Lamb

Lamb

Monday, August 20, 2018

The Abandoned Gardens of Carogil Farm


Hello dear friends, today I thought I would try to put a nostalgic spin on what is a rather sad state of garden affairs!!  Some of you may recall from a previous post that my father broke his arm in a fall in May and unexpectedly passed away almost 3 weeks later.  As a result there has been a great deal of work to be done in looking after my mother and arranging all the affairs that must be attended to, and as a result I have not been able to spend any time in the gardens.  The poor fellows that mow the lawns now cut in wide swaths to avoid where they think the gardens used to be!!

But of course as a gardener the glass is always half full so I do have some quick photos to share.  We are preparing for what has been promised to be a "significant weather event" tomorrow with some areas receiving up to 50 mm of rain.  We have had very dry conditions so far this summer but did have 40 mm of rain already this week so we shall have to see what happens.

I had previously posted about our ponds.  The koi pond attracts any number of frogs and toads.  I spotted this fellow in a clay pot cleverly hidden behind a fainting geranium.



This green frog is poised to jump.  These frogs are often lounging on the lily pads and are quite hard to spot.


All of our plants have suffered heat stress this summer.  A number of our shrubs including our forsythias and black lace shrub have had entire branches die back.



Many of the trees are infested with what I believe are tent caterpillars.  Some of the crab apples trees are also infested.

Echinops is one of my favourite late season perennials.  Even though we still have a month of summer these globe thistles make me think of fall.



This is a not very great photo of our hollow apple tree.  It still has leaves and is still producing apples.


I have had a nice little collection of hemerocallis blooming this year.  These are one of my favourite perennials as I love the foliage even when not in bloom.


The monardo is already past its' prime.


I love the blooms on this plain old fashioned green hosta.


This hydrangea was a gift and also struggled a bit with heat and drought.


My sad tale could not be complete without at least one prison break!  This time it was the sheep.



Mosses growing in the waterfall garden.


Another frog hidden in a pot with bull rushes.






A view towards apple lane.  Many of the apple trees have lost their leaves.


A lovely new door on the garden privvy.


 The grapes have returned to ramble over the arbour.  A few years ago we realized in a panic that our yellow labs had been eating some of the grapes which can be toxic to dogs.  After hacking the grape vines to the ground they have rebounded and the yellow labs have not only survived the adventure but have forgotten all about grapes and moved on to other things.

Abby is adjusting well and loves life on the farm.



I now have 3 wheelbarrows in my fleet!  One can never have too many wheelbarrows.  My husband decided to store one on the back of the privvy.

A couple of weekends ago my husband was tackling an unruly crab apple tree that is very close to our veranda and spied this very colourful caterpillar.


Over the next few weeks I will be sorting through some of the family heirlooms that have made it from my mother's home to our farm.  I will look forward to sharing some of those lovely pieces with you through my blog.  Thank you for visiting!