The winds they are a-changing

............but not fast enough for me. They've moved to the southwest and brought a bit of rain, but they're still blowing at 35 km/h and though its a little warmer, its not enough to satisfy my joints. As you can see below, the fish pond is ready to go (but still too cold for the fish). As you can also see, the plum tree is in full bloom. I especially like the way it looks at night. It's too bad its a singleton and never produces fruit. I've had only one plum in the eight years I've been here. If I could find someone to tell me if its a Japanese or a European I'd get it a partner, but even the garden places tell me they can't distinguish between the two. I guess I could buy one of each and go from there, but then I'd still have one without a partner and have to buy one more.

Windy Wednesday

My computer was "hors de combat" for a few days. A very nice young man came to my house and took it away. When he returned it, it had only the most basic "things" (thats a technical term in our house) in it. Its taken me most of the week to put other "things" back and restore some semblance of order. The nice young man managed to rescue every single picture, and I've now backed everything up so I won't lose anything if it happens again. He said it might and that I need to consider a new hard drive sometime in the near future. Of course, I took time off to plant the garden--potatoes (two kinds), beans (4 kinds of climbers), okra, onions, peas, carrots and beets, two kinds of zucchini, and a whole whack of other kinds of squash. Now if it would just warm up--I had to cover the cherry trees, and the one apple that is ready to bloom, last night because it was set to be -1 with the wind. Its been cold again today with a wicked cold west wind (30 km/h with gusts up to 52 km/h), but the temp won't go below 10 degrees or so so everything is safe for the nonce. It sure doesn't feel much like its going to ever be spring, but the pansys below are trying to tell me otherwise. They're a new addition to the flower bed by way of Margo next door. I helped her re-arrange her flower beds a week ago and she let me dig these out of her lawn and bring them home. I think their little faces are about the most cheerful thing in the yard right now. I'll be posting more pics tomorrow--cherry blossoms (at long last!!) and the plum tree is in full bloom too.

And all the rest

There is a lone hyacinth in one flower bed, and another in another flower bed. These are new flower beds where there was grass until three years ago. I didn't plant them, they just appeared. I imagine that years ago there might have been flower beds in those areas that were allowed to go to grass and these bulbs just lay dormant under the grass till I took it away. They came up last year and the year before and I assumed they were tulips of some description till I saw the buds. They're quite pretty. There are also a huge number of grassy looking sprouts that have come up along with the hyacinth. They've never bloomed and I was going to get rid of them if they didn't bloom again this year, but, lo and behold, some of them have produced buds this year. I'll probably have photos of daffodils in the next week or so.

The pink bleeding hearts are blooming early this year. They were planted two years ago, along with a white and a red. The red promptly gave up the ghost (or so I thought), and the white struggled to survive, but the pink took to the spot as if it had grown there from seed. Last year it started bloming in mid June and bloomed right through the summer. It even produced some seed, but the birds got them before they ripened enough for me to collect. You can see the white directly behind the pink, and in the upper right corner you can see the ressurection of the red. It appears quite healthy. I guess it did come up last year, but it was hidden behind the white which grew profusely but only produced a single rather pathetic flower stalk. Here's hoping they all bloom this year.

The gooseberry bush looks like its going to produce an abundant crop this year. I've put it in a cage so that it won't ambush my ankles as I walk by in the garden. It tends to want to spread along the ground, and its quite thorny. The cage will also allow the birds a place to sit while they eat the berries. They got most of them last year before they got dark and sweet. If there are enough for me this year I may try to make a jar or two of jelly.

We welcome a new addition to the north yard. A pear tree that we planted on Saturday evening. It seems quite happy with its new home as the leaf buds are opening nicely. No flowers, so no fruit this year. The nursery said it wouldn't fruit for three years or so, but they said the same about the apple trees and they gave us fruit the first year. There wasn't alot that first year, but both the Spartan and the Jonahfree did have a few apples on them. It looks like the Spartan will give a good crop this year if the blossoms don't freeze once they open, and provided the Jonahfree blooms to provide the necessary crosspollination. There are some crabapple trees in the area so I'll get some fruit regardless, but it would be a more sure thing if the Jonahfree blooms.

Monday Magnolia Madness

The magnolias are in full bloom. I'm always afraid they won't and then they do and its abosolutely the most marvellous sight (at least till the irises bloom, then THEY"RE the most marvellous sight (till the roses bloom, then. . . . .). They just get better every year. The white grows about 6-10 inches per year. The pink is slower and tends to want to grow autward rather than up. Weve only had one night of heavy frost since the buds opened and I had ample warning so we covered them with sheets.

tree sketch

Monday Morning Garden Blogging

The delphiniums are growing apace. They were started last spring and a few of them actually matured enough to bloom last fall. The blooms were paltry and few, probably because it was already October and very cold, but they were there. They over wintered well and are stocky hardy looking little plants. Can't wait to see what colors they are.


The lupins too are happy little plants. They were also grown from seed last spring and didn't look like much by fall. I didn't think they'd make it through the winter, but here they are, growing like weeds. I think they're pretty much all blue ones because the store bought seed didn't germinate nearly as well as the seed I collected from my own plant. Because I didn't think they'd survive the winter, I set some fresh seed in the cold frame over winter and those appear to have all germinated as well, so I'll be having plenty of lupins going forward.


The magnolias are in full bud as well. I always worry that they won't bloom, and they always prove me wrong. Its well worth the trouble of wrapping them for the winter to protect from the weight of the snow and from the winter sun. There wasn't much worry this winter about sun damage. Both the pink and the white magnolia disappeared under snow banks shortly after Christmas, and didn't reappear till mid April. I think the snow helped to protect them. I just hope we don't get a heavy frost so that all the buds get a chance to develop. I collected some seed last fall from the pink and I'm hoping to start a new one. Don't know what the chance of success is, but I'll try anyway.

colored pencil farm sketch

colored pencil waterfall sketch

colored pencil pond sketch

nude sketch

Monday Garden Blogging

The snow is still not all gone, but every time a snowbank disappears the crocuses are there. They are actually 2-3 inches tall under the snow, and it doesn't take long for them to bloom. The blooms actually last quite a long time too. The white one in the final picture is the same one I photographed last Monday. All the trees that survived the winter (we lost two--crushed by the weight of the snow) are in full bud. I expect to post some pics of apple and cherry blossoms in a couple of weeks.

nude sketch

sketch

sketch

landscape sketch

sketch