also gave reptiles, such as our friendly garden snakes, toads and salamanders the perfect place to warm up in the early morning as the sun heats the rocks long before the surrounding area.

This image, taken at a local botanical garden, was the inspiration to plant Golden Alexandra or Basket of Gold in our own garden to cascade over the large boulders along the driveway much like the image below of the creeping phlox.

Last year, I added “Basket of Gold” (Aurinia saxatilis) to the area (see image above) and am looking forward to documenting its spreading growth over the seasons. (Beware: this plant is considered invasive in warmer climates). The idea came after visiting our local botanical gardens (see post here) where it lit up the rock garden in spring and early summmer. Once again, photographing the plant in the botanical garden gave me a visual reminder of how it was used, its growth pattern and its stunning beauty.

The garden in spring when the creeping phlox carpets the front in a sea of purple.

The top image and the more current photographs reminds me of how much the garden has changed in the past twenty years. Without the visual representation, these early memories of the garden would fade much like the flowers, grasses and trees that formed the early foundation of what is today.

This website’s focus is, of course, on woodland gardening with an emphasis on native plants and attracting wildlife. Documenting the garden and its inhabitants through photography is also an important part of the website. I try to provide helpful tips on everything from getting close to backyard birds, what cameras are best for garden photography and how to capture beautiful images of flowers and garden visitors.

Part of my focus on garden photography is using inexpensive, smaller digital cameras that are more than capable of creating stunning garden images, rather than spending huge amounts of money on the latest and greatest equipment. Many of these simple cameras are probably sitting in one of your drawers. If not, purchasing them on line for pennies on the dollar is not difficult. If you enjoy the experience, you can upgrade over time.

If you are interested in exploring garden photography further, please take a moment to check out my photography related posts on the website. Just go to my homepage, scroll to the bottom and you’ll be able to access those posts in the “photography related” links.

Going back into my photographic archives and scanning them into digital images has opened up a new appreciation for the importance of not only archiving our journeys in the garden, but our life’s journey with family and friends.

These are journeys that beg to be captured and archived, maybe on our smart phones, but even better on a dedicated camera designed to capture only our memories.

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Alliums are perfect choice to add architectural interest

Fall is the time to plant your allium bulbs

It all started with an experiment that didn’t quite work out. So, in the spirit of gardening, I added even more alliums this year to ensure next year is a success.

That’s the thing about alliums. Once you get a taste of them, there’s no going back.

My plan was to grow giant alliums in the fern garden where they could rise up above the massive Ostrich ferns and create outstanding architectural interest and a pop of coour among the ferns in late spring.

Alliums add architectural interest to every garden, whether formal or a more natural garden.

A very wet spring meant our ferns grew especially tall and, unlike most years, the ferns stood their ground and refused to fall. The result, our Purple Sensation alliums merely peeked out from between the ferns rather than rising above them.

But even the sight of the alliums peeking out among the ferns was enough to make me want to plant more this year. So this year we added taller alliums in both purple and white. I’m hoping for a great show next season.

We also added alliums in two other parts of the garden to ensure we get a great display.

If you are like me and have hesitated to plant alliums in your garden, make this the year you take the leap into this fascinating group of plants that are often referred to as ornamental onions.

These non-native bulbs, that tend to bloom a little later than daffodils and tulips, are part of a group of plants that include onions, garlic, leeks and shallots.

They are available in a range of sizes, colours and blooming times. In fact, if you plan properly, you can have them blooming from late spring through summer adding architectural interest to any garden.

They work both in formal gardens as well as more natural gardens including woodland gardens. Try to find a sunny spot for them for best results.

These alliums elegantly grow through a black wrought iron fence.

Like daffodils and tulips, fall is the ideal time to get allium bulbs in the ground for next spring. You can now find them in most stores, including many of the Big Box stores. Just realize that your choice in many of these Big Box stores is limited to the more common variety of allium bulbs. If you are looking for more interesting or unusual allium bulbs, you may have to check out better nurseries or mail-order firms like Brecks that offer a beautiful and comprehensive variety of alliums.

You can even purchase your allium bulbs from Amazon as well.

Get your orders in early to ensure you get the best quality and varieties.

What makes these bulbs especially great is that rodents tend to leave them alone. Deer, squirrels, chipmunks, voles even groundhogs express no interest in alliums. That’s probably because of their roots in the onion family.

The bulbs multiply in the ground creating denser clumps each year and the allium seeds can reseed in the garden adding more of these lovely plants to your landscape.

These easy-to-grow plants prefer full sun but do well in half-sun conditions in well-drained sandy soil. Extremely wet, poor draining soil is likely to create conditions for bulb rot in the garden.

Alliums stand out against a white wall.

