Garden Photo of the Day

Worth the Wait

Summer in Quebec may be short, but it's beautiful

Earlier in the year, Christine Saint-Pierre in Victoriaville, Quebec, shared some photos of butterflies enjoying her garden in previous years while patiently waiting for summer to arrive. Well, summer has finally made its way to Quebec, and Christine sent in these photos saying it was worth the wait. Boy, was she right! Summer may have taken a while to get there, but the garden is incredibly beautiful now that it has arrived.

The backyard is filled with hundreds of wild daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare, Zones 3–9). What a stunning display!

OK, “hundreds” of daisies may be an understatement. What an incredible display of flowers!

A daylily after the rain

Christine photographs a lot of butterflies in the garden—no wonder, when it is so filled with flowers that they love to visit for nectar.

Christine says that the sunflowers (Helianthus annuus, annual) that grow all over the garden are “presents” from the birds when they drop seeds from the bird feeders.

Christine’s favorite place to relax and enjoy the view is like being in a tree house.

A beautiful peony (Paeonia lactiflora, Zones 3–8)

Bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis, Zones 3–9)

Many roses can’t take the extremely cold Quebec winters, but this rugosa rose (Rosa rugosa, Zones 2–7) can take the cold without missing a beat and still provide beautiful, fragrant flowers come summer.

Christine says that this incredible white-flowered Spirea was only listed as hardy to Zone 5, but happily, plants don’t pay attention to what people say about them. This one has been growing very well and has survived the frigid winters.

 

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Comments

  1. garden1953 08/26/2019

    What beautiful gardens! Thanks for sharing.

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you! I am glad you like it!
      Christine

  2. avongardener 08/26/2019

    Beautiful! I love the combination of echinacea, agastache and rudbeckia.

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you.
      I planted the agastache this year. I am not sure if the plant will make it through our cold winter...it will be a surprise for next summer :)
      Christine

  3. User avater
    treasuresmom 08/26/2019

    Those daisies are quite the wowzer! And that spirea is gorgeous as well.

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you.
      It is nice to have something white other than snow in my garden :)
      Christine

  4. cheryl_c 08/26/2019

    Christine, your gardens are awesome! Do you have any idea of the name of the lily in the background of the picture with the monarda, echinacea, agastashe and rudbeckia? It has such a soft buttery peach color. And your closeups are amazing - the dicentra is calendar worthy! Thanks for sharing.

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you Cheryl.
      I believe the name of the lily is « Custard candy ».
      Enjoy!
      Christine

  5. user-7525974 08/26/2019

    Your flowers are beautiful and I was particularly impressed by the White Spirea. Love your seating area too.

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you.
      I think we all need to create a little seating area in our corner of “paradise” to take the time to enjoy the many beauties of nature. I just wish the flowers of the white Spirea would last a little longer...
      Christine

  6. btucker9675 08/26/2019

    The drifts of daisies are simply amazing! What a spectacular garden you have created. I'll bet it's still beautiful when snow covered.

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you. I can’t take any credit for the daisies, they grow naturally. I just enjoy them every summer. Every season has it charm but I especially enjoy summer and fall for the beautiful colours.
      Christine

  7. maryannborcherding 08/26/2019

    What a beautiful garden you have. Thanks for sharing. The backyard full of daisies gave me a flashback of my childhood in NJ where there were fields of wild daisies as we traveled thru the countryside.

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you! Although there are many beautiful flowers in my garden, the wild daisies remain my favourite. So simple yet so pretty :)

  8. User avater
    simplesue 08/26/2019

    That is such a beautiful garden! And your close ups of the plants are excellent photography! Love that field of daisies, so natural yet elegant!

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you for your kind words. I love to take close ups of flowers. So many little details we don’t usually see.

  9. marthaveronesi 08/26/2019

    What a lovely garden you created!! That field of daisies is amazing!! and the rest of the garden is beautiful in every spot. Thanks for the sharing.

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you. The wild daisies grow all over my backyard and the front of my house...absolutely nothing to do just let nature take its course....and enjoy it!
      Christine

  10. mjensen 08/26/2019

    wow beautiful,some of my favorite flowers

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you. Glad you enjoy them.
      Summer is almost over here. The leaves have started to turn red :(
      Christine

  11. User avater
    meander_michaele 08/26/2019

    Your photos are superb and your flowers sublime...or, is it vice versa?! Your close up of the bleeding heart is truly exquisite and shows off details that I've never really noticed.

    1. CSPvictoria 08/26/2019

      Thank you so much for your comment. Taking close-ups of flowers and butterflies give us the opportunity to see all the little details and hidden beauty that sometime we just don’t see : ) I take all my pictures with my phone so nature basically should have all the credits for the photos :)
      Christine

  12. moyra_b 08/28/2019

    Your photographs, like your gardens, are beautiful!

    1. CSPvictoria 08/28/2019

      Thank you for your comment, I really appreciated it
      Christine

  13. katherine_8 10/20/2020

    Fellow Canadian here - Hi :)
    Your garden is simply put: magical. I love how you have left it natural and unmanicured where possible. Daisies are my favourite flower so I found that expanse of daisies heavenly. I also love the coneflowers and Brown-eyed Susans.
    Everything is breath-taking!
    Kudos to you and Mother Nature.

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