Happy Spring everyone! We hope you’ll join us in excitedly bidding farewell to the final remnants of wintertide; snowflakes melting, making way for teeny green sprouts soon to bloom.
The Cove is waking, critters peeking out from their cool season nests, ready to set forth on new adventures and bask in the sunshine.
Tenderpaw, our resident gardener and Selkie Coves very own forest spirit recently woke from his beary cozy hibernation and has been eagerly awaiting getting his paws in the dirt, with BIG plans to create a pollinator friendly garden near his cave.
A gentle spirit known well for helping things grow Tenderpaw shared his dream of cultivating this particular little patch of green last year, allowing us along with his mouseling neighbours to collaborate on what we’ve decided to call: Tenderpaws secret garden series
Named for the enduring spirit of The Secret Garden, we hope Tenderpaws vision inspires you to come along on the journey as we cultivate our wee patch of green.
In the earliest stages of garden planning Selkie coves garden committee (headed by Tenderpaw) spent many a tea time scribbling ideas in tiny journals, discussing at length the secret gardens key objectives.
- Zone 3 hardy, easy-ish to grow/maintain
- Pollinator friendly, both nectar and pollen
- Flora for Wild & Free our line of preserved jewelry
- Accessible for tending/enjoyment
- Edible plants/flowers
Next came the research phase. Our ever dutiful garden committee poured over plant types; their needs and hardiness, usefulness to our bee friends - they also took note of bonus tidbits, like which plants were edible, and created a shortlist of plant varieties for the secret gardens first year.
* Not all of the plants we’ve chosen are safe to eat, please do your own research and forage safely.
Poppies
- XL Jellybean HA, 10”
- Bridal Silk HA, 15-25”
- Hungarian blue A, 24”
Violas
- Spring sorbet P, 6-8”
- Fizzy fruit HA, 6-8”
- Back to black P, 6-10”
- Rose antique gem HA, 6-10”
- Jumpin johnnys P, 6-10”
Daisies
- English bellis P, 6-8”
- Shasta P 19-27”
Sweet peas
- Painted ladies A 5-6”
- Old spice A, 48”
Sunflowers
- Red velvet A, 5.5’
- White lite A, 6’
- Large grey stripe A, 6-8’
Individuals
- Forget me nots A, 18”
- Chinese lanterns P, 24”
- Lewis flax P, 36”
- Foxgloves B, 6’
Then came seed starting! and although mistakes were made (click for unfortunate video evidence) our garden committee persevered, and we have SEEDLINGS!!!
We also have more seeds germinating and are nearing our final frost date, which means that soon ourselves and Tenderpaw will be getting grubby in the garden, popping seeds/seedlings in the ground, and will be one step closer to realizing our dream of creating our very own secret garden.
Happy seed starting!
Selkie Fae