Seasons' Jump

The mums are now blooming at the garden centres.  The pop-up stand at 3rd Street and the QEW has  discount mums on the flatbed truck - a welcome transition from the kalanchoes that have been there all summer long.  So now,  the bright orange-red geraniums at my front kitchen window are now replaced with red-rust mums.  They signal the change of colours in the landscape as we move from the the lush green with fiery reds of summer to the autumn tones that are more integrated. Our photos today were taken in Marion Jarvie's garden.  The first two show the entrance in April and then in early June.  For me, it demonstrates the transition from the browns of spring to the lush greens of summer.  Isn't it interesting how the white trellis picks up the greens  around it in the second photo. I didn't notice it at the time, yet now it seems striking. The visit in Spring was April 28, a time when people are starting to garden.  So it was easy to take pictures without people.  The visit in June was with the Garden Bloggers Association, and the garden was full of people and plants.    Marion is a collector of the distinctive and the unusual so the garden writers were abuzz with discussions on everything around them.

Private Open to the Public

I made a special trip to Toronto yesterday to see the well-known garden of Marion Jarvie.  She describes herself as a 'Plantswoman'.  When you walk through the garden of thousands of plants you experience a connoisseur of plants.  She travels to England and Europe regularly for visits to hybridizers and growers and to make plant selections. Marion has Open Days throughout the garden season, and this past weekend was her first opening. Her garden a private garden open to the public by permission.  This is one of those surprise gardens for those who aren't avid gardeners.  I will be including this garden in 'Great Public Gardens in Your Own Backyard.' It is a presentation that covers public and private gardens open to the public within 150 km of the GTA. This garden is a special one though - it is richly planted with only the most interesting and often rare plants.  It is a botanical garden experience of distinction. Her website is marionjarvie.ca  and she offers workshops and presentations.  Plants are for sale during the open garden days, and I was able to purchase a few bulbs of the red flower you see below - a corydalis.  The little purple flowering plant below the corydalis is hepatica, and the final border plants are early crocus.