A Story - "The Candy Wrapper" - Short Bellflower, Yarrow, Carnations, Boxwood, Lettuce. North Beach Provincial Park

 A Story

"The Candy Wrapper

Out for their usual walk, Julie and her yellow Lab, Sweetie, were strolling down the wooded path that ran behind their housing development. It was always pleasant to smell the leaves, notice the wildflowers and hear the birds sing. Sweetie, always on the lookout for something edible, took a lunge to the right and grabbed a candy wrapper.

"Sweetie, drop it!" demanded Julie. Sweetie wasn't about to give up the treasure without an argument so she ignored her.  Julie leaned over and grabbed the dog's collar.  With her other hand, she pried open Sweetie's mouth and extracted the wrapper.  The dog sighed and started walking again.  Not wanting to leave the litter on the path, Julie stuffed it in her jacket pocket.

A few days later, Julie saw on the news that an assault against a woman had happened one evening on the path that they usually walked on. She shivered thinking about someone lurking about in the area that she enjoyed so much. 

The police asked the public for any information that could be helpful. Anything at all. Julie remembered that she had picked up the candy wrapper and that she had forgotten to put it in the garbage. With a tissue covering her fingers, she gingerly pulled wrapper out of the jacket pocket and looked at it. Surely the police wouldn't want it. But then again they said "anything".

At the police station, she handed over the baggie with the candy wrapper in it.  She explained the circumstances around finding it and that they would find her fingerprints and her dog's slobber on it. The policewoman looked skeptical but she took it anyway.  Another useless piece of nothing from the public trying to be helpful.

A month later, the police still weren't making any progress on the case.  A junior officer reviewed their paltry pieces of evidence.  Pictures of footprints that could belong to a thousand different people,  some hairs that probably belonged to a poodle,  some dirt that maybe came from elsewhere.  Then he picked up the bag with the candy wrapper. What?  He read the note that was attached.  Had anyone tested the wrapper for DNA? Apparently not.  He arranged to have it tested and the results were surprising. Julie and her dog's DNA showed up but also the DNA of a convicted violent criminal.  

With this new-found lead, the police were able to apprehend and eventually tie the him to the latest assault.

Sweetie was hailed as a heroine and had her picture featured in the local paper. Grateful citizens dropped off bags of fancy treats for her.  Julie was thankful that the crime was solved and that, for a time, the man was in prison. Sadly though, she never felt like walking on her favourite trail again."

This pretty little bellflower (campanula carpatica) is a variety I got from W H Perron near Montreal. I had a hard time sourcing this type of bellflower. I used to buy them as small plants at the local stores in the spring but this year I had to buy seeds and W H Perron was the only source I could find. They are a good seed company so that was fine. This variety, Rapido Blue, is replacing Blue Clips. I started the seeds inside in May and now they are finally blooming. Next year, they should bloom in July.  They are hardy to zone 3 but do not like being wet through the colder months.

I wanted a short mounding plant to go with the 4 miniature roses I planted out.  The roses are the usual grocery store variety which happens to be hardy. They have been blooming all summer.  The campanula will work well with the roses because it stays low and although the mound will get larger, it is not an aggressive plant. It should bloom for about six weeks in the summer.

I like the feathery leaves of yarrow and the fact that it is quite drought tolerant. This lovely variety is called Apple Blossom and I got it as a bare root plant from Veseys this spring. I am really pleased with it. It is shorter than most yarrow and the flowers start out as vibrant pink and slowly fade to almost white. Great plant. There is some pink agastache and sedum near it so it is my very pink section of the rock garden.

The Chabaud carnations that I started in February are blooming like crazy in a wild sort of way. Although each stem is quite stiff, it often flops at the base. They will enjoy the cooler temperatures and I should get flowers right up until frost, likely in October.

Such a lovely deep red with a rich cinnamon scent.  The more orangey red flowers don't have much scent.

I'm not a big fan of boxwood. This one came with the property. Now it's really not adding anything to the garden.  I was busy dog sitting for a couple of weeks and wasn't paying attention to the boxwood. It had been growing very nicely, full of dark green leaves, but now, obviously, some bug has stripped it. Perhaps boxwood mites? Fortunately, whatever attacked the boxwood hasn't gone after anything else. I'll leave it for now and see if it regrows next spring.

