Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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CandyTuft

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Candytuft

Scabiosa

This is a photo of Candy Tuft. I planted seeds in my front flower bed, oh, 4 years ago and it keeps reseeding itself every year. I had originally thought that this flower was Scabiosa, but once the comments started coming in I realized that I’d made a mistake. oh dear!

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Lynn, thank you so much for nominating me for the Blog Emmy award of Excellence. Wow. I’m not sure I really qualify for that one, but as the cliche saying goes “It’s just nice to have been nominated.” and it’s true. Thank you!

If anyone wants to vote for me … Lynn nominated me for the Excellence Award (design, writing, friendship etc). I’m up against some stiff competition so I could use a vote or two.

I nominated several bloggers in the various categories. (Mr. Fab (I was first Fab, Dutchie snuck in while I was writing my nominations), Shelli’s Sentiments, Lifecruiser, SugarFused, SugarSnaps, Bloggingchicks and TnChick.)

I just wish there were even more categories or awards so that I could have nominated more of you. There are so many great blogs out there, and wonderful people behind those sites too.

You have until 6 p.m. today to nominate your favorite bloggers for awards or to vote on those already nominated. See my last post for a link to the Blog Emmy Awards.

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Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Please Only list your name if you have a recent Green Thumb Sunday post. Don’t link and Run, it’s rude!





Hardy Hibiscus

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JoinMy Hardy Hibiscus took it’s own sweet time blooming this year. It didn’t really start until perhaps the third week of August. It’s still blooming now though so I’m not complaining (too much).

hardyhibiscus

The plant is approximately 5 feet tall. I’m growing it at the back of the garden near some white clematis and Yellow Graham Thomas English rose bushes.

pinkhardyhibiscus

The blooms are huge! They are at least 10″ to 12″ in diam. That’s twice the size of my Rose of Sharon blooms, which coincidentally is from the same family. It’s latin name is Hibiscus moscheutos .

Hardy hibiscus grows from 4′ to 6′ feet. They’re hardy from USDA zones 5a to 10b. It needs full sun, and it blooms from mid summer to late summer early fall.

If you are like me and you live in a cooler climate but want a tropical feel to an area of your garden find one of these plants. You won’t regret it as they are very easy to care for. The stems and branches die down in the winter. I simply mound a bit of earth and leaves around the lower stalks of the plant to protect it during the harshest part of our winter (as mine is planted in one of the coldest windiest areas of our garden). In the late spring I uncover the stalk and watch it slowly become green again. New shoots emerge around the old stalk and the plant slowly grows throughout the summer. Easy easy, and very pretty.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Please Only list your name if you have a recent Green Thumb Sunday post

Monarch Butterflies in my garden

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monarch4

I’ve been waiting almost patiently all summer to take a photo like this one. You see, I’ve noticed that I’ve had a lot of butterflies in my garden this year. Oh, I’ve always had butterflies and moths flying around, but this year there have been so many more. Monarch butterflies have been a rare site too, but again, this year I’ve seen at least one or two monarchs visiting my garden on a daily basis.

The trouble was that every time I went outside with my camera the darn Monarchs seemed to know that I was trying to focus my attention on them and they’d flit away in the breeze. As soon as I’d go back inside they’d come back for a visit. I’ve been starting to think that these creatures might be more intelligent than I thought they were.

Finally, on Thursday, one stuck around the garden long enough for me to zoom in and take a number of pictures. I had wanted to take some close up photos for several reasons. The number one reason being I knew it would make for a nice photo since Monarchs are such nice looking butterflies. The second major reason was that I wanted to make sure that it was indeed a Monarch. You see, there is another butterfly that looks very similar to the Monarch and that is the Viceroy butterfly. Viceroy’s have horizontal dark lines on their lower wings, and Monarchs don’t – that is the one major way to tell the difference. Now I know for sure that I have definitely had Monarchs visiting my milkweed (2 types), bee balm, phlox, and hibiscus (3 types).

Now if I can only get humming birds to visit my garden I’ll be a happy camper.

White Flowers

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Simple White Petunias –

Petunia

I love the simplicity of these white petunias. They seem so clean, so fresh.

My garden is full of color. Pinks, oranges, yellows, reds, purples and a few blues. There are also a lot of green leafy plants around to balance out all that vibrant colour. However, I try to always have a smattering of pure white flowers here and there- Petunias, Datura, White fragrant Four O’ Clocks, Jasmine, Nicotina and White Phlox. I find that the white flowers that I’ve chosen all have a lovely scent, and many of them bloom and have their greatest scent output at night.

I love the white flowers, not only for their scent, but because they light up the garden at night. Often they are the only flowers that can be scene clearly in the semi-darkness as we sit at our patio table and have dinner or relax.

I guess my garden leads a double life, colourful by day, and black and white by night.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

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