This weekend, my mom held an open garden for the members of her Horticultural Society. Yesterday we toured the front, see Part I here, and today we head to the backyard.

We go through the arbour, and into a sheltered spot between the house and the barn.

The barn is on the left, and makes for a great place to store pots, shovels, hoses, and everything else needed to tend the garden.

Looking back at the house, is a little veranda; a great location for a cup of tea!

We served some lemonade, bottled water and sweets to the members of the Horticultural Society. I had fun doing a little baking, and making some of mom’s favourites for her special day. I made chocolate chip shortbread, shortbread fingers, and mini lemon meringue tarts. They seemed to be much appreciated.

There are lots of pots on the veranda, all in terracotta here.

You remember my fairy gardens, see how I made them here, well I made one for my mom too. No fairies around today, I don’t thing they like so much company.

And here is the view from the veranda, looking out to the rest of the backyard.

On the corner of the house, on the right, beside the back door, is a lovely purple clematis, and at it’s foot another gorgeous pot of simple coleus and fuchsia.

Just behind here, under the maple tree is my mom’s Japanese garden.

There are hostas, grasses, a new little cut-leaf Japanese maple, columbine, a boxwood, hydrangea, a red corkscrew hazel, peonies, and a snowball tree. I remember when my mom first planted it, with a little research done at the library. It’s such a peaceful spot, and a great lesson on how what is mostly plants without flowers, can still create such a beautiful display with differences in texture, shape, and leaf colour.

Around the edge of the barn is a climbing rose, with a sweet little trough garden at it’s feet, and the wheel barrow ready for service.

And, behind the barn is the vegetable and cutting garden. My sister is a florist, and during the summer my mom sometimes supplies flowers to her from home. The flowers are still coming up, the veggies are doing amazing. My mom’s friend, Russ, is the veggie gardener. He lives in an apartment and is happy to have a little space at a friends to grow his fresh veggies. And so are all of we…the happy recipients of extra tomatoes, zucchini, onions, etc.

The garden is divided into quarters, with a sweet little sundial at its centre.

Along the back of the property is another big perennial boarder.

The giant pacific delphiniums look almost as good as mom does.

This lilac tree was the perfect spot to add some simple candles in their overhanging branches.

And heading back to the house, one of my mom’s favourite gardens, the Austen Rose garden.

The Austen roses are uniquely fragrant and full. This beautiful pink one is “Abraham Darby”, and won mom the best of show Rose basket at her club last year!

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This weekend my mom, Marie, held an open garden for her Horticultural Society. I was born and raised at the house she lives in, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the garden look as beautiful. It was overcast, but the rain held off as Mom escorted dozens of people through her little Eden. The house itself is quite majestic, with all it’s glittering fieldstone, white bargeboard details, and the cedar shake roof. It’s over a century old, and boasts a rustic country charm that just can’t compare to new houses. And the garden adds to it’s glory. One of my favourite recent additions is the white garden, at the front of the house. Three years ago, my Mom and I both added one the same year, perhaps I’ll try and show you mine soon too.

It really is amazing how many white plants there are, once you start looking for them. This is one of my favourites, foxgloves.

More of the white garden, including delphiniums, fever few, and white creeping phlox.

At the front of the house there is also a small rose garden.

It’s amazing how restraining yourself to one colour or one type of flower has so much impact.

My mom has also gone to great effort to create the most beautiful and uncommon planters. None from the garden centre here!

This beautiful wrought iron pot sits at the front door.

On the corner this beautiful combination of purples and blues.

This urn is a feature of the front garden, created by the mason who built the house. It’s gorgeous, overflowing with lots of colour!

At the top of the driveway are several pots with amazing combinations of annuals, and perennials that get over-wintered in the veggie patch.

And for all who think that shade plants are boring, look at this stunning perennial group of plants! I also love the cream ceramic pot they’re in.

Sometimes, it doesn’t need to be complicated to be stunning. I love this topiary with double white impatiens around the bottom, in this amazing cherub stone pot, that sits at the entrance to the kitchen, off of the driveway. All these various pots are in the front, scattered in different locations creating focal points and adding interest.

Along the front side of the house there are beautiful clematis and hollyhocks stretching up towards the sun room windows and ready to bust into bloom. The sun room sits here at the very front of the house. I remember playing in here as a little girl, and now it’s my Mom’s favourite breakfast location.

Fairies play in the window now!

Between the driveway and the neighbours fence is another sweet shady garden.

There are lots of plants here, some are ferns, hostas, solomon’s seal, perennial geraniums, violets and a few trilliums and jack-in-pulpit in the spring! Amidst this woodland feeling garden, there is something a little unexpected, “Mango Tango” calla lilies. These are a tropical flower that will have to be dug up and over wintered inside, but they sure are an unusual pop of colour here.

The Mango Tangos look great with this orange garden ornament too.

On the other side of the driveway and barn that once housed carriages and horses a hundred years ago, there is an arbour that leads to the back garden and the veranda.

