Eustoma - common name: Lisianthus

My father is wonderful at growing plants from seed and under lights. One year he brought me a plant I had never heard of: Lisianthus (pronounced lizzie-ANN-thus).

What a beauty!! It looks like a rose and lasts for weeks as a cut flower.

The true name of Lisianthus is Eustoma, and it is a genus of the Gentianaceae family. It is commonly found on the American Prairie and in the Southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean and northern South America.
Here it is grown and planted as an annual, growing 18-24" tall. Often, there are many blooms on a single stem. I do stake them because they will bend in bad storms.

Lisianthus come in a variety of colours. This year I have a mauve-blue, white and bi-colour.

Lisianthus can be challenging to grow. As I said, my Dad grows them from seed but they must be started very early, not just several weeks before planting. The seeds are tiny and therefore hard to see. But he has been successful year after year and they are now a staple in mine and his garden.

They enjoy being planted in rich fertile soil. They like moist soil but dislike being over-watered. They tolerate drought very well.

Other common names include Prairie Rose, Texas Bluebell and Prairie Gentian.

If you feel that trying to grow them from seed would be too frustrating and time-consuming, look for some started plants at your local nursery next spring. They truly are a satisfying, beautiful annual to have in your garden and in vases within your home.

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Plants around the Swimming Pool

It's hard to believe we've been in this house 24 years! Well not so hard, really. The easiest way to see how the property has changed is by the plantings. The linden trees and Pin oak are 40 - 50 feet tall and all shrubs have reached their mature height. 

As with all homes, certain things need to be replaced and changed after a certain number of years. We noticed that the (original!) pool liner had begun to leak. Yup! It had lasted an incredible 24 years but now was giving up the ghost. So we called the company that had originally installed the pool and talked about what else could be done besides replacing the liner.

We decided to take out the original concrete decking and replace it with interlocking brick.

We gained about an extra 2 feet of space on each side of the pool and a lot of extra new "patio" space at the end of the pool. All in all I think we are really going to enjoy this new expanded area in years to come! I can picture putting some of our deck chairs onto the new patio part and adding some containers full of colourful flowers.

As with all renovations, once you change the first thing, you often need to change something else.

At the back, because the yard slopes downwards towards the back fence, they will build in some steps to descend to the back of the yard. This area could use some plantings so I started to plan what might be suitable.

I think my best bet will be to stick with ornamental grasses. They have a natural beauty that suits water and the lovely swaying plumes will add movement. Their root system is shallow so it will not interfere with brickwork.

What else? Perhaps daylilies and sedum. Both are tough and low maintenance and blend well with the grasses.

Annuals are always good for all season colour.

I will not plant even small trees because of possible damage to the pool by tree roots. Also, I certainly do not need anymore leaves/fruit/catkins in the pool!!

Probably good to stay away from plants that attract bees…. and anything with thorns.

Any other ideas would be more than welcome :)

The Power of Annuals

Datura, grown by my Dad from seed in 2009

Today is September 1st.
It's been a long hot dry summer here in southern Ontario.
I used the sprinkler more this summer than any other summer in the past years. Days upon days of furnace-like heat and humidity made a few plants shrivel up and croak, if I didn't water them soon enough.
Most of my perennials have come and gone, leaving behind green foliage.

All I can say is - thank goodness for ANNUALS!!!
They are the only flowers still blooming at the moment and most are very beautiful.

My lime green coleus and burgundy coleus are strong shocks of colour in the front garden

Multi-coloured impatiens puffed up 10x their original size

In my front garden, I had my godson Rob carve out a section from the invading periwinkle. The area proved to be my best "pop" of colour and had great curb appeal. Among the flowers are Dusty Miller, allyssum, ageratum, petunia, pelargoniums and lisianthus with 2 barberry bushes as background.

Here is my show-stopper: Lisianthus, also known as Prairie Gentian, Texas Bluebell and Prairie Rose. In fact it's often mistaken for a rose.

These plants are very long-lasting in pots or in garden beds.

As cut flowers, they can last up to 2 weeks in a vase!

They have a reputation of being very finicky and hard to grow from seed but my Dad is very successful at it and gives me some each year. 

Everyone grows pelargoniums and yes, they are very "ordinary" but they are garden work-horses: always looking good from early spring until the very end of autumn. I make sure I have some in the garden every year.

Soon enough, we'll be closing the pool and the long summer days will be gone……
But then comes AUTUMN :)
Cooler days, deliciously cool nights and still lots happening in the garden!!

May 2012 - Front Yard Reno

Over the past few years, the periwinkle in my front garden had advanced and advanced until it now fully controlled the garden bed. Never having had enough time on weekends to keep the spreader at bay, it just slowly took over.
Well - I have the time now because I am retired. And I am determined, that even though I have lost a few battles so far, I plan to win my front garden back!!
I first assessed the situation:

YIKES!!!! Yup, just as bad as I thought.
So one May morning, I woke up determined to get right out there and start digging it out.
Bad idea.
I wasn't even strong enough to get the shovel in the ground. Dry soil plus a dense plant with lots of roots = no success.
I thought about it and realized that I could ask my Godson Rob for help. Sure enough he was able to come over on the Sunday of Victoria day weekend and give me a hand.
Look what he managed to achieve in 2 hours!!

He piled all the dirt, plants and roots into our little trailer, where it will be hauled away to the dump tomorrow. (We added some pruned shrub branches as well!)

I bought one of those big yellow bags of triple-mix so that I would have plenty of fresh, new soil to work with.

I dug out many wheelbarrows full and filled the area. I knew I had several really nice medium sized rocks that had disappeared beneath said ground cover so I managed to find those and get them to the new area without putting my back out :)

Then I brought my selected plants and placed them to see how they would look: 2 Barberry bushes, Blue Oat grass (I split up a plant that the periwinkle had swallowed in another section) and lots of annuals: petunias, Geraniums, Dusty Miller, Ageratum and allyssum.

Starting to look pretty good! Then I added mulch and was all done. My summer job will be keeping the area watered and keeping the invasive periwinkle at bay.

So, now that the front garden is "finished, let me take you on a tour: