Tag Archives: Saskatchewan

Mock orange.

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The mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii cvs.) won’t bloom here for a while yet but I was going through some old photo files and I came across a series I took when my hubby and I visited the Patterson Garden Arboretum in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in summer 2014.  I am more than a little enamoured with mock orange so I spent considerable time gawking at them and inhaling their magnificent fragrance while in the garden, despite the fact that the mosquitoes were eating us alive.  (Insect repellent apparently doesn’t work in Saskatchewan – their mosquitoes are even more ridiculously nasty than ours in Alberta. Then again, they had just come off of weeks of rain and flooding in some areas of the province and the hatches were massive).

These are all hardy mock orange, rated for zone 3.  Do you grow mock orange in your garden?

‘Jackii’

'Jackii' Mockorange 2

‘Marjorie’

'Marjorie' Mockorange 4

‘Snow Goose’

'Snow Goose' Mockorange 2

‘Waterton’

'Waterton' Mockorange 5

Flowery Friday.

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Ah…spring in Calgary!  I have no idea what coat I should wear when I go outside – in a five minute walk, it might pour rain or pelt icy snow or be so pleasantly warm you wonder why you put the coat on in the first place.  I love this crazy season!

The garden was partly buried in snow earlier this week and is now gloriously muddy, so I’m admiring from afar the progress of my slowly emerging perennials (all that fresh green!) and the blooms of tiny crocuses, squill, chionodoxa, snowdrops, and muscari.  Isn’t it amazing that the soil is still so cold and yet all this fantastic STUFF is going on?  Even if you’ve been gardening in northern climes for many years, sometimes you just have to pause a moment to take in the absolute wonder of it.  And how here, in the face of such marvels, I can’t even choose suitable outerwear.  😉

In lieu of photos of spring-flowering bulbs, I want to show off another rose I found while touring Patterson Garden Arboretum in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan last July.  I love this photo because it’s a teaser…I still have yet to see the open flowers of Rosa ‘Hazeldean’.  (If you’re curious, here’s a link to some images and a write-up of the breeding history of this hardy yellow beauty).

Have a wonderful weekend…and may you always have the right coat for the weather!  🙂

Flowery Friday.

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Rosa ‘Louis Riel’ – a real gem found at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) in July of last year. Love the blue-green foliage and the pure white single flowers!  I’m not quite sure what the tag-along insect is on the uppermost bloom.

Sculpture Garden – University of Saskatchewan.

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A garden of a less “flowery” sort today…these photos were taken at the sculpture garden on the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan, which my hubby and I visited in July of last year.  Bill Epp, a visual arts professor at the University, started the garden back in 1993, and more works were added in 1997 and 2006.  These photos represent a smidgen of what is available to see.

I just had to include a photo of the “hand” – I actually found it a bit unnerving.  How do you feel about it (and the other works)?

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Leafy camouflage.

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Like a church bell, a coffin, and a vat of melted chocolate, a supply closet is rarely a comfortable place to hide.

– Lemony Snicket, The Blank Book

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No need for an uncomfortable supply closet here!

Isn’t nature incredible?

(Photo taken at the Forestry Farm Park and Zoo in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, July 2014). 

Saskatchewan snapshot: Sunset.

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Photographed 11 July 2014.

The field featured is almost in Alberta – it’s actually in Saskatchewan, at a place called Alsask (fitting, if lacking originality).  I initially thought that Alsask was like Lloydminster and Cypress Hills, and was partly in Alberta and partly in Saskatchewan, but apparently, only the former village’s cemetery is in Alberta.  Alsask was the site of a military base between 1959 and 1987 but it no longer even holds status as a village; rather, it is considered a “special service area” incorporated within the nearby town of Milton.  I rather wish we had stopped to explore; according to Wikipedia, most of the original buildings are gone, but one of the military radar domes and an indoor swimming pool (used in the summer to this day!) are still there.

Forest fires were burning throughout Alberta and the Northwest Territories at the time, so the smoky air lent an eerie glow to the sun.   I just loved the way that power lines looked against the sky; there’s something vaguely alien about the landscape to me, it’s a bit like something out of a science fiction novel.

Speaking of novels, what is currently on your reading list?  Anything that stands out for you – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, whatever?  I’m dividing my time between several excellent cookbooks (including Karen Solomon’s Asian Pickles, and Small Adventures in Cooking by James Ramsden) and Kimberly Elkins’ debut novel, a fictionalized account of the life of Laura Bridgman called What is Visible?.  (I’m barely into it but it’s captivating so far). 

 

Honeysuckle, University of Saskatchewan campus, Saskatoon.

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Smooth bark is soooo overrated these days!   How’s this for “interesting bark texture”?