Anticipation

Some people looks for signs of the apocalypse, gardeners look for signs of spring. And that's why we rock. 

Last fall--a late, beautiful fall--we went a little crazy planting bulbs. The spring before was very late and the few bulbs we did have were the only thing that sustained me. To ensure my sanity this year, I really stocked up last September.

What keeps me dreaming...

Now, wonders of wonders, we are having an early spring. (Thank the gardening gods, I must have been a VERY good girl this year to get both a nice fall and an early spring!)

Signs of spring abound. A robin AND a buttercup were spotted about 100 km south of here (the buttercup even made the news!), Canada geese have been flying over our city all week, and snow piles are melting. Yesterday, I was almost sure I saw some greening grass on a southwest facing slope.  

So, yes, the signs are here. However, I am the proactive type so I'm going to meet Spring personally. That's right, at the end of the month during my son's spring break we are once again off to Victoria, BC, to visit Spring at her home. I can. not. wait!!! Now, hopefully, when I come back, spring will have arrived ahead of me. :)

I hope you are all enjoying the anticipation this season brings. :)

I am where Spring lives

Spring break finally arrived & we packed up our little family and flew west to where Spring lives. I know you understand why I had to touch green, even for a little while, before I go back to our "SPRinter" season.

Wish me soft days.

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!

Saw something green emerging from the soil on the edge of a west facing garden bed today (not mine!), but thrilling just the same!

Although freezing temperatures are still ahead, spring is closer than she appears. I've already seen my first robin and a friend saw a Canada goose. Surely signs that warming is just around the corner here in the GWN. Two more days, people, then it's official!

Anyone else got that old Beatles song "here comes the sun" running through their head. :-)

Wordless Wednesday - Somewhere, Not Here

Mad as a March Hare

“With rushing winds and gloomy skies The dark and stubborn Winter dies: Far-off, unseen, Spring faintly cries, Bidding her earliest child arise; March!”
~ Bayard Taylor

Spring's voice is still faint here, but the rise in birdsong in the neighbourhood acts as an advance party.

I slipped away a couple weeks ago to an inspiration garden at a local garden centre. It was just the tonic I needed.

Dancing water, the freshest greens, white impossibly delicate blooms

Sweet displays that smiled winsomely, asking to come home with me (and did)

Oranges and lemons growing in profusion, heavy and fragrant

And a table set just for me. If there had been a teapot on it, I would have thought a March Hare had been expecting me - but that would just be mad. :)

Happy Spring! For you GWN gardeners, it's closer that it seems. :)

The bald guy and the flowers...oh, and a chicken

And no, I’m not referring to that strange man who wooed me back in the day… ;-)

I’m taking a photography course right now to get more out of my DSLR. So I just had to post my favourite photo from my most excellent weekend.



Ugly photo, you say? Well yes, yes it is – but it is of a bald eagle I spotted on Saturday! So that makes it a winner in my books. Sometimes the substance outweighs the style. I have a little secret place by the river I think of as my contemplation spot. I was there in January and spotted this fellow then. I have been back almost weekly and haven’t seen him since. Well, on Saturday he was waiting for me – on the same branch of the same tree! I couldn’t get any closer to him because of the terrain (hence the horrible shot) but it was still thrilling! I think we must be buddies now – should I name him? Any suggestions?

My weekend continued with its all-around awesomeness. On Sunday I went to Dim Sum with a group of friends (my darling hubby took our little guy to his “sea turtles” swim class) and then a couple of us headed off to a garden centre to see this year’s inspiration garden. (More on this later!). Here are some photos from last year’s garden if you need a boost of green delights.

Did I shop, I hear you ask? Of course I did! Silly rabbit...

I got myself these three little primulas [I've heard they are hardy - does anyone know if that's true?]


and got my little guy an inchworm foam kneeling pad for helping me in the garden this summer and a plush chicken dressed in a frog costume tied with a ribbon under his chin – too cute!


And on the way home I stopped at a second garden centre that carries a good selection of fountains at decent prices. Not that I’m planning any more shopping…nosiree…not me….whistling as I exit this post.

Hope your week of garden dreaming is going great!

Ray, A Drop of Golden Sun

This has been a glorious week of sunshine and melting. The earth is stirring.

The sap has begun running in my white spruce trees along the back of the property. If you click on this one you can see the reflection of the blue sky in the droplet.


The birds are loving it (and when I went down to the river today it was opening up and two geese were honking - they're baaaack!)

Last year's wild purple asters are gleaming their last stand before they are replaced by this year's growth.

And best of all - the great retreat is on! I can see mulched beds and lawn! This is the first spring we have seen this thrilling sight here as it was just last summer that we had the gravel (left by previous owners) taken out of the yard and good earth and beds and sod put in. Believe me, this is so much more exciting to see.

Welcome back garden! We are going to have so much fun together this year! :-)

In the Beginning...

Before anything else, there was hope. Then a dream. And now, it is time to plan and, when the snow melts, to take action.

I am a relatively new gardener with an urban lot that was given over by the previous elderly owners to swathes of gravel and clumps of grass struggling in hard clay.

There is a border of lovely mature spruce along the back and not much else. I want to change that.

You see, we had another house back in "BB" (Before Baby) and I became smitten with gardening. I will be learning as I go, but I am determined to bring this garden to life.

This blog will chronicle the changes to our northerly garden.

First of all, last summer, our first summer here, we took out the stumps that bordered the property and the falling down fence on one side. We got a new fence installed in early August so we would have a safe place to bring baby outside to play.

Because I simply couldn’t resist season-end sales, I bought a spiral Alberta dwarf spruce, two hydrangeas and a fernleaf bleeding heart in late August. I stopped myself there because there is just too much else to do before actual gardening can really begin.

Now I need to get rid of the gravel, bring in some topsoil and sod, and determine where my beds will be. Then I get to start planting.

Sound like a lot? It probably is, but that's what gardening is all about — digging in.

Check back as spring approaches here (no, not now, it’s only March and I have snow up past my shins out there). Let’s aim for April and I will update you as our plans and dreams begin to take shape.