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.