Gardening

Laking Garden: Bloom At Its Best!

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If you go to Laking Garden at the right season, you’ll be greeted by a sea of irises!

Writing a blog while you travel is tough, especially when you’re the tour leader and have 46 people to look after and entertain. I usually try to avoid it: it’s just too exhausting! As I sit here writing this at 9 pm after a full day spent visiting gardens, I just feel like going to bed! But I saw such extraordinary beauty the other day I’m overcoming my desire for sleep to share a few photos with you.

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Just part of the vast peony beds in Laking Gardens.

Our visit to Laking Garden, part of the Royal Botanical Gardens located in Burlington/Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, really took the cake. This vast flower garden, largely dedicated to a huge collection of irises and peonies, was in absolutely full bloom. Considering the trip was planned months in advance and the flowering could have easily been over, we were just extraordinarily lucky. Over the years, I’ve visited this garden on many occasions, but never have I seen it looking so beautiful.

If you live near Laking Garden and are reading this blog on the day it was published, that is June 11, 2017, do get there as soon as possible. Remember, bearded irises rarely remain in bloom more than 10 days and peonies only scarcely longer. If you can’t get there in 2017, plan a visit in early to mid-June, the period when both collections ought to be at their best.

Have a wonder visit, be it virtual or real!

Some of My Favorites

20170612F Mystery Book TB
Tall bearded iris ‘Mystery Book’
20170612B Siberian Pennywhistle
Siberian iris ‘Pennywhistle’
20170612C Hello Darkness
Tall bearded iris ‘Hello Darkness’
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Tall bearded iris ‘Florentine Silk’
20170612J June Rose
Paeonia lactiflora ‘June Rose’
20170612K Rare China
Paeonia lactiflora ‘Rare China’
20170612L Ellen Crowley
Paeonia lactiflora Ellen Crowley

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Garden writer and blogger, author of 65 gardening books, lecturer and communicator, the Laidback Gardener, Larry Hodgson, passed away in October 2022. Known for his great generosity, his thoroughness and his sense of humor, he reached several generations of amateur and professional gardeners over his 40-year career. Thanks to his son, Mathieu Hodgson, and a team of contributors, laidbackgardener.blog will continue its mission of demystifying gardening and making it more accessible to all.

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