Who's next?

Traditionally, I think the pickwicks are up immediately after the zwanenburg bronzes. However, this is what the most mature of the pickwicks looks like.

And this is what I found in the front this morning. I think we've got a winning snowdrop, here. I should put snowdrops in the side; they'd be up and at 'em in February!

By the way, I took those photographs through sleet, which had previously been hail and will likely be snow later. Do I care? No. It is spring ... the crocuses don't lie.

Hello, yellow!

There have been hints of things growing once again in the side and front yards. Little tiny bud-noses poke out of the ground here and there.

Some are silly optimists who spring out of the earth in the fall and then spend the winter getting abused.

Some are just starting, like the not-bent-over stalks in the photo above.

Since today is the compost collection day around here and I had seen snowdrop buds elsewhere in town yesterday, I thought I might lift a few of the xmas tree boughs and see if anyone was, y'know, maybe about to flower.

I found a lovely pale green hyacinth starting beneath the piles.

The sweary one and I have been discussing what my requirements are for the garden starting on March 4. I say: yellow showing by that day and I'm a happy lady. The wonderful early Zwanenburg Bronze don't have to be open by then but showing yellow and I'm a happy lady.

Well, I am a happy lady. It's only March 2! They've got 2 free days to frolic in what hopefully will be sunshine. It was snowing ever so lightly as I took these photos, but it's supposed to improve as the week wears on.

Welcome back, garden! I'm looking forward to a good season with you this time around.

Snow day

We're having a snow morning (oh please, please, PLEASE let it be extended to the full day!) and I am reminded that March 4th is the big bloom day check. Earlier in the week, when the pine boughs were mostly exposed, I peeked underneath them and it seemed that there were a number of little shoots poking up. Now, of course, they're under several feet of snow, but March 4th is two scant weeks away, so they'd better get a move on! Maybe as I shovel, I'll give them some motivational talking-to.

Despite neglect

Despite the months and months of neglect, the side yard is still doing what it's supposed to. The lavender is blooming and the oregano/marjoram is, too. I was so pleased to notice that when I put the compost out this morning that I picked a stem and now my pockets and their contents smell pleasantly of lavender. What a delightful offshoot of taking the trash out.

Well, taking the compost out, anyway. The bin was so heavy that I could barely shift it. It goes out every 2 weeks, so this represents a good chunk of our leaf-sweeping. Hopefully the backyard is tamed now and we won't need to take much more out of there. The front we've only gone over once. My neighbour has about a dozen bags of leaves out this morning and there is a suspicious lack of leaves in the street and all around. I think he's been clearing for everyone. It's his style. We maybe should have a good go at our front and side, just to give the grass one last back-scratch before the freeze sets in, but there isn't anything that is in catastrophic need of clearing. The tree in front still has a good percentage of its leaves, anyway. The maple in back, on the other hand, is almost completely denuded.

Not much, but something

Well, the sweary one and I finally did deal with the garden. I think it was on October 4 that we went out and dug up the multitudinous weeds. What an improvement!

We had prepped the plot for the plot party the previous day. That meant pulling up lots of bits and bobs. We got rid of a good amount of rotting and bolted lettuce (but left in a few towering flowering lettuce plants ... they're awfully pretty) and we pulled up the last of the beans and we chucked a bunch of still-producing broccoli. Too bad it tasted so bloody awful, that broccoli. It grew nicely this year when other things sort of struggled. We threw away in the trash bins any tomato plants. They're all dreadfully blighted, but we got a good crop. Nothing ripe on the vine, though. The last of the tomato plants are still in the plot, but they're just nasty skeletons. They'll have to go into the trash cans when we have a few minutes.

We left the onions in to see what they turn into next year. We never thinned them, so probably this won't work, but they're looking healthy enough on top. I guess we can pull out what there is next spring and thin them a bit. It'll be like planting sets, right?

The side and front yards had been attracting bad things (notably, garbage) and when we finally tackled the mess, they were more weed than deliberate plantings. The weeds went crazy in the bit north of the chimney, and there were not that many in the front (even the new bit of the front) and the far south end. This presumably tells me something about the quality of the soil and the sunshine those parts receive. Unfortunately, I have nothing to do with the info because I am just not here on weekends. That's the main problem. I'm either travelling, prepping for travel, recovering from travel, or treasuring a day off in which I'm not travelling, prepping, or recovering. Hopefully December won't be so bad. But by then the ground and air will be too cold for gardening.

For next year: I really should carry out my scheme to plant mints where I need greenery but can't believe in flowers. They're so aggressive that no weed can survive the onslaught and wouldn't it be nice to have planted plants all around instead of weeds?

Side blooming

The herbs are blooming now. It's a treat (as I mentioned) to have the lavender flowering, and the thyme is flowering, too. The oregano will be blooming shortly.

A first

The lavender has flowers! I am very happy about that. I cut it back quite severely at the beginning of last summer and apparently that was a terrible mistake. It's now established enough to put out pretty little purple things and I'm a happy camper. But I am also so basically vicious and destructive in the garden that I am already thinking "maybe that means it's time to divide it". I should just lie back and enjoy the show.

Soon to bloom

The delphinium furthest to the south is going to bloom soon. I despair of seeing anything from the others. I think they're done for.

The day lilies will come out soon, too. And not soon enough, actually. The side doesn't have very much on the go.

Iris Eyes are Smiling

I am home in time to see the very end of the irises.

I am very sorry to have missed their peaks. I love the iris. The last of the white (bearded) iris flowers is lying somewhat disconsolately next to the pavement, begging for the end.

The last few siberian iris are still going, but so many have passed that I think we're going to see the last of them this week.

