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Ontario Native Plants at The Brick Works

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Rather than posting photos of my own flowers for this weekends Green Thumb Sunday post I thought I’d post some pictures of the lovely flowers that were growing at the Brick Works last weekend when we went for a visit to this nature preserve in the heart of Toronto.

I’m thankful everyday that I live in this great city with so many things to do – there’s nightlife, movies, film festivals, street festivals, great parks, a bird sanctuary by the lake, great beaches and so many things to do or learn from thanks to Toronto’s diverse cultural population. I just love it.

Who would expect such a beautiful Oasis in the center of the city?

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Along with hiking trails, woods, small water falls, ponds and marshes visitors to the Brick Works can go to plays held in the old buildings or visit the Farmers Market each weekend where they can buy fresh produce, baked goods, plants for the garden or home and arts and craft type items like pottery – my fav!

There are all kinds of native plants growing in the old quarry and around the ponds and marshes, but the Brick Works also has a garden at it’s entrance displaying what I believe are also all native plants.

I’m not sure what this plant is … perhaps a native phlox?

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And these I believe are daisies – please correct me if I’m wrong or if you know the proper name for this flower:

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This is Butterfly Milkweed. It appears that not only does it attract butterflies and moths but also bees and wasps!

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If you are visiting Toronto or if you live in the area I highly recommend a visit to The Brick Works. It’s around the Don Valley and Bayview Avenue area. You won’t be disappointed! Oh and if you want to read a little more about our hiking tour and see some more native plants visit my gardening blog to read todays GTS post.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!





Tired after a busy weekend

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We had a very busy weekend and now I’m wiped out. I can barely keep my eyes open right now.

Yesterday we did a number of things. I cleaned up the house – swept all the floors (are house is all hardwood flooring). While I was doing that Chris went to the store to buy mulch for the garden as we were planning to add mulch to the garden beds later in the day.

However, when he got home he told me there was a tour at The Brickworks about the lost rivers of Toronto and he wanted to go on the tour.

The Brickworks is where one of Toronto’s largest brick making factories used to be in the early 1900’s and onward. The site is no longer a brick making facility, instead it’s a nature reserve with ponds, walking paths and protective native flora that barely grows anywhere else these days. So we brought our Lab puppy Midnight along with us and spent several hours on the tour and walking around on our own. I have several great photos but I haven’t moved them to my computer yet.

When we got home we noticed our neighbor that had had a stroke back in February was back visiting her home so I spent 2.5 hours on her porch visiting with her before her family took her back to their home where she’s now living.

After that we spent four hours working in the garden – until 10 pm!

Think yesterday was a busy enough day? Today was just as busy. We decided to take Midnight to Cherry Beach as it’s an off leash park for dogs. We don’t normally let Midnight off leash as she’s pretty rambunctious, but we did once she started playing in the water.

Midnight swam in the lake for the first time and she spent literally hours fetching a nice driftwood stick that we found. She’s a good swimmer – especially considering that today was her first time swimming!

We brought so much stuff for our little trip – a 30 foot leash for Midnight, a shorter leash, her harness, two water bottles, my camera, a bag of treats for the dog and a few other things. Next time we might as well buy a bus when we go! I have no idea why Chris brought water. He was bringing it for the dog but um we knew she was going to be playing in the water which means she’d probably drink the lake water so why bring extra water?

Midnight played with several dogs in the water. It’s funny … once another Lab was nearby fetching things in the water along with Midnight all the other Lab owners seemed to converge in the general area that we were standing so all of a sudden there were 6 or more labs swimming in the water and running around chasing each other.

Needless to say Midnight had a ball and we had a lot of fun watching her and taking with all the other dog owners.

I took lots of pictures. I’m sure many are pretty much of the same scene – Midnight swimming back to shore with a big piece of driftwood in her mouth, Midnight running along the shore in the waves and so on … but I think they’ll be great shots once I get them on the computer. I’ll try to post some in the next few days.

So I guess we spent most of the weekend outdoors hiking and playing by the water. It was great fun but I’m soooo tired!

I hope that you had a great weekend too. What did you do?

Gruss en Achen is a lovely little rose

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Grus en Achen Rose

I think I’m obsessed with Roses this weekend. Well who wouldn’t be if their whole garden was flush with rose blooms? I figured I might as well feature some of my lovely roses in my GTS posts this week.

This lovely rose is Gruss en Achen. I think it’s one of my most neglected roses. Oh they all get good care, but this rose is in the shadow of my slowly growing Japanese Maple. Once the maple fills in with it’s fine red leaves this poor rose gets far too little light. I’m sure it would be taller if it were in a sunnier spot. I must remember to move it next spring!

It’s a lovely rose and it’s a shame that it’s hidden pretty much beneath my short maple. Look at that full bloom. It’s an antique style rose with a light fragrance. Hardy little rose too … well worth trying in your garden if you enjoy roses.

Oh and if you enjoy roses you’ve got to take a look at the Star of my garden this week. My Climbing Westerland has given me it’s first ever blooms and they are to die for – go see for yourself!

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!

Everything that can flower is flowering

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I love this time of year.

Summer is here and it’s warm and sunny outside – well most of the time, it’s been story here the last week or so, and of course the flowers are pretty much all in bloom. Just about perfect if you ask me.

It’s at this time of year that I really try to enjoy my garden. I still have a bit of work to do in the garden (add mulch to back flower beds), but for the most part the hard work is done. Now it’s the plants turn to pay me back for all the care of given them, and oh how they are paying it back this year!

Look at these lovely Heuchera flowers …

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Isn’t that a gorgeous color?

On my two other Green Thumb Sunday blogs (Tricia’s Musings and As the Garden Grows) I showed my visitors rose and peony blooms, but there are so many other lovely flowers that are blooming in my garden right now.

Take the Lavender for example – it’s at it’s prime and it’s lovely.

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Then there are my many clematis plants, most of which have blooms right now. This one is Arctic … something:

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Last but definitely not least is the Malva. It produces such pretty flowers.

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I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture – my garden is alive with blooms and their lovely scent and I’m just loving it.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!

Perhaps the most beautiful clematis of them all

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I grow several Clematis vines, but by far, the Daniel Deronda Clematis – the one that wouldn’t grow the first three years that I had it, is by far and large the most beautiful clematis that I grow and perhaps that I’ve ever set eyes on.

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This is not the best photo, but this was the first bloom and I just had to show you it’s lovely velvet like textured petals.

The petals feel thick and as I said they are very much like feeling velvet material. Most of the other clematis that I grow have very thin petals. This is quite an unusual and spectacular clematis.

I have a great photo that shows the texture of the petals over at my photoblog Breath of Life if you’d like to see that as well.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!

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