11th Annual Canoe Cove Plant Sale

It's the best time of year.  Spring.  Trees are leafing out, plants are unfurling, the sun is warm.  There's nothing like sitting in the sun after a long winter huddled indoors.  Spring also means it's time to get in the garden.  If you are looking for some new plants to add to your collection the Canoe Cove Plant Sale is the place to go. 

A little bird told me this year the plant line up includes martagon lilies, hostas, hardy geranium, anemone, siberian iris, lady's mantle, sea holly, solomon seal, lilacs, and asiatic lilies.

Siberian Iris

Hosta

Hardy geranium

Lilacs

Sea Holly

In addition to plants there's aged manure and compost, plus the canteen will be open to keep you fed and of course the playground is available for those looking to keep little ones occupied.

Directions to the Cove are shown below.  Take Route 19 from Cornwall and when you enter the Cove signs will be posted to get you to the park.

A Big Hug and Many Thanks

It was a cold and rainy morning but despite the weather it was a great day to shop for plants.

A little rain was no matter for these shoppers.
Just put on your wellies and pick your plants!

I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all the many many people who, once again, pulled off an amazing Community Plant Sale.

To my fellow committee members, Beatrice and Donna, thank you for the time you commit each year to making this event happen.

A warm hug to Melda and Anne for handing out coffee and muffins, keeping us fed and caffeinated throughout the day.

Many thanks for all the hands that shovelled manure including Bill, Cliff, Ben, and Tapani.

Our manure loading area

No one would find our sale if it weren't for JoDee's amazing posters and signs guiding them to the site.

Thank you to Rhoda for selling raffle tickets and providing her beautiful rhubarb and dahlias.

Huge thanks to Gordon, Penny, Ginny, JoDee, Calleen, and Mari for a superb sales job.

For Ira who helped move picnic tables, once, twice, three times over and was our all round 'go to' guy.

Many thanks to Hayden for picking up a load of compost and to Jamie for providing the manure.

They might be wet but they're having a great time

A massive hug to the many many many people who donated plants.  I don't know all your names but we are truly grateful for your support.

We had a fantastic raffle once again this year and the prizes were stunning as always.

Thanks goes out to Melda for her hanging planter and the gift basket,  to JoDee and Floyd for the eye catching birdhouse and to Bill Van Kempen of Van Kampens Nursery for the lovely iris.

A special shout out to Gail Kern and husband Joe of The Summer Garden in Argyle Shore.  They made an astounding donation of several hundred tomato plants.  There was Honey bunch, Juliet, Mountain Merit, Marbonne, Rose de Berne, Plum Regal and soooo many more.  I think there was around 30 varieties in total.  We all know how much I love my tomatoes so you know I brought a couple home with me to try out.

And finally, thank you to everyone who came and shopped.  Your dollars keep our old one room Schoolhouse a vibrant part of the community.

Which reminds me....  the Rhubarb Social is on Tuesday, June 16 at 6pm.  Location, the Canoe Cove Schoolhouse .... see you there?

Canoe Cove Plant Sale

It's a sure sign of Spring.

The Plant Sale is coming..... and that means a raffle featuring a locally made birdhouse, canteen with fresh baked goodies, aged manure and compost, used garden books, a playground for the children.....

and PLANTS.  lots and lots and lots of PLANTS

This Anemone sylvestris will be available for sale

Sale begins at 9am on Saturday June 6, 2015 and ends at noon.  Rain or shine.  In the case of rain we hold the sale in the Park buildings.

This sale is held by the Canoe Cove Community Association in support of the old Canoe Cove Schoolhouse.

The schoolhouse lit up at Christmas

If you would like to donate plants or used garden books please feel free to drop them off at Canoe Cove Park on Friday, June 5, 2015 between 6 and 8 pm

To find the sale follow the map, there will be signs directing you once you get to Canoe Cove

Garden Surprises

I was wandering around the flower garden the other day.  Plotting my next move.  I've been working hard, one section at a time.  Clearing weeds, amending the soil, adding new plants and finally mulching.  Then I move on to the next section.  A few feet at a time I'm finishing this beast of a garden.

So there I found myself, having finished another section and contemplating what next.  That's when I spotted it.

Through the flowers I spied a shape.

Do you see anything behind the flowers?

My first thought was cat.  They often hide out among the flowers.  Spying on birds and relaxing in the shade.

Could it be Gino?

But then I saw ears, and my heart stopped for a minute.

A bunny.  OMG DON'T MOVE YOU'LL SCARE IT!!!

Except ..... hang on ...

That's a pretty solid looking bunny.  I don't think it's running anywhere.  I've been had.

I ran inside and down to the basement.

Jody!!  I found something in the garden!!

He turns and looks at me.  What's that? he says

I raise an eyebrow and that's all it takes.  He can't help himself.  The corners of his mouth turn up just a touch before he completely cracks up, breaking into a wide smile.

Okay, it was me!  Happy Birthday sweetheart.

and that's a wrap...

