As we get closer and closer to The A.M Cuddy Open Gardens weekend on June 4th and 5th, the team is working together to make the gardens looks as pristine as possible. Due to the Victorian day weekend we didn't start the work week until Tuesday when we used all our forces to tackle the garden beds at the front of the house. There was weeding and edging to be done to make the area feel tidy and welcoming, and the final result is exactly that.

Newly edged border

On Wednesday, we moved into the Magnolia garden for continued weeding and edging along the outside border As well as tackling some ivy that creeped it's way up the fence that separates that Magnolia garden from the perennial border. As an added bonus, the Cucumber Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata, also Canada's only native Magnolia) was in bloom.

Cucumber Magnolia flower

After lunch we were tasked with digging up some ferns that were growing outside of their group, then potted them up and placed them into the greenhouse #2. One all the ferns were potted up, I took some time to spot water greenhouse #2 and water in the plants we had just potted. Once I was finished with that task, I went to meet up with everyone else and we spent the end of the day pulling some particularly vigorous weeds out of the rose garden border.
Thursday started out with a couple of us going out to the front of the property to change the sign so it advertised our big event, The A.M Cuddy Open Gardens which includes a plant sale, tours, and other horticulture related activities. Once finished we moved onto weeding and pulling hundreds of tiny tree seedlings that planted themselves underneath a large tree. After lunch, we moved but into the Magnolia garden, but this time we weeded and edged the inner borders of the beds and spent the rest of the day there.


Cucumber Magnolia and some new borders

Friday morning was spent planting new plants along the road border at the front of the property. We planted a few different species such as: Hypericum (St John's Wort), four different cultivars of Physocarpus (Ninebark), Spiraea, Viburnum and a single new Butterfly Magnolia. Once finished we needed to accession them so we can keep a record of all plants on the property. As soon as the new plantings were recorded, I went and helped in the Woodland Garden by weeding and raking the path smooth and removing any debris. The time after lunch was spent setting up a unique feature, our antique tool collection has been placed in one of the rooms of the house for the visitors of the open gardens to explore. Once we were done with the tool display, we spent the remaining time of Friday writing out the accessioning tags for the new plants that were planted earlier in the day.

Clair de Lune Peony

Once the open garden weekend rolls around, everyone who visits will be in awe of it's spectacular beauty and diverse collection.


Iris