Category Archives: garden seasons

joy in every season

drought tolerant, months 07-09: summer, perrennials, urban deer

Summer’s Shasta Daisy

08/09/2012 svseekins 8 Comments

shasta daisy - flower grouping — photos by SVSeekins

The Daisy is such a likable flower. She’s happy, pretty & uncomplicated.

She reminds me of the character Betty, of the duo Betty & Veronica, in the Archie comic books. I’ve always preferred Betty.

My first Shasta Daisy came from my good friend & mentor, KC. She gardened on an acreage in Sooke, where deer were common all year & black bear came around in the autumn to feast in the apple trees.

KC assured me the Shasta Daisy could stand up to anything. Even drought. Now, that’s my kind of plant! Something that blooms without any attention from me.

Shasta Daisy - row along south wall — photo by SVSeekins

Along the hot, windy, south side of our home, we now grow a row of tenacious Shasta Daisies. They add colour with minimal effort. I haven’t watered the bed at all this year – not even once. Scout’s honour!

In the shrub border, that gets a good weekly drink, the Shasta clumps bloom well above 4 feet. Happily, KC gave me a head’s up about that, too. Because the Shasta Daisy is tough as nails, she can be a bit of a bully when given any encouragement at all.

I’ve followed KC’s advice & kept the Shasta clumps in big pots, then sunk the pots into the flower beds. The Shasta easily gets enough water, and the pots keep them contained.

Shasta Daisy - happy blooms — photo by SVSeekins

Some folk say the Shasta blooms are kind of stinky. After 5 years of growing this long row of Shasta Daisies, last July was the first time I ever noticed any smell – – and I have to say, the scent really doesn’t offend me. The clouds of white & yellow flowers through July & August easily make up for an unusual fragrance.

KC recommended deadheading at the end of the bloom cycle. That’s not too big a chore, so each September, I shear the tops.

I figure it’s not a good idea to put all those seed pods into our compost heap. Instead, they go into the garbage can I use for weeds. Whenever that can is full, it goes to the municipal yard where their compost reaches heats strong enough to neutralize the seed.

The best part is that Shasta Daisy is perennial. She rests quietly over the winter, wakes up in the spring, and parties again all summer. 🙂

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© copyright 2012 SVSeekins

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garden visits, months 04-06: spring, perrennials, projects

June’s Berries

07/08/2012 svseekins 3 Comments

strawberries in hand — photo by SVSeekins

For me strawberry season is that magical time between the fresh energy of spring & the lazy warmth of summer. It’s my happy place.

When else would I actually pay to perform manual labor in a dusty field?

Even that strip of sunburned back (where my t-shirt pulls out of my jeans because of bending for berries) is an acceptable part of the experience.

It’s all because not much else is better than the sweet taste of a strawberry picked in the sunshine.

Strawberries have been my favorite fruit since I was a little kid.

Dan's Farm has a U-Pick strawberry field — photo by SVSeekins

This year I enjoyed a morning in a local u-pick strawberry field with my friend June.

June is a picking expert. For a couple of years, on her little farm, strawberries were her business.

Even though they’re perennial, strawberries have a peak production life. That makes it worthwhile for growers to replace older plants with new ones to increase yields. That’s where June’s business came in. Her farm grew strawberry plants, not for the berries, but for the ‘runners’, or baby strawberry plants. Her customers were the farmers that grew strawberries for the berries.

Unfortunately the busy time for her was early in the cold wet spring. Digging baby plants out of muck in March is a far cry from picking berries in the sunshine of June. Understandably farm helpers weren’t super excited to work in the rain. June put in some pretty long hours harvesting runners. She wasn’t ready to stick to that workload for too many years.

Instead June decided not to sell the strawberry plants in her fields. With the plan of harvesting the berries in the warmth of June, she’d at least mitigate some of the original expenses of the business.

June picking strawberries — photo by SVSeekins

Believe it or not, there aren’t that many folk excited about daily field labor even in the warmer weather.

When big orders from community clubs hosting strawberry tea parties came June’s way, she was often the only one out in the field. She became a pretty fast picker.

I’d have thought that by the time the berry production petered-out & June plowed over the field, she’d be well and truly DONE with strawberries.

Happily she still enjoys the delicious fruit & was as excited as I was to spend a sunny morning picking our fill in a strawberry field at Dan’s Farm.

Next up – raspberries!

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garden visits, months 04-06: spring, projects

Nix the Lawn

Aside 07/03/2012 svseekins Leave a comment

The lush green symmetry of a well-tended lawn is something I can appreciate. But I can’t be bothered fussing with it myself.

Just down the road our neighbors have a teeny tiny front yard. They chose something other than the classic square of grass. There’s something artistic about it that really appeals to me.