It's All About Lilies

So far in July, there have been a number of delightful surprises and there are Lily events coming up!

The first was finding a stand of Candidum Lilies near my brother's Lilycrest Gardens field in St. Catharines. There were probably 30 or 40 plants blooming and in that large a group their colour become so clearly the dominant quality. They are an amazing white - so clean and pure - no other colours on the petals. And the plants were large and healthy - so unusual in Candidums in our area.

The second surprise occurred as I visited more of the front gardens on the OpenGardensToronto 2009 tour. I mentioned this organization in an earlier post. Many of these beautiful gardens are close-by in my neighbourhood so I took the opportunity to visit a few of the front gardens from a previous tour day that I had missed as I wasn't available. Up the street from the Winston Grove garden, I happened upon a front garden at its full peak in full and perfect bloom. It had a beautiful combination of Lilies and Lavender that I'm posting - what a gorgeous colour and form combination!

The Ontario Regional Lily Society Annual Flower show is this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. It will be in the atrium at the Royal Botanical Gardens main building on Plains Road. I will be looking forward to seeing the show in this new venue, and being able to take some scenic photos this time.

Garden Days

The Open Gardens Toronto 2009 (opengardenstoronto.com) is a program in Toronto that opens private gardens to the public over the months of May, June and July and then again in September and October.  It raises funds for the Canadian Women's Foundation (CWF), and is modeled on the National Gardens Scheme in Britain which raises money for worthwhile causes by opening private gardens to the public.  This year there are 24 gardens grouped in different areas of the city.  Very happily, there are many in the west end where I live.  

I'll be highlighting the gardens over the next while, and will start with a photo of one of the gardens on the June 17th tour - Shari Ezyk's.  I hope you enjoy this serene view of her back shade garden.