Finally Summer!

At long last, some beautiful sunny weather in Vancouver.  My garden is looking beautiful - a restful sanctuary.

This tree adds a glow of lime green to my back garden.  It is a "Robinia pseudoacacia "Frisia", commonly known as a yellow locust.  It doesn't need lots of room to grow, but it needs plenty of open sky as it grows up - about 25 feet in ten years, and 40 feet in another 20 years.  Guess I better get it pruned or topped soon so it doesn't get completely out of hand.  It is so magnificient in the sun.

Hostas are great ground cover in the shady corners.



Neil and I are really enjoying swimming now.  We started a couple of weeks ago when the weather finally turned warm.  I made it for 20 lengths a day at the beginning and yesterday did 52 lengths, a record for me.

This plant is the one most commented on in my garden by guests.  It looks like a large rhubarb, but in fact is a "Gunnera manicata"  It can reach 10 feet tall and it produces gigantic, prickly, junglelike leaves.  It consumes (or fills up if you prefer) lots of space and does well beside pools.  Amazingly, it loses all its leaves in winter, dying down to the ground, and then has a huge growing spurt in the spring.

And of course, impatients add so much bright colour in a summer garden. These are the only annuals I plant each year.  I much prefer perennials which are so easy to maintain.