Thank you folks for yet another successful Plant Sale here in Canoe Cove. 

Thank you for the sunny day.

Thank you for all the many many volunteers who put in extra hours to dig, pot and mark plants.  Thanks to volunteers who bagged compost and manure, baked muffins, made calls, donated prizes, made posters and turned out to make this a wonderful day.

Thanks to all the folks who turned out to peruse the tables, purchase some plants and chat.

We had lots of fun and lets hope to see you all again next year!

The Canoe Cove Plant Sale

It's time .......

The Canoe Cove Plant Sale is coming.

I expect to see you all there bright and early on Saturday morning, May 31, 2014.  The sale starts at 8 am and runs until 12 noon.  A reminder - the sale is rain OR shine.  Inman Park has buildings which can accommodate the sale, so if it's raining we'll be under cover.

The canteen will be open during the sale featuring coffee, tea, juice and baked goodies.

There is a playground for the young'uns.

We have aged cow manure and mushroom compost for sale.

There will be a raffle featuring FOUR prizes including a handmade birdhouse and a gift certificate for mulch.

Last but not least ..... there will be PLANTS.  Lots of them.  We can never predict exactly what plants will make their way onto the tables but I will give you a hint at some of what will be there.

Please note that if you have plants you would like to donate to the sale we would greatly appreciate them.  All plant donations can be brought to Inman Park on Friday, May 30 at 6pm.

See you then!

Spring has finally Sprung

It's been so long I don't even know where to start.  How about with a big thank you to those of you who have stopped by and left a comment to encourage me to come back to writing.  I missed you too!  This winter was the longest and snowiest we have experienced since moving to PEI.  I shoveled, then shoveled some more, did my school work, and split firewood.  All by myself.

I saw this view many times this winter

I haven't mentioned that Jody was away in British Columbia for 3 months working.  Only just returning a couple weeks ago.  At the time he decided to leave we did not anticipate how bad the winter would get.

I wouldn't want to take care of this house by myself on a permanent basis but the good news is I managed just fine for a couple months.  A lengthy vacation home to BC helped too.  I walked away from the constant storms and stepped off the plane to this.

I can't tell you how relieved I was to see my husband and green grass all at the same time.  Vancouver is about two months ahead of PEI when it comes to spring.

I made good use of my time in Vancouver ....  shopping, eating and..... looking at flowers... of course!  A day was spent at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens.  I stopped by various community gardens, shopped for seeds and plants and took copious amounts of photos.  But that will be another post.

When I finally did come home the snow had almost completely disappeared.  There was grass.  It was brown but still .....  I could SEE the grass in my lawn for the first time in months...  and there was work to be done.

I immediately set to work planting seeds.  I was several weeks behind schedule due to my vacation so there was no time to lose.

The dining table looked like this for a few weeks

Tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, pumpkins, and zucchini all had to be seeded.  I cut back a bit on my seeding this year since I was so late starting but regardless I still managed to plant 9 varieties of tomatoes.  I met the most fabulous man in December at a seed swap and he had HUNDREDS of tomato varieties to trade.  So really, planting 9 varieties was quite restrained of me.

After the seeding I went directly to the great outdoors.  I surveyed the damage.  Lots of chewed and broken branches from heavy snows and voles.  In retaliation I planted trees.  Hemlock, larch, spruce, birch and ... a magnolia!  While we were in Vancouver THIS caught my attention.

So very pretty, and yellow.

Jody took note and brought me home a Yellow Bird magnolia from a local nursery.  Of course now I'm planning a whole new bed around this tree.  More work to come!

After the trees came the vegetable garden.  Currently I'm still working away on getting the beds ready but I did manage to get my spring veggies in.  Claytonia, arugula, mustard, lettuce, garlic, spinach and kale don't mind some chilly temperatures and it means we'll have spring salads in no time at all. 

One half of this veggie plot is dug over but there's a lot more to do yet...

The flower garden is the biggest chore to tackle this year.  After 3?  4? years the flower garden is still not complete.  At least a quarter of the space is completely covered in weeds.  I swear, this is the year I completely dig over and plant up that garden.  You have that in writing.

This flower bed may be my undoing ....

I have started work cutting back last years perennials and digging weeds.  Making discoveries along the way.  The lamb's ear has grown so large the center has died out.  However, the sweet woodruff has decided it will happily take it's place.

Look to the left and you can see sweet woodruff growing under and around the stump

While some areas of this garden haven't been planted at all, the plants in other spots have grown too large.  As I clean up the debris I'm also dividing.  That's a good thing as the Canoe Cove Plant Sale is coming up quick on Saturday, May 31, 2014.  We need all the plants we can get.  If you're local and reading this, please consider donating any extra perennials you might have.  Plants can be brought to Inman Park in Canoe Cove on Friday, May 30 at 6pm.  All proceeds from the sale go toward maintaining the Canoe Cove Schoolhouse.

