June showers bring July flowers! :)

I'm taking an intermission from my weeding series. Mostly because It's pretty wet in the garden so it's tough to weed in there without coming out looking like a mud monster! Hopefully it'll dry out and we can till our rows and get in there for some weeding. This rain has been wonderful for everything that grows, including the weeds!!

I hope you all had a great canada day! What did you do to celebrate Canada day? We always go down to the forks to celebrate. This year's celebration was a lot quieter than last year's 150'th but never the less, the pow wow occured as always!  I have to say, it's one of my favorite holidays. We get all dressed up and have a great time! :) If next year is just as quiet though at the forks, we may change our tradition, to attending the pow wow at aboriginal day live (june 21 each year I believe), and going up to gimli for the parade for canada day.  I was pretty disappointed at how little they had going on until like...3:00.

(I did not take these two pow wow photos. Just added them for visualization)

It's important to me that my kids see at least one pow wow each year, because our family is tied to the first nations people in an unfortunate way. My grandmother was a dorm parent in a residential school. This is something I speak very openly about, as I've done my reconciliation and I have peace. But my grandmother was always a very kind soul, and went to be a dorm parent, as anyone would volunteer at a summer camp. As a missionary, full of good intentions. She has many fond stories of sneaking bread to the kids, their silly antics, and after the fire that occurred in that school, she would still receive kind letters from many of her former dorm children. It was never-the-less, a terrible thing to be a part of, and an embarassing part of my own history.  A movement happened and we were a part of it due in large part, to ignorance. And so I have made my reconciliation. Last year I grew a sage plant and offered it to the leader of the pow wow along with my apology letter. He accepted my gift graciously, and instructed me to build a fire, and offer the letter up to his ancestors in the flames. My words would go up to them, and they would hear them, and I would have peace. Although this doesn't line up with my religious beliefs, I decided that ego centrism is what started this mess... So in faith, I did exactly what he said. And you know what? It DID give me peace! And it has opened my eyes to many other things, in areas of my life i've been narrowly focused in the past.  But that was just part one of my act of reconciliation. The other half (the harder half) is teaching my children what happened... just as first nations people are teaching their children. So that together, our two childrens might become one people of peace. Its big, and its daunting, but it's so very very important.... So attending a pow wow each year is the first step to teaching them Canadian history about residential schools. Before they understand the hurt that happened, it's important they understand the beautiful culture that created this land that we now call home. :) And it's equally important that they understand the history of our own Mennonite people who fled for their lives, and were warmly welcomed and accepted into this land we now call Canada.   Ignorance played a role in both people-groups hardships, and Ignorance is the lesson in all of this.

But enough about canada day now. :) If I get started too much, you'll never hear the end of it from me! :) and this isn't a political blog is it, it's a gardening one! :) This week, I'll be sharing some lovely photos of my flowers! The veggie garden is doing well too, everything is getting bigger. Peas are almost ready, beans are flowering, we've been getting cucumbers for days already, and tomatoes have some nice little green fruits on them starting out! My tobacco is also coming along nicely, many pieces are flowering already.

THE FLOWERS!!

Because everyone loves a good time-lapse, here's a photo from just after the may long weekend, and then another one from today. :) 

 FLOWERS IN THE FRONT FLOWER BED!
A lot more green than in May! From the front it looks very pretty.

Lots of pretty blooms. All the parennials are doing well so far as well.

 I cant remember the name of these lovely flowers... its not a black eyed susan, but they look very similar. The plant is probably a good 4.5 feet tall this year and thriving well in the front garden!

 Last year's hostas both came back, and are looking happy in full-sun suprisingly!

 My sedums are doing great, and are getting ready to flower! The flowers aren't overly showy, I mostly like the foliage on sedums.

My rhubarb is officially established here... kindof a shame cause this wont be it's permanent home! haha! oh well... we've harvested plenty from it already this year. Mostly from the inside section so it's not shading my other flowers!

 the delphiniums are doing very nicely in their little corner of the front bed. We will see if they seed and return next year! :)

 This is my giant tree lillys. The buds are forming. I just planted the bulbs this year, but apparently they can get as tall as 8-10 feet! And the flowers will be quite large at that point. This year they will only be a normal lilly size. Hopefully they return next year!

 This bunch of leaves, is from the evening primrose seed I scattered in one of the milk jugs! No flower buds yet, but the plants look nice and healthy.

 The lupines are making good new growth, but no signs of flowering yet.

Forget me knots are in full bloom, with lovely little lacey blue flowers! Behind them you can see the leaves from the gladiolus bulbs. No signs of flowers yet, but I'm sure with this heat, it wont be long!


WOODEN BARRELS!

 Not a lot happening with my Dahlia's yet, but the Alyssum is quite happy, and gives the barrel a nice show till the Dahlias will be ready!

 The larger barrels are stuffed with Glads and snap dragons! The snappers are just starting to flower! So excited!!

 Cosmos in the large barrels are still flowering strong.

 Here's one snapper. I never know what I'm gonna get. It all depends how the bees cross-polinated last year. This one looks like its a cross between a pink bloom and a yellow one! So pretty!

THE KAISER BARRELS!
I just call them that cause they are against Kaiser's dog run. Haha!

 I love the over-all look of them all in a row. With their bright baskets and un-lawful bloomage! I may have over-filled them, but they all seem to be thriving. So I'm happy with it!  You can see the closer light blue barrel, Kaiser had his way with... It's time for more Cayenne pepper in my gardens...

 Seriousely, the color palate is working out really nicely! I'm loving these!

 Here you are seeing cosmos (pink) , and calendula (yellow) flowers. The Calendula has been flowering for weeks already! I wonder if it'll stop soon or keep going all summer. No idea! :) But they have been lovely to watch!

 Nasturtium are fluorishing. However I didn't  realize they were a "faller" not a "climber". Or i wouldn't have put them at the back of the barrels. My whole plan was for them to climb the fence... oh well! Live and learn right!? Still beatuiful, even if it's mostly in kaiser's direction.

 Some more beautiful snap dragons. I love this choral color that's happening here.

 Have you ever snapped a snap dragon? see how it looks liek two eyes, a nose and a giant chin?

 Squeeze the sides and the mouth opens! Fun eh? Great for kids!

 This is one of my favorite stalks. the photo doesn't do it justice. The yellow is brighter than it seems. So the boldness of the dark read and the brightness of the yellow is really astounding.

 

THE PATHETIC SIDE GARDEN:

Well, I've just about given up on this side garden. It appears all the bedding flowers have used up what nutrients they had in their little seed pots, and they've basically stopped flowering alltogether. I've even been watering them with a liquid fertilizer. The dirt here is just not garden quality... 

 

 I mean, this Hosta has been in the ground since we moved! And it's the size of my open hand... just sad.

 These flower pots are doing alright. Dahlias in leaf, and some random kind of flower bulb that I've never heard of around the edges! Haha! In the end these should be all red blooms. Just for fun. Hopefully they take off soon!

Well, that's all for this week! Next week we'll get back to weeding, and a veggie update! Till then, keep your thumbs in the dirt! :)