A Glorious First Working Day

Today was a very lovely spring day, so I made my first foray to do a bit of garden work. I find doing a few necessary pruning jobs and some raking reminds my body it hasn't done this sort of thing for awhile. I take quite a casual approach. It is sort of pretending I am really not working!
Bill has started his annual debris raking and will soon get the tractor and wagon going.
Even though there are still some snowy spots, things are drying up very well. It was dry enough to sit on the ground and give a patch of lavender a bit of a trimming. It always looks a bit pitiful at first.
The long bed beside the driveway got most of my attention. The buddleia, and roses got a good cutback. The roses don't appear to have much winter damage other than some serious bending. They all got quite serious haircuts. Our rose thicket isn't very refined at the best of times. These hardy shrub roses will take quite a lot of abuse.
We have a rather out of control Dorothy Perkins on the front arbor that needs some attention soon. Canes are flapping around and will have to be aimed to the actual structure.
It is heartening to see the many little shoots of the Glory of the Snow starting here. They will be out in a few more days.
The only one fully out is in close to the foundation.

The crocus and snowdrops are most prominent now. It is interesting how they spread themselves from year to year. These pastel toned ones are among the crowd under the PeeGee hydrangea at the front. There are still a lot of deep purple ones to come along.

This big patch of white crocus really should be in another spot, but I am not about to move them.

We're sure there are patches each year where there were none the year before. Some of the nicer snowdrops are in the little bed in the front yard.

We saw the first robins yesterday and a flock of red polls came to visit this morning. As long as we have the bird feeder set up outside the dining room window we have squirrel visitors. They are cute, but we are always concerned they may decide to take up residence somewhere we don't want them to be. 
























Some persuasion to relocate may be in order.
A sure sign of spring is actually having water in the pond. Most of the ice has gone. I think I heard a small sound of a frog or toad today, but we need a few more warm days before there will be the usual activity and noise.

We have a perennial supply of duckweed in our pond. It is, perhaps, the result of too much organic debris. The Hellebores are pushing up their spring blooms. Both the patch of purple and the pink and white ones seem okay. 

The leaves are very flat, but at least are not black.

The sap was still running some today, James may get one more "boil" done. We finished about a litre or so of syrup yesterday.
The time is fast approaching to get started with Plant Sale preparations. If all goes well, we will have our sale the weekend of May 14 & 15. It is all quite weather dependent.

Last Day of March - First Garden Walk

We have finally been blessed with a nice, sunny, relatively warm day. I decided to try for a walk through part of the garden out back. It is still an interesting mix of snow and bare patches.
There is a lovely little patch of Crocus "Tricolour" blooming near the house.

I guess you could call this a "circle of sedum" along the path.

 The Octoberfest bed has a bit of one end bare so there were Crocus ancyrensis up and blooming there.

They are always the first to emerge as the snow retreats.They are brighter than bright!

The rhododendrons and azaleas are still very buried in snow in many places. This azalea is quite bent over. Hopefully it will spring back up when the snow leaves. I didn't look too closely to see whether there were broken branches.

These rhodies in the 2003 nursery bed and beyond are still basically buried. It would appear there may be almost 2 feet of snow in a few places. A walk in that direction can wait.

The potato pit also looks like it will need several more warm days before it could be accessed. We typically gain access during the first week of April(stay tuned!).

Some of the rhodies in the oak bed are looking very nice, and overall there doesn't appear to be any winter damage with respect to burnt leaves. This is a lovely indumented little plant grown from some no-ID seed . It is likely a R. pachysanthum cross.

Rhododendron 'Northern Starburst' is looking very good. Most of the center part of the Oak bed is bare, but still snow along the edges. Note there is a  teeny rhodie still surrounded. I expect that is one of John Weagle's diminutive crosses.

James is busy boiling down sap again today, after a bit of a hiatus due to several very cold days with negligable sap flow. Today and tomorrow ought to yield reasonable amounts.

Marching towards Spring

This is the first beautiful sunny day we have had in awhile. It seems possible spring might not be too far off. With temperatures just above freezing, the sap should be flowing today. The fine folks at Sugar Moon Farm in Earltown are likely "in business".

All in all this winter has not been too onerous.

February really went by without huge wintry incidents and temperatures were quite mild.

Seed orders have been sent off and actually received in some instances. This winter we have not had any seedlings on the go, so a spring start will have to do.

We have been quite busy getting the first round of seed orders for The Atlantic Rhododendron & Horticultural Soc. packaged up. and mailed out. The 2010 Seed Exchange is now open to the public, and will be until ~April30, 2010.

The list has been updated to show any items that are sold out.

Magnolias have been very popular this year.

We still have not been able to get Highspeed internet service, so have been going along at our usual snail's pace. Being in a "signal hole" is not a nice thing.

We had quite long periods when the heavy snow and ice crept off the roof in an approximation of an avalanche. 

Every once in awhile there would be a roar as large pieces fell. The chickadees were always in an ice shadow. 

The remnants have been melting a bit day by day. Quite big icicles are there now. There hasn't been a day warm enough for the whole bulk to fall.

A Week of Ups and Downs

We could be talking about the weather, or our ability to get outside and do some spring chores.

We were blessed with a few rather pleasant days, followed by the inevitable threat of snow, rain, real snow, and then cold winds.

Last Friday we accessed our potato pit and removed part of the potatoes and the bucket of carrots stored there.

It was a lovely day with lots of wonderful crocus in full bloom.

I had a brief respite to attend The Celtic Thunder concert in Halifax, which was very enjoyable. The audience seemed to be a very mixed crowd......from the "oldies" like me to young people who were very enthused. It was very well done, and wisely included Rita MacNeil's "Working Man". Halifax and Sydney were the beginnings of a Canadian tour.

