I made an extra effort today to be in the garden by 8:30 – should have been 6:30am but 8:30am was good for me! It is a beautiful summer’s day, blue sky and hot. It was 23C at 8:30, 32C by noon. I have no idea how people do this stuff in higher temperatures but they do and they have my full admiration. I need a body suit, including hat made of blotting paper to keep the perspiration from running down my brow and interfering with my vision.

The first half hour was productive and enjoyable. I cut back all the Catmint, Nepeta to give it time to bloom again. I started weeding the paths between the raised beds when, oh oh the sound of a chainsaw went off like a revving motor bike in my back garden.  That sound always makes me nervous regardless of where it is as I hate to see trees removed and it became apparent that was happening in my neighbour’s yard. I understand there are times when removal is the only way to provide light to certain corners of a garden and trees, like us, sometimes become old and diseased. We had to remove a Mayday tree, Prunus padus, a number of years ago due to overcrowding. There was nothing wrong with the tree- it was a case of wrong tree wrong place, my poor decision. The tree had grown so large and was affecting some other ornamentals. It also dropped millions of black berries, which the dogs would track into the house for weeks in the fall.

Above: The remaining Mayday stump covered in Virginia Creeper

I am the first to say to people that are all trees drop something leaves, sticky scales, flowers, berries, fruit, self-pruning twigs. There is no such thing as a garden with plants and no work. A common request when I was doing design work was for a ‘low maintenance garden.’ but even low maintenance is work if you wish for a tidy garden. I chose poorly for our patio area as overhanging it, is a crabapple, which drops hundreds of small crabapples in the fall. The Mountain Ash at one end of the patio drops its sticky scales in spring and berries in the fall as well as beautiful leaves of course. The sticky scales stick to the dogs feet and coats to give them no end of grooming problems. I still love my trees but this is an example of why choosing carefully when planting new trees is important as some will provide more work than others. The Crows love our Box Elder, Acer negundo and in spring rip off branches for their nests. Twigs fall randomly over the garden but they are a lot easier to clean up than sticky bud scales.

As I continued weeding this morning  poor squirrel came out to see what the noise was all about and what was going on in his territory. He went along the fence in leaps and bounds, scurried up to the top of our tree and had a go at protesting with his “tut, tut,tut! ” to the tree fallers. After that he sat on the fence and stared at me eye to eye as if to ask if I could not do something about this kerfuffle. Squirrel and I have a good relationship as he seems to know I am not an enemy and in fact spoil him with treats now and then. He parked a strawberry the other day in the corner of the fence as if to remind me about treats. The strawberry was not mine but he must have stolen it from another garden. I relented and took him a few choice nuts to sooth his nerves. 

I labored on deadheading and weeding until the sound of the chainsaw and thuds of falling logs ceased. Then a beautiful Yellow Swallowtail entered the garden and kept me entertained as I had a sit, a cup of tea and a cookie.  The dogs followed me out in hopes of a piece of cookie and to search for a squirrel. We had a family with very cute young this spring but it seems we are back to possibly two only.

I was so pleased to see the Swallowtail as butterflies have been missing this spring. Normally by now I would have seen many Mourning Cloaks and plentiful Swallowtails. The odd Cabbage White has passed through but general butterfly absence has been notable. I can only guess that arctic freeze we had last winter killed off pupae.  I certainly hope they recover this summer.

This afternoon I removed the remaining peonies I had placed in a fridge to keep them longer. Within an hour of placing them in a warm room the buds had opened, ready to provide a few more days of peony joy.

Tonight as I made a short trip to a neighbour’s I saw a young squirrel bounding off to new territory so I was relieved to know some of the offspring is still around.

Just another day in the garden but they are never dull and the goings on in my patch of green in the city are plentiful entertainment for a summer’s day.