Light and Love

Light always disperses darkness.
Love always overcomes fear.

Let's celebrate light and love.

Merry Christmas and God bless you in the New Year.

Open the Curtains

Open the curtains,
Breathe a big breath,
Look closely at the wonder,
("Do not be afraid." Jesus).

Open the curtains,
Push lies to the side,
Gaze at the vast horizon,
("The truth will set you free." Jesus)

Japanese Anemone

 Looking a lot like summer but  today is simply an unusual warm sunny day in the midst of the regular cool fall weather.

 I finally have a good spot for the white Japanese anemone (Honorine Jobert). The soil is quite loamy, the situation pretty sunny and the roots are shaded by some nearby pulmonaria. It has lots of flowers for one plant and  fresh blooms this late in the season are always special.

 I wondered about buying this green echinacea (Green Jewel).  Why would I want a green flower? But I am finding I quite like it. The plant is sturdy and the flowers last a very long time. I'll see how it comes through the winter.

 The last few annuals. Nasturtiums are really vibrant in the fall although they bloom less with the cool weather.

 The very last sweet peas.  This year I saved seed pods so I'll see how they germinate next spring.

 Suprisingly this impatiens hasn't been nipped yet by our patchy frosts.

The rudbeckia are such stalwart flowers. Just behind them is a wood aster and to the side is a variegated phlox.

This coral bells gets interesting markings in the cool weather but in the summer it is a pretty boring green.  The flowers are sort of beige so not exciting on that front either. However, it is acting as a ground cover and it is tough so I'll keep it.

 Lamium adds brightness to the mostly brown leaves .

And spring is on its way...

Light Grey Squirrel

We have the usual black and red squirrels but this one is a lovely soft grey colour. He (she) is eating a bitternut hickory nut from one of the trees on our property. My tree book says that squirrels and chipmunks find the nuts bitter and don't regularly eat them but our little creatures seem to enjoy them. Perhaps they are an acquired taste.

Thanksgiving bouquet

 We received this most unusual lovely bouquet from our son and daughter-in-law for Thanksgiving.
All the plants were grown at Dahlia May Flower Farm near Trenton, ON and the arrangement was designed by the owner of the farm.

Every side is different and interesting.

Happy Thankgiving everybody!

Cecropia cocoon

Silly me - the cecropia caterpillar wasn't in a spider web.  It was beginning to weave its cocoon. This morning the cocoon looks pretty much done. Quick work. The rose bush branch it is on would be in a vulnerable position this winter as it could get hit with snow from the roof and also be subjected to the full blast of winter winds. I'll cut the branch and put it in a more sheltered position and hopefully be able to see the moth emerge next spring..
I found an excellent video on Youtube about the full life cycle of the moth. Check it out at "Complete Metamorphosis: A Cecropia Moth Life Cycle" by David Britton. Truly amazing to see a little beige egg end up as a gorgeous Cecropia moth.

Cecropia caterpillar

My husband noticed this cecropia caterpillar on the rugosa rose this morning. It's a bit tangled up in a cobweb but it is so big - about 4" long - that I doubt the web will be of any concern. We see one of these caterpillars or the adult moth only about once every 10 years so it is always special treat to see one. I just love the different coloured spots. The caterpillar makes me think of something a child would create out of playdough or perhaps a colourful baby toy.
It will hibernate in a brown cocoon over the winter and hopefully hatch out next spring as a beautiful big brown moth with striking eye-spots on its wings. It will only live about two weeks.

Belles of the Ball

Wide-eyed with anticipation

 Poised and posed

A word of gossip

 The mothers' curls

Big crinoline skirts

Arabesque

A room full of beauties

Spring Flowers

The first tulips are blooming.

The species tulips are short and make a good substitute for crocuses that the chipmunks eat.  The little yellow tulips slowly spread.

Stocks aren't always available at the garden centers. I think they look Victorian and they have a wonderful fragrance. Hot summer weather can stress them out of blooming but I will enjoy them while the weather is still on the cool side.

 I liked this unusual orange petunia. It's a little more orangey than the photo reflects. It's an E-Z rider variety which is supposed to branch more, and flop less.  We'll see.

A bright cheery calibrachoa.

A quiet woodland garden.

A pair of hummingbirds has been frequenting the pulmonaria. Normally any hummingbirds that show up in the spring are just passing by, but this pair is hanging around so maybe they will nest on the property. Bumblebees also like the pulmonaria and I witnesses a near miss mid-air collision between a hummingbird and a bumblebee. They both startled at the last second and veered away. Pretty funny.
I had put up a hummingbird feeder for the first time in ages even before I saw the pair. They haven't found it yet but I'm sure they will before too long.
The flycatchers have discovered that Pepper