My trip back home has given me Zone 7 envy....sort of.

I recently spent 3 lovely weeks back in my childhood home of Aberdeenshire, in the North East of Scotland, visiting my Mum and visiting lots and lots of castles, historic houses and gardens.   I have to say, visiting gardens in Scotland is often a revelation, both for their beauty, and history.  Most of the herbaceous plants that fill my garden really suffer in the Toronto climate, with dry summer soil, extreme heat and humid air, which all conspire to weaken plants and make them prone to outbreak of fungus and other infestations, and it really does require some diligent management to keep on top of those challenges.  In Scotland, those same plants are lush and abundant, and have a sort of "softness" about them - perfectly fresh and full of vim and vigour.  And then, of course, in general, although the scottish climate can't be described in any way as easy, it's extremely mild compared to southern Ontario.  The corner of Aberdeenshire that I call home, is somewhere around a zone 7, maybe even zone 8, and as a result, there are some things which are possible there, which just would not work in Toronto.  One of the most impressive that I encountered on this visit, which I don't recall seeing before, and which just about knocked my proverbial socks off, is the cardiocrinum.  Towering at about 8 feet high, the flowers look like the iconic lilies of religious art.  Perfect form, utter purity and perfect simplicity.....but magnified in a most glorious way!  This specimen was photographed at Crathes Castle, about 15 minutes scenic drive from where I grew up.  The gardens at Crathes are justifiably quite famous, and I took lots of photos, which I plan to share over the winter months, when my garden has gone to sleep for the season.
The only drawback to the scottish zone 7 climate, which serves to mitigate my zone envy, is that in 3 weeks, we only really had one day where the sun broke through the all encompassing grey cloud that blanketed us!  Actually, it wasn't typical even for Aberdeen and everyone was complaining about it, and thankfully, there was hardly any rain.  But it was lovely to come back to Toronto to perfect blue skies and abundant sunshine, if not the weeds in my garden!

Cardiocrinums growing in the lovely gardens at Crathes Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

I must do a little research to find out if there are any options that would allow me to enjoy these in my own garden, perhaps I could keep them in pots and take them indoors during the winter.  In any case, these would join the ranks of gardening projects to test my patience, along with my espalier efforts, as they take upwards of 9 years to flower, and the poor mother bulb expires after the effort!  Makes you appreciate their beauty all the more.

In the pink

For the last few weeks my garden has been predominated by a yellow and purple colour scheme, with roses, lady's mantle, and  achillea providing the yellow, and aquilegia, veronica, salvia and delphiniums providing purple and blues.  But now that we are in mid-summer, a streak of pink has become the most eye catching feature, with lilies and some carpet roses coming into bloom.  It's nice to see a distinct transition into mid-summer, particularly given the heat of the last few days here in Toronto.  I'm really pleased that despite early signs of impending doom, the alien invasion was averted!  I'm also very happy to see that my lavender hedge, whilst still not quite a hedge, has filled in a bit in year 2, and by next year, I hope it will be quite a feature.  There are also a number of self-seeded baby lavender plants around, so I can use them to fill in a couple of gaps.

I love the look of these tall lilies before the buds burst - very sculptural

The window boxes are filling in and add a bit of old world charm

The first of the lilies are opening up

This white eryngium has taken on its frosting of white.  I like  how it stands out against a see of green, and that it picks up the grey of russian sage and white echinacea

You can start to see the line of my lavender hedge starting to form, now that the plants are in the second year

Delphiniums are still doing well.  The lady's mantle is a nice contrast

I really wish I could make the fragrance of these gardenias come across the blogosphere!

The New Dawn rose is at its peak now, and the flowers are engulfing my potted fig

I have a baby fig!  If it doesn't drop off, it will be my first!