Every summer I try to do successive plantings of lettuce and every year I fail. The first planting always does very well but when I try to get seedlings going in late June, they never survive. This year, it was earwigs that ate them even though the lettuce was planted in a raised planter. Finally, in August I have managed to get some going.  The days are already getting shorter so I am not anticipating a great harvest in September but I least I will have a bit.  The onions are green onions that I bought at the grocery store. My daughter-in-law planted green onions from the store last year and found it handy to have the green leaves to pick if she just wanted a bit of onion flavour. I did the same this year. I'll pull the whole onion out when a frost is expected.

This is North Beach Provincial Park near Belleville, Ontario. It is on the shore of Lake Ontario. A really nice beach with lots of space and accessible parking. It's busy in July and on summer weekends but it is a large beach so it can accommodate quite a few people comfortably.  Only day use - no overnight camping.

A Story - "Water Play" - Sunset Coloured Flowers -( Marigolds, Rudbeckia, Coreopsis, Miniature Rose), and Dianthus -(Perennial, Carnation), and Ostrich Farm

 A Story

Water Play

"One of those perfect summer days. The sun's penetrating blaze mellowed by a cool breeze off the water. It had been a long time since she had been to a beach. She felt like a stranger as she walked along the pebbly shore.

Nearby a family arrived. Two children, maybe eight and ten years old, ran towards the water.  The young girl shrieked as the cold water hit her stomach. The young boy gave a whoop as he plunged in.  They splashed each other and laughed, loud and shrill.

She watched the children and her body remembered the feel of the cold water, the urge to dive into the refreshing coolness,  the smoothness of the water as her arms and legs swept through it.

She hadn't brought a bathing suit but the water was beguiling. Best to lock her purse and phone in the car. She pushed her keys under the car beside the inside of the front wheel and hoped they would be there when she got back.

Back at the water's edge, she stepped out of her sandals and slowly walked into the water. How familiar it felt. Once her shorts were wet, she bent down and pushed forward gliding through the silky lake.  Stroke, stroke, kick, kick. Her body knew how. She flipped over on to her back and savoured the gentle rocking of the waves. She closed her eyes and was once again a child, playing in the water."

I like this rudbeckia nestled between the marigolds in sunset colours. The marigolds I direct sowed in May and the rudbeckia I bought from a neighbour this spring.  The marigold seeds were ones that I had harvested from my plants last summer.

I planted this Early Sunrise coreopsis inside in March and transplanted it into the garden in May.  It is a perennial, that in ideal conditions can be hardy to zone 3, but it needs soil that drains well. A cold, damp fall can ruin it. It's a lovely golden yellow and blooms for weeks.

A miniature rose, in another sunset colour, that was bought in the winter in a little pot with 3 other roses. They transplant well to an outdoor garden and are hardy with no mulching to zone 4.  They like to be well fertilized and need at least an inch of water a week.

This little sweetie is a perennial dianthus.  They like well-drained alkaline soil and are hardy to zone 4 . This is the first year so I will see if they make it through the damp months of fall and early spring. They may get eaten by rabbits.

This year I wanted to grow real carnations.  These red ones are Chabaud carnations.  I started them in late February.  They are slow to get going.  They are only starting to bloom now. The colour is very vibrant and the scent is rich cinnamon.  Worth the wait in my estimation.  They make good cut flowers but I think I will just leave them in the half-barrel planter outside.  When I am out to water or weed, I stop by and give them a good sniff. Full sun and even moisture is good for them as well as regular fertilizing. I use a slow release granular fertilizer.

A couple of kilometers from our house is an ostrich farm.  They are the funniest birds with necks that are like large bendy  toys.  The farm sells pellets that you can feed to them but you have to use a pole with a sieve fastened to the end because they could give you a nasty bite if you tried to hand feed them.

This one was sitting down as were some others. So strange. The birds were a bit shabby looking because they are molting.

Two young ones watching some adults in the next enclosure.

They clack their beaks together even when they aren't eating. 

Their feet have serious claws. I have no idea how the farm owners handle the birds.  They look like they could be dangerous.  They remind me of dinosaurs. Fascinating but not cuddly.

The farm sells ostrich meat which looks a lot like beef and apparently tastes a lot like beef. Very healthy.

Ostrich leather is very nice. Supple and soft .  They had some bags made out of it in their shop and they were very attractive.