A sample of the plants I have dug for the sale so far 

For those of you wanting to attend the plant sale we have already bagged a trailer full of mushroom compost for you.  There will also be manure, the canteen will be open serving coffee and baked goodies, there's a raffle and of course, plants!

In short, I'm a busy bee these days.  There's much more to catch up on and I hope to get back into blogging as much as I can throughout the summer.  I have taken a semester off school and have until September to garden to my heart's content.  Hope everyone is well and I will attempt to visit you at your blogs soon.  Until then, happy gardening!

Garden Tour Finale

My apologies for taking so darn long to get these photos posted.  August slipped right past without me even noticing.  Let's take a look at those last two gardens shall we?

A group of volunteers and garden owners did a pre-tour a couple nights before the big day.  We scurried as fast as we could but by the time we got to the last garden we were losing the light.  I apologize for the slightly fuzzy photos of this garden.  The place was magnificent but my camera wanted more sun.  We parked up on the road and took a long walk down the drive.

An impressive start.

I don't think anyone was disapointed when we finally got down to the main house and gardens.

This garden was nothing short of spectacular.

Several acres located right at the seashore and perfectly tended.  Exploding with trees, shrubs and plants of all shapes and sizes.

Photo by Gina Beeley

I wish I had written down some of the names of the plants as this garden had an amazing collection of trees that you don't often see.  The owner is a bit of a collector.

This beautiful gate led into a charming flower garden loaded with annual flowers and lots of shade loving perennials.

Everything, and I mean every square inch of this place, was perfectly tended.

I have never seen such an exquisite vegetable garden.  Most impressive of all is that this garden is lovingly tended by just two people.  Every bit of lawn mowing, weeding and mulching is cared by a pair of gardeners who obviously LOVE what they do.

My only complaint - MORE TIME!!  I could have easily spent a whole afternoon checking out each and every tree.  I saw a Dawn Redwood, some sort of Japanese Pine and what I'm pretty sure was a Stewartia but I didn't have near enough time to check out each individual tree that caught my eye.  Next year perhaps? 

The final stop on the big tour was the tea party.

Photo by Gina Beeley

Yes, a real tea party.  Fine china and everything.

Live music.

Photo by Gina Beeley

 Who doesn't want to be serenaded in a beautiful garden while sipping tea and eating cookies?

Wouldn't you like to take a seat?

Not to mention the view

This garden sits on a hill overlooking our beloved Canoe Cove.  An amazing way to wrap up a fantastic tour.  

I'm so glad to say I got to be a part of this tour.  I was really impressed with how the gardeners went out of their way to make everything perfect for visitors.  No detail went undone.  The gardens were beautiful, porches were decorated, there were containers of flowers everywhere.  It was such an impressive display and I think everyone enjoyed it.  The best news of all is that we managed to raise over $3,000 for Hospice PEI! 

Gardeners and volunteers - Photo by Gina Beeley

Garden Tour - Part II

Let's continue with the tour shall we?

A really great aspect of garden tours is looking at different types of property and how people make it work.  The third garden I visited sits on the edge of a steep enbankment.  It's a narrow area and this gardener has really made the most of what ground is there.

Right behind that stone wall is a ravine.

Large trees in the ravine create a 'borrowed view' and act as a backdrop for the garden.

Another feature that has been put to great use is a natural spring.  The spring has been partly diverted through the garden creating a small waterfall and stream.  The effect is simply stunning.

Way to use what you've got.

Yet another feature I loved was the use of stone.  Stone is such a great feature in a garden, it has a quality I find difficult to describe.  There's something very aged and comforting about it.

This stone wall really caught my attention

Wouldn't you like to have this garden?

The fourth garden on the tour is another country property.  We do live in the country after all!

I'd like to take this moment to mention, once again, the trouble and effort our gardeners went to for this event.  As a member of the organizing committee I'd like to say a heartfelt thank you to the wonderful people who made this possible by going that extra mile and opening up their properties for people to traipse through.

I mean, just look at this awesome bench.  It's beautiful in its own right.  A nice little shady spot to hide away.  But what's that tagged to it?

A photograph, that's what it is.

Of that very bench in spring.  Surrounded by forget-me-nots.  This fabulous gardener tagged many areas throughout her garden so that those coming to look could 'see' what plants looked like throughout the season.  A rose just out of bloom?  no problem, there was a photo showing exactly what it looked like at the height of its glory.

Amazing.  See what I mean about going that extra mile?  These people were awesome.

Gardens are not just pretty flowers and this particular garden captivated me with many amazing shrubs and trees, including this outrageous black walnut.

Country gardens have room for big trees!  and the biggest grape arbour I've ever seen.  

It was loaded with grapes too.

Not to mention plenty of room for charming weed free vegetable gardens.

complete with scarecrow...

Seriously, how do these people do it??!  I have more weeds than plants at this time of year.

Big properties also call for big planters

You can't get much bigger than this display.

Obviously a gardener lives here

And that ends this portion of garden tour 2013.  Come back soon though, there's two more gardens to go before we call it a day.