Alliums can be a little more expensive than other bulbs, but once planted they last forever and after about three years the bulbs can be split to create even more plants.

Plant the allium bulbs about 7 inches under the ground – deeper than most bulbs – and about 8 inches apart.

If you are planting a lot of the bulbs, consider using a drill bit or auger especially made to create ideal holes for planting larger bulbs. This set of four augers from Amazon will meet the needs of even the most ardent bulb enthusiast.

Also, remember, pointy end of the bulb goes up.

One important point to consider is that the foliage of alliums often yellows before they bloom, so you might want to place another type of plant in front of the allium bulbs to cover up the yellowing foliage.

Allium growing in our fern garden adding a pop of colour in late spring.

Alliums also make great cut flowers and their dry seed heads are perfect for arrangements. Consider painting them gold or silver for an especially nice touch in your arrangement.

There are so many alliums to consider for your garden, depending on size, colour and how adventurous you may want to be.

Brecks offers an incredible choice as well as mixed assortments that work well together. If you are serious about getting started with alliums check them out to give you a good grounding on what is available.

I picked up most of my bulbs from Costco this year, but you had to grab them early because they sold out quite quickly. My latest purchase from Costco were bags of Allium Nigrum Pink Jewel (10 to a bag), and the much larger Allium Gladiators (4 to a bag). I also picked up some white varieties of Alliums that we planted in the front garden.

Here are a sampling of alliums to consider for your gardens.

Best alliums for your zone-5 garden

Globe Master – has a huge bloom with purple flower heads as much as 5 inches across. Their blooms last a long time. Plant them in the middle or back off the border to hide the leaves. These alliums do not produce seed so it does not get weedy.

Mount Everest – White flower is 3-4 inches across but they are on a very long stem and grows to about 3.5-4 feet tall.

Purple Sensation – blooms at about 3 feet tall. Flowers are a little smaller than Globe Master but the colour is more intense. It is happy to re-seed itself around your garden.

Ivory Queen – Wide leaves and flowers at about six inches high with a lovely white creamy flower. Flower heads are two inches across and white. These smaller alliums are a great addition to the rock garden

Allium Christophii – Flowers at about 2.5 feet high with large flowers that can reach about 8 inches across. Will disperse seeds around the garden.

Allium fistulosum – flowers at about 2 ft high with white green flowers. Its stems are large thick and hollow. Will produce seeds but they always grow close to the mother plants.

Graceful Beauty – small allium that grows only 8 inches tall with nice white flowers. Leaves are grass like.

Allium atropurpureum – A very dark coloured allium that grows about 3-feet tall with smaller umbra reddish purple about 3 inches wide that flowers at 2.5 feet high. Acts almost like an ephemeral as its foliage disappears by mid July.

Allium Molly – grows to about 8 inches tall and flower is yellow with wide leaves. Hard to tell that it’s even an allium. It will seed around your garden a little bit but nothing too serious..

Allium Siculum – flowers at 2 feet tall. Flowers are unusual with an unusual colour. Striking plant for the garden with large strapping leaves.

Other alliums to consider

Allium sphaerocephalon – smaller allium 2 feet tall with a much smaller inflorescence.

Allium red mohican – Interesting colour of purple, white, cream with hints of yellow

Allium Firmament – purple flower head that grows to about 2 ft tall. Flowers are 4-5 inches wide

Allium Ping Pong – Grows to about 2-feet tall with a 3-inch flower

June-July bloomers

Allium nigrum silver spring – lovely allium growing to between 2-3 ft tall with 4-inch wide umbrels that have a blueberry/raspberry colour to them. Infloresence is one of the most beautiful yet still subtle of the alliums.

Allium chloranthum (Yellow Fantasy) – Grows 14-16 inches high with a flower that is only about 2 inches wide but has a lovely yellow colour

Check out Brecks for mixes

Allium summer drummer – very tall 4-5 feet tall reddish purple with 6-8-inch wide umbels. Late bloomer in July and August.

Planting for flower photography

The vision in my mind was brilliant, despite not working out quite so perfectly in the end. However, I still consider the experiment successful and expect to continue photographing the combination of purple alliums growing up through a sea of green Ostrich ferns.

As mentioned earlier in this post, our wet spring caused our ferns to grow taller than ever and fail to fall like they usually do. The result was alliums peeking out through tall upright ferns rather than the lovely purple flowers rising above and floating over the ferns.

When the alliums finally began to appear in late spring, I took the opportunity to document the scene.

Most of the images below were shot with the original Lensbaby composer lens to impart a more creative touch to the images. The lens allows the photographer to create out-of-focus areas in the image while maintaining sharp focus areas where the photographer chooses.

Below are just a few of the images from the Lensbaby composer.