At the Cottage

So, at the cottage, where I do most of my gardening, I'm eager to see things growing.  Thankfully, some faithful friends oblidge.The Arum italicum seems to grow these wonderful leaves in the fall just to liven up winter.  This dear clump is surviving well under a couple Hydrangea macrophylla.  Gotta move those arums!  And the little heaps of Snowdrops (Galanthus sp.) are beaming through the uncleaned up perennial bed.

The daphne mezereum is about to burst forth.  My reading indicates Daphne was brought to Nova Scotia by the Acadians.  My plants  came from Parrsboro, which is strewn quite liberally with them, in gardens and in the woodsy wild places about town. 

  So many other things are silently waiting for more of spring.  I am excited about this Magnolia. 

Planted it a decade ago when it was but a seedling I'd got at a Garden Club Convention.  The grower said it would be a surprise what colour it would bloom.  It never produced a single flower bud until this past fall.  Maybe ten are on this bush.  Now, though it's great to see the buds, I'm waiting to see if they have all winter-killed.  That's what seems to happen to the end of every single twig on this bush every previous winter.  :(  Here's hoping that the blossom buds are tougher!

   And I had one strange sighting while at the cottage a few days ago.  It's a bird?  It's a plane? 

No... It's a bat, in broad daylight.  5 pm.  Lost?  confused?  Sick?  Coming out of hibernation? 

Whatever... interesting to see it.  Better there than in my living room fluttering by.  Or bedroom.  Had that happen last year.

  OK, a couple parting shots: some surviving Puschkinia scilloides, I think.  Striped Squill.  I say surviving because they are struggling to make it through last year's undergrowth.  And an out-of-focus Winter Aconite, Eranthis hyemalis. 

Dead or Alive

Tis the season for everything to wake up all over creation, but the spring heat wave we've had has helped speed things along, I'm sure.  (25 degrees C, halfway between the North Pole and the Equator)  It's a gardener's intense time for inspecting every creature to see what will live, and what will not.  We always get surprised, don't we?  Last year, after leaving an Agapanthus in the ground over winter, it sprouted up and bloomed in the summer!  I like to think where it is planted is zone 6, not merely 5b, but I did not think it would keep on keeping on even in z 6. 

A little yellow rose of some variety, planted nearby, did not survive.  Who'd have guessed?  At this moment, the Agapanthus pictured above is being preserved in a corner of the basement.  I guess I did not expect a miracle two years in a row.  I wonder if it might be wise to go ahead and plant it right away?

So, even the botanical critters in the house are "springing" to life... or not.  The pot below, kept in a cool spare bedroom, is a fine example. 

The azalea - whatever the type is that stays leafy and can't survive anything like 5b - seems to have croaked during the winter.  Undoubtedly thanks to a dry spell I provided.  But, I'm thrilled about the twigs that are budding out here: Crape Myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica. 

Outdoors, one waits, hopefully, patiently, for the slower perennials and bushes to show signs of life.  How much of the Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans) will bud out, or has it died back near to the ground? 

Will this Aralia (Aralia cordata "Sun King") below be resurrected as it was last year, just when it looked as if it had totally rotted? 

 

As "life-and-death" as all this is, it sure is fun to watch and wait.  The plants that are already growing encourage us to hope for all the slowpokes.  We know there will be casualties, but for the moment, everything not yet sprouting is simply dormant.  :)

Welcome to my gardening blog.

Welcome to my gardening blog.  Spring started today; thought this would be the time to start posting. 

I think yesterday was the first day these opened, though I've seen crocus blooming nearby earlier.  And the snowdrops have been out for a good week or so. 

As you can see, the honey bees like the bird feeder as much as the crocus.  Not sure why that is.  And there is the promise of everything else yet to come. 

Let's see how long it takes before the deer eat these this year! 

And indoors many of the plants are happy, such as this calla.

I hope to blog mostly photos of the wonderful things that catch my eye.  Wish me luck!  I'm new to blogging, and rather new to my camera.  Happy Spring!!!