We had a brief chat with one of the "transport" guys who found Sydney to be a very quiet town but thought Nova Scotia was a beautiful place.

I seem to be having a very "Irish" touch the last few weeks, from the Black Donnellys to some CBC coverage of the Irish heritage of Quebec, and the history of the Titanic's origins in Belfast.

To my knowledge, I do not have any particularly strong Irish roots.

We had a brief wander through some of the Rhododendron Nursery beds yesterday. We are debating whether we will bother with a sale jaunt to the ARHS Member Sale this year.

It would be a lovely thing if we could encourage more Members to pay us a visit here, and perhaps relieve us of some of the many surplus Azaleas and Rhododendrons.

There are a lot of broken branches here and there courtesy of harsh winter storms.

The cold days aren't overly encouraging. It will be a while before we can tell if there is much bud damage. Cautious optimism would seem to be the order of the day.

The Cat Walk

The Wednesday walk had lots of company. Jodi, Voodie and Slayer accompanied me on the stroll.

Cats have a tendency to always be looking the other way. They are having a little "meeting" in the front perennial bed where today I found some actual flower buds showing on a group of Hellebores

Both have been spending more time outdoors than usual, but still want to come in and out a dozen times a day. It may be too wet, too cold or just too dull.

Slayer was crawling about a group of rhodies.We investigated the broken down nursery bed framework. There are a some nice looking rhododendrons in various places. This one is in the 2001 area. I didn't investigate its pedigree.

There are a few that really need to be "purged".

Every day is showing more springlike conditions. This was the first time we had seen the garlic shoots. Not very photogenic!It is quite amazing how quickly these little bulbs pop up and come into bloom. The Eremurus noses are showing. I hope they don't freeze.Today I actually did some gardening work. Not much, but enough to get a start on the pruning, and the aching body. Each year seems to be very much like the one before. Perhaps we are just too dull!

A Whoosh of Spring

High winds and rain have magically brought us a glimpse of "real" spring. Part of this day was spent doing a little transplant job of the first seedlings under the lights. Basil, parsley, petunias, thyme and Buddleia were moved to bigger quarters. Jodi and I had our first real walk about in the back garden areas. The lovely little patch of Crocus Tricolor are in full bloom. It is about 15degrees Celsius today.

It is now possible to walk on some of the garden paths without wading through snow. The little Crocus ancyrensis are always ready to leap into bloom the instant the snow has receded. It is amazing how much warmth is felt on the leafy debris here on these beds. Some of the paths are still very snowpacked, but that should change in the next few days.The snow has left the potato pit, so we can access that anytime we feel inclined. There are many Snowdrops anywhere the snow has left their beds.Even the noses of the Crown Imperial Fritillaria are poking up. We were wondering what had become our the planter barrel at the bottom of the driveway.... it was slightly upended by the snowplowing efforts. No harm done, it seems. I always hope to see signs of the Hellebores in the early spring, but they are never very swift. This little hint is all we were able to see for now. The other patch is still snow-covered. There is always a lot of debris lying about, so nothing looks very tidy. Bill will be out with his rake any day now!

At least we have "technical" Spring

Not the "springiest" sight on earth. March 20th has come and gone. Spring has to be more of a state of mind than a state of weather here at the Willow Garden.

There has been enough sun and a few moderate days to partly rid the driveway and part of our pathway of treacherous ice.

There is still a heavy layer on the path at the front which never gets enough sun to help in its demise. Time and higher temperatures will have to do the deed.

The snow has receded here and there, so the typical spots where some snowdrops appear are getting uncovered.

I saw a few little crocus shoots in the bed by the corner of the house. 

Inside we have some seedlings emerging, and the various peppers got planted today. The prospect of Hot Peppers should warm us up a bit. 

We always grow a nice hot one called 'Ring of Fire'. They do quite well, but I have been growing them in big pots or planters for several years. I think they get a btter chance at heat than when in the ground. At the end of the season we can bring them into the sunporch where they continue to ripen to a beautiful red. Dried, they can be used as is or ground up to make a VERY potent chili powder.

I have saved a bunch of the seeds from these, and they do grow into a good pepper, although they are a bit different from the parent. If anyone wants to try some, let me know.

This week we gave a "sharing talk" to the local Garden Club on seed starting. While we there we tried to pawn off some seed for some annual red poppies that were sent to us by a seed recipient. He sent us MANY seeds he had collected last season.

I don't usually DO annual poppies, so these were and are still up for grabs.

This week we also attended an interesting talk on Greenhouses given by Henri Steeghs from Pleasant Valley Nurseries. It was the first of a short series of talks to be given. The next is outlined below.

Gardening Workshops - Using Nature in the LandscapeThursday, April 16, 7:30 p.m. at the Town Council Chambers, 274 Main Street.

The Antigonish Public Library will present the second in a three part series on gardening in partnership with Antigonish Sustainable Development and the Fresh Air Society.  Topics to be covered will include comparisons between human built and natural landscapes, plant communities, plant establishment and more.

Our plans to give a couple of classes in the Spring Line-up for County Recreation are getting underway. 

A Computer Basics (The sequel) course is to start March30, 7PM at St. Andrews Junior School. There are still a few spaces open for that one.

The two session Gardening Course is slated for May and will be here at our garden.

There is info about these courses on our website.

Semblance of spring

We have been enjoying several nice days this week, and the crocus took full advantage....popping up in many places...this early Crocus ancyrensis is among the most vivid. Without them things would be very dull. Various other patches were also doing their thing. It was the first day that I saw bees among the crocus. These paler yellow ones are called 'Romance' I wish the Snowdrops wouldn't always have such droopy heads.....Our pond is approaching an "ice-free" state. The many Glory of the Snow are just poking their little noses above ground.....can't wait for them to appear enmasse.