Saturday Snapshot–Spring Flowers

My flowerbeds have been bursting in colour the past few weeks. Here are a few snaps I’ve taken recently:

Yellow-tipped red tulips. Alas when I went out this morning, the colourful petals had mostly dropped or were blown away in the wind.

Pasque Flowers–started blooming at Easter and still looking beautiful

White bleeding hearts (taken this morning)

and the pink bleeding hearts (also today’s photo)

and one more, a flower so strong in scent that it stays in the garden- the purple hyacinth (finished blooming now)

I’d love to see your flowers too.

 

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see.

Saturday Snapshots

Photo from a recent garden tour.

Saturday Snapshots, from Alyce At Home With Books

A garden tour– columnist David Hobson

David Hobson, gardening columnist for the Waterloo Region Record, offered a tour of his backyard garden recently. All he asked, when he announced the tour in his weekly column, was that guests bring a toonie for the Food Bank for the privilege.

I met Hobson for the first time when I was a relatively new writer.  He came to talk to writers at our local chapter of  the Canadian Authors Association. He talked about the business of writing a book, as well as dishing out some garden humour and selling his book on gardening. After all, he was not only a writer; he was also a serious gardener. And when one writes a book such as this, one is perceived to be an expert.

I bought his book, Diary of a Mad Gardener, that evening and gave it to my parents as a gift. That’s a number of years ago and now as out-of-print books go, it has been turned into an ebook.  I could borrow the book from my mother’s shelf and read it, for while my parents are avid gardeners, they also hang onto a good book, even after reading it cover to cover and chuckling over the garden humor.

I’ve been on a previous tour of Hobson’s garden; we gardeners like to change things around in our yards, and we also know that gardens evolve in time according to how things grow or don’t grow, and so when my neighbour, Flora, asked if I’d like to go on the tour with her, I said, “Yes!”

We showed up on the Sunday afternoon, walked through a sheltered arbour covered with plants and were welcomed by David’s partner. We threw our toonies in the bucket and took our time wandering the paths. There was much to see and much more than I’ll write about here, where I’ll just give you some highlights. A reason to go  on the tour next year.

This watering can won’t work to water other plants anymore, but it makes a great container for a flowering plant to spill out of. Watch for more whimsy in his backyard.

Flowering plant growing up a tripod. Anyone know what this plant is called?

Hydrangea’s large  pink blooms

I love these purple and white beauties.

These flowers are  gorgeous too.

There was a vegetable garden in the back which we could peek into and not enter. I wonder if he ever has issues with rabbits or other four-legged creatures eating his vegetables.

A pond with the gurgle of moving water and fish swimming around the lily pads.One lily is in bloom.

 Here’s a unique touch to the garden: hens and chicks growing on a cement hat.

I  zoomed in on this flower stalk. I have purple coneflower in my garden, but not this yellow beauty.

Coreopsis in my garden has green leaves and not silver as these flowers  have. We asked about flower species or names of plants and David gladly answered our queries.

The gardener/writer David Hobson reading something. A gracious host in his garden. The tour was well worth the time.

Gardens Growing

After all the spring rain and cold, it seems we jumped headlong into summer, with heat and dry conditions. This is when I’m glad to have planted mostly drought tolerant plants. Gaillardia and coreopsis are in bloom now, with daisies, with tight-fisted buds, soon to open. One small bluebell has bloomed, tucked between the cotoneaster.

A friend and fellow editor has offered me bluebells, which I’m delighted about. The ones I have are few. Bluebells have such a delicate small flower.

I showed my 21-month-old granddaughter some of the flowers when she was visiting last evening.  I picked a tiny pink blossom from the scented geranium and a small white one from the snow in summer. She put them to her nose and then wriggled free.

“Mommy,” she said and hurried to show her mother, tiny flower in little fingers.

bluebell coming up through cotoneaster

gaillardia, as pretty as ever

scented geranium

lance-leaf coreopsis

daisies, soon to bloom

geranium and bacopa in planter

Orange tiger lilies will soon open and the sedum is spreading thick leaves. There’ll be more flowers coming soon—good for another update here.

The tomato plants are in a different place this year, as in crop rotation— I learned well from my father.  There are blossoms on the plants. Even the basil has grown enough to harvest some leaves. Alas my cucumber plants have been nibbled by some hungry small critter or bugs. Not bunnies, for we have a new fence around that space.  Whatever has been nibbling the cucumber plants ( 2 plants left of the original 6) also has cultured tastebuds and has nibbled off both basil and beans growing there. Maybe they’re hungry, as Tyler said, and will eat whatever they find.

It’s Spring!

I don’t know what it is about spring that gets me so excited. Is it warmer weather? Is it the earth bringing forth new life after a long winter? Or is it getting my hands in the dirt and creating a pretty flower bed. I’ve always appreciated spring, and maybe it’s all three reasons.

The paperwhite narcissus have bloomed and are looking rather limp now. We’ve got hundreds of muscari, some of which will be culled and thinned out when they’re done blooming.