We’ll continue the tour in the back yard tomorrow, there’s so much more to see.

Thanks for visiting our open garden.

This Father’s Day we got together with my husband’s family for a time of fun, food and swimming. I did the table and love how it turned out. I had been wanting to try making some bunting flags, and this was the perfect occasion. I didn’t want to spend a lot on fabric, and thought it would be fun for Father’s Day to use some men’s old shirts in different shades of blues, with some strips and plaids. I headed off to the second hand store, but at 4 bucks a shirt, I didn’t want to spend $20 for one decoration. The next day was Saturday, Garage Sale Day! 50 cents each is way more my style!

I also bought some pinking sheers -an investment piece. I found a bunting flag pattern at Grace Designs, and cut it down slightly. I cut out the triangles with the pinking sheers, and sewed them to a blue ribbon. I didn’t hem them or anything, the pinking sheer edge is supposed to cut down on unravelling, and I thought it looked great too!

I love how they turned out!

For the table I used a beach mat with blue trim, some simple candle holders with citronella candles, white flowers from the garden, and this fun caddy with all the essentials in it.

My favourite element was the “Dad” word. My name starts with “D”, and I had these bookends, I borrowed a “A” from Maddie’s wall to make our centrepiece. Love it!!!

We had an awesome dinner of steaks, lobsters, and salads.

My Mother-in-law made her amazing home-made buns, and to the delight of her grandchildren, she made a special one for each of them with their initial on it.

The kids and Daddy’s all a great time in the pool!

For dessert, they ordered some delicious cupcakes! Just for fun, I also made a mini-bunting for the top of the cupcakes -so cute!

On Father’s Day especially, life is a party!

This post is linked up at Blue Cricket Designs and Between Naps on the Porch.

For Father’s Day, I wanted to make my husband a special breakfast. He LOVES those tiny tim donuts you get at fairs, so I thought I’d make him the homemade version. They work out really well for a breakfast because you can make the dough the night before, and all you have to do in the morning is fry them.

Sour Cream Cake Donuts (from Joy of Cooking -my go-to recipe book for just about everything)

Whisk together in a med. bowl:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, beat until foamy:

• 2 large eggs

Gradually add and beat until thoroughly blended:

• 1/2 cup sugar

Stir in until blended:

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla

Add the dry ingredients and stir just until incorporated. The dough will be very soft. Pat the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. The dough will never become firm but it will be workable when cold.

Working on a lightly floured surface, pat or roll the dough out 1/2 inch thick. cut with a well floured cutter. Fry in deep fat heated to 365 F Fry until golden. Drain on paper towel and roll in:

• cinnamon and sugar

Best if served while still warm or within a few hours of frying.

I tried these once with a deep pot of oil, but found it difficult to keep the oil at just the right temperature to not burn the donut, and make sure it’s cooked all the way on the inside. Then I remembered, back to the days when normal people had a small deep fryer and used them on Friday nights to make frozen fries for their families. Can you remember back that far, to when you were a kid? My mom had kept the old family fryer, it was just waiting on a shelf in the back room for someone to be brave enough to deep fry again! It worked great! And although deep frying on a weekly basis again would be very hazardous to my health, and my waist line, it sure is great for a special treat.

We had a great breakfast of pumpkin waffles with whipped cream and maple syrup, homemade donuts, and cafe au laits. Sounds more like dessert doesn’t it? Hope you had a great Father’s Day too. Life is a party with sweets for breakfast!

This post is linked up at Blue Cricket Design.

This has become one of my very favourite recipes. It’s easy to make and brings back memories of Morocco at Epcot centre, the closest I’ve come to the real Morocco -haha! It is even better the next day, and I think it might have to inspire a Moroccan themed dinner party in the near future. It’s also great for a potluck, and always receives ohs and ahs from everybody.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine

(adapted from Chatelaine Magazine, Nov. 2007)

Ingredients:

• 6 slices bacon
• 10 oz. chicken broth
• 16 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 6 garlic cloves minced
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp hot chilli flakes
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups pitted green olives, sliced
• 1/2 cup each, chopped mint and cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Chop bacon and fry in a large oven proof saucepan until crispy. Drain off excess oil, and add chicken broth (I usually use more than 10 oz -enough to almost cover the chicken in the crock pot just makes it have more sauce). Using a wooden spoon, scrape up and stir in any brown bits from the pan bottom. Stir in chicken, apricots (which I usually cut in half), garlic and seasons. (There is a lot of cumin in this recipe, 2 tbsp. is not a typo.)

2. Bring to a boil over a high hear, stirring often. Chop onions and slice olives (or just use a drained jar of sliced olives like I do) Add to mixture. If your saucepan isn’t oven proof, simply turn chicken mixture into a casserole dish. Tightly cover.

3. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, stirring half way through. Sprinkle with mint and cilantro. (I don’t use the fresh mint and cilantro and it’s still delicious).

I serve this over simple couscous. The recipe says refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months!

Enjoy!

This post is linked up at Blue Cricket Design.