Popping In

I can't let a full week go by without adding something.  Lots of things are blooming.  The side looks great (I think).  I am busy and not up to much gardening.  I am ashamed of leaving things to slide.  I do not wish to document my negligence.  However, a week is a long time for me to leave this blog unwritten.  

In front, there is a pair of yellow tulips.   They are true yellow with a few brushes of red right at the edges.  The sweary one calls these "mustard and ketchup".   I don't remember these tulips from previous years, but they really must have existed in the past.  I certainly didn't put them in new last fall.

In the side, the wonderful old-style tulips right at the south end are all out.  I think there are more this year than there were last year.  This makes me tremendously happy.  I love these.  I wish I could remember their name.  I did plant them, I think, in an early year. 

The tulips I planted last fall are out now.  The "blue" (amiable blue) aren't blue at all.  Note the difference between the blueberry-juice colour of the tulips and the actual blue of the house.  I'm not complaining (much).  It's a wonderful colour.  It's deeper than shows up in pictures.  

The other tulips were Cairo and billed as gold.  I think that's a reasonable description of that colour.  I also think that they work well with the house colours.   I should remember all of those bits of red and keep these flowers away from pinks.  

I am happy with the tulips.  There is a variety.  They're lasting well.  After the first theft, they seem to be sticking it out.  It's a good time to be looking at the garden.  I wish I had more time and inclination to make it nicer.  

Clash

I remember now about these tulips.  Last year they were out at the same time as the orange-gold bulb irises and they clashed horribly.  

These white-rimmed pink ones, between the bulb iris patches, will presumably also clash with the golden orange irises when they emerge.  

These guys, next to the daffodils, are lovely, but not exactly perfectly matched side by side. Two of them have more orange than the other two.  Generally, I am in favour of pink and orange as a vibrant colour combo, but I think I might have to be a little bit more careful about tulip bulb positioning in the future.

I should remember this and move some bulbs next year.  Or cut them right away so that they don't have a chance to interfere with their neighbours.  But that does go against my philosophy.  

Splash of colour

The tulips, in various shades of bright pink, really bring the flower garden together.  They make it sing.   Even in the washed-out pictures I took this morning, I think that splash of red makes a world of difference.  

I am very much looking forward to meeting these tulips which aren't yet out.   I don't know what colour(s) they'll be, but so far it's exciting.

I am hoping against hope that all the tulips make it through mother's day unmolested and unstolen. 

Tickled pink

After weeks of me thinking that the tulips would be blooming "soon", the first tulips finally opened today.  Hooray.

Disappointment

The daffodils are so lovely right now that they are being stolen.  

Look at that!  Someone took a knife to it.  It wasn't some child passing by whose parents didn't arrive in time to tell it not to pick the flowers.  This was a deliberate theft.  It's such a disappointment.  It leaves me completely bummed out to find fewer stalks in the morning than there were the previous day.  

As they are, the flowers can be enjoyed by everyone, and that of course includes the woman who bought and paid for the bulbs, planted them, nourished them, pulled away the weeds nearby and did all that she could to make them nice.  Once they've been cut they start to die and they can't be enjoyed by anyone any more.  

I must say I'm very misanthropic at the moment.

Colours

I am happy with the variety of daffodils we have out at the moment.  There are more on the way, but I already like the white and yellow and variations in between.  

I also very much like the way that the grape hyacinths and daffodils are out at the same time.  That's good colour interaction in my book.  

Plus,  I think both compliment the new colour of the house well.  I'd hate to find a lot of clashing between the garden and the house.  

Bye-ya!

The hyacinths in the side are starting their decline.  Yesterday, they were leaning into the sidewalk and house like insouciant youth.  Today (which is much colder) they are a little bit more upright, like their grape hyacinth friends.  I love the way the grape hyacinths look like 18th-century wigs.  Sadly, not even the grape hyacinths looking so good can stop the inevitable decline of the hyacinths.

In stark contrast, the hyacinth in the front yard is still barely out of the ground, let alone in bloom or declining.

Maybe I should get more hyacinths for next year, too.  

Beautiful Fritillaries

The fritillaries are starting their serious blooming.  I think I'll get more for next year.  They are very nice.  I wish, though, that they were all coloured.  The first to bloom, while elegant enough, is a bit dull:

...compared to what it could be:

Whoops!

I pulled up these guys, thinking that they were grass. 

Are they baby bulbs?  

Morning rounds

No pictures at the moment; they all end up looking a bit similar after a while, anyway.  

The crocuses are quietly finishing in the front, as are the snowdrops, although there is still one at least in bud.  The front hyacinth is gradually emerging but not yet in bud.  The (presumed) lungwort is coming up all spotty and the mystery finger-leaf plant continues to flourish.  By the hostas there is something else I haven't yet identified.  The hostas, too, are coming up just fine.  No sign of the lily of the valley, yet.  The second of the white-edged leaf shrubs may well have bought the farm.  The allium is sending up shoots in slightly grass-like tufts.

On the side, the first of the fritillaries is really open (and lovely) and the hyacith keep going. The grape hyacinth are doing just fine but the main act at the moment is the daffs.  There are a few bunches open and a few more opening.  They're fantastic.  Soon to follow will be the tulips, which are now almost all showing buds.  The thing that might not be a delphinium next to the hyacinths has lost all of its leaves, so it might not be a plant much longer.   The bulb iris are growing leaves but not flower stalks yet.

For Mr. DeMille

For some reason, daffodils are personality-filled.  They have undeniable faces which they can turn demurely down, or toss back while laughing at the wind.  They face each other and sway like they're chattering and their bonnets and faces sometimes compliment, sometimes match.  This one was a bit of a nuisance to photograph and so I think she's ready for her close-up.