Picking weeds is a necessary task, but there is also picking off old blossoms and stirring the soil around plants. And after some clean up in the beds and digging up the garden area,  I could not resist getting my camera and taking some pictures.

Paperwhite narcissus, drooping a little, but still delicate and lovely to look upon

  Daffofills lifting their faces to the sun

Tulips, planted last fall, and grape hyacinths (muscari)

  Pasque flower that I planted last year, but it didn’t bloom until this spring. I think it just needed to get settled in.

The bleeding hearts flowering

I look for plants that are drought tolerant and need little care. That way I can enjoy my garden in the summer and know that the plants will survive even when it’s hot and dry and a watering ban to adhere to.

I recenly purchased Kim Burgsma’s book, Almost Eden, and look forward to learning more from her about garden design that honours  creation. The book was endorsed by Mark Cullen, a gardening guru; he writes in her opening pages that “the photographs alone are worth the price of the book. To see her book, go here. My sisters and I gave a copy of the book to our mother who looks forward to reading it and looking at the pictures too.

Happy gardening!

Signs of Spring

Spring may be dawdling in its appearance, but there are signs of it coming. Here’s a lone crocus in my flower bed.

The narcissus and daffodils have opened too, and tulip stems have emerged from the soil, waiting for the right time to open their buds. We’ll have plenty of tulips; I planted a whole bagful of them in the fall.

This morning, my husband spotted some ducks in our backyard. I’ve never seen ducks there and wonder how far they travelled.  Alas the photos did not turn out. After I returned from a Business Associates Breakfast, I saw a brown rabbit in our yard—an adult perhaps looking for food for its young. And there have  been squirrels digging in flower beds. So that’s where they hid the nuts and seeds last fall!

I’ll post more photos as the tulips come into bloom.

Flowers in bloom

Zinnias. Mom had a row of these in her garden every year to add colour to the space. They seem to tolerate the heat. Will see how they manage the well-drained soil.

Gaillardia, also called blanket flower, blooming in several parts of my garden. They bloom in late May and continue all the way to September, even in drought and sandy soil.

Candytuft, a new plant for my flowerbeds. I look for drought-tolerant plants wherever possible.

daffodils, hyacinths and other pretty flowers

Daffodils

The flowers are blooming, especially the daffodils. My husband noticed how they seem poised to look in every direction. I hadn’t really thought of that before.

The hyacinths and narcissus [shown last post about gardening] are past their prime blooming time, but they were attractive a week ago.

The daffodils share a bed with grape hyacinths and snow-in-summer. I love the mix of yellow, purple and white in the same flower bed.

Grape hyacinths have come up by the dozens. Snow in summer nearby too, just starting to open.

The bearberry [uva ursi arctostaphylus] has little red buds, and the bleeding heart is set to open its many blossoms.  Photos of them another day. How I love spring!

an environmental approach

A fellow editor, who also happens to be a good writer and serious environmentalist, is also a talented photographer. From time to time, Paul shares those photos with us. This week, he posted new photos on his blog.  Signs of early spring— the blossoms on a cherry tree.

Like Paul’s cherry blossoms, we wait all  year to see the offerings of spring, some that last only days.  We had a catalpa tree in the backyard at our previous house. The blossoms were white, resembled apple blossoms, but were much bigger, and they only lasted a few days before turning black.  I love spring, when the plants and trees come back to life, when the crocuses, daffodils and tulips make their appearances.  Yet such beauty and balance in nature is so easily destroyed.

Paul is also a volunteer of an educational organization called Stream of Dreams that helps preserve the life in streams. Go here to learn more. I was impressed with his actions earlier this spring when someone washed a car, allowing the soap and chemical-laden water to run off  into a local stream.  The toxins polluted the water, killing many fish.

I knew from Paul’s email to our group that he was frustrated and upset, but true to his cultured approach, he used the resulting media attention to teach, rather than scold. On that website, he offers a list of do’s and don’ts for readers to take to heart and act on.

Paul may live across the country from me, but that doesn’t matter. I appreciate his volunteer efforts to preserve water quality, and the life in it. If each of us acts wisely in our own spaces when it comes to our environment, we’ll be a lot healthier for it, and so will our children and grandchildren.

Spring– and the plants are coming to life!

April 2, 2010.

I love spring! After the long winter sleep, plants come back to life. I check my garden nearly every day to see what is sprouting, what is making its reappearance. The daffodils make me smile. They remind me of sunshine.

The trees started budding two weeks ago, tiny shoots on branches that are getting a little bigger each day. Red buds on our maple tree out front will eventually sprout green leaves. There’s signs of new life on the cottoneaster, red berries over a week ago, crocuses come and gone, new leaves on other perennials. The sedum, a  gift from a friend who moved away, is also making a comeback.

I look forward to rooting up some plants and transplanting them to a new location— a new bed in the backyard— and when I can fill some bare spots with  new perennials or perhaps a few annuals. Now is a good time for clean up and trimming. The transplanting must wait, even if it’s tempting in  this balmy weather this Easter weekend.

I’ve been studying gardening books; I’m making  plans. My fingers itch to dig and replant, but that will have to wait. For now, I watch and wait.