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.

Spring has Sprung

Spring is officially here as of Sunday past, but it has been a very cool few days and nights. The snow is slowly receding. 

The snowdrops have fulfilled their role as the first harbingers of spring, with some crocus in a snow-free bed not far behind.

James has decided to tap a few maple trees and make a little maple syrup. The theory being that Ava should know from whence the syrup for pancakes comes.

The sap flow hasn't been too speedy with all the cold days, but enough for one "boiling down" session.

An old metal barrel was found to house the fire, a metal grate for the top, and lots of wood to keep it going.
We are finishing the first syrup in the house. 
We strained the boiled down sap through a rinsed J-cloth before finishing the boil.

Here is some of the finished product, ready for Ava's pancakes.

I expect it is almost time to pay a spring visit to the Sugar Moon Maple Farm up in Earltown. Their procedures are a bit more refined than ours!

Nosing towards April

This almost last day of March is wonderfully mild after a few very cold, snowy days. The snowdrops are looking a lot happier than they were a few days ago!

Most of the recent new snow has disappeared and hopefully the forthcoming rain will be warm enough to remove the remaining patches.

The edges of several beds in the back garden are still snowy.

Navigation down those hilly areas is still a bit tricky.

It would seem to be a rather "nosey" type of day.

I was surprised to see the Crown Imperial Fritillaria poking through. Also a few Allium....they seem to pop up everywhere!

The rhubarb always looks ready to proceed.

There are quite a few patches of crocus brightening up the day, with many more still in the "nosey" stage.

The winter appears to have been quite kind to all of the rhododendrons and other evergreen plants.

These little plants in the Oak bed have come through unscathed, as have the Janet Blair/ pachysanthum plants in the Holland bed. Some of them often get some winter burn.

The first of this season's seeds got planted yesterday. We will have to get back in the "checking under the lights" mode.

It has been a bit of a toss-up whether Bill would rack off blueberry wine or go out to do a bit of raking.

The trees have deposited vast quantities of debris in various parts of the yard.

Another Small Step

Before the last couple of wet days, we had a chance to look over the yard in the sun.

Bill chose to start on the "pick up" of woody debris that is always a harbinger of spring here.

Winter winds prune the birch trees all too well.

The sun had the various crocus patches absolutely glowing.

These Crocus ancyrensis hold the glow record" as far as I am concerned.

It was lovely to see many other groups popping up with full colours in effect or at least a hint.These dark purple crocus amongst the lamb's ears are one such group.

There are still some snowy areas. The back hillside with the 2004 nursery bed is still very wintry. It would also appear that the wooden framework around the bed has succumbed to heavy snow. That bit of structure was (is)destined to be removed this spring anyway.

Anywhere the snow has disappeared there are emerging shoots of one thing or another. These big noses belong to a species Peony seedling that blooms long before the "regular" peonies.

The cats have been keen on being outdoors this spring. Voodie came along for the walk.

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!