Did the phase 1 work replanting the east garden. Replaced two hydrangeas with David Austin roses. Added two bags of compost to improve the soil condition in the bed. Planted more stargazer lilies beside the Pinky Winky tree, which is loaded with large conical panicles shifting from white to deep rose pink.

Preparing the east garden bed for next year June wedding.

Harvesting some flowers for the house, bringing in tightly layered coral-pink ball dahlias, bi-color mahogany and bright yellow rudbeckia, and soft pink lisianthus with a stem of silvery eucalyptus. As the summer getting shorter and shorter, the garden itself is getting more sad. I am happy that I had a successful garden and just sad seeing it coming to an end. Enjoy it while it last.

Love the dahlias in the garden, with their fully double, tightly layered peach-pink blooms opening alongside round green buds above deep foliage.

I've been thinking about improving the area between the East Garden and the Southeast Garden. Right now it's just a patch of dry soil under two trees where nothing grows, and it's been bothering me lately. So today on a busy day I decided to do something about it and picked up some black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia 'Viette's Little Suzy') to plant there. I really want a pop of color in that corner so when I see it, it looks beautiful. The spot gets maybe three hours maximum of direct sunlight but gets lots of bright indirect light. These compact mounding plants in their black nursery pots have healthy green foliage and grow to about 30 to 40 cm tall and 18 inches across, which is perfect for the front border. I'm leaving the mid-border empty right now because it's even shadier and I need to think about what plant to put there. Feeling very accomplished today, and took some photos to upload.

I always like the look of coneflowers, and this lightly fragrant one with its vivid pink ray florets and fiery orange central cone particularly adds pop in the garden. Also, purple coneflower is classic cottage garden.

Planted this back in 2024 when I first designed the west garden. Tiger lilies just have that wild flower garden look that I like, with their strongly recurved, dark-spotted orange petals and long hanging stamens flared wide open.

Looking forward to have my own hydrangea border in a few years, with these heavy white bloom heads holding sturdy as they shift toward lime green.

Adding trellies for the celematics to climb as the tower in the back of the south garden.

After a year I finally grew Dahlia in ground, with the soft blush and pale peach blooms opening fully now. I was told this can be a perennial in Vancouver now because we are Zone 9A.

Harvesting the dense, pale lime panicles from the Little Lime hydrangea, packed with tight chartreuse florets on stiff woody stems, and pruning it back for next year's new growth. This bouquet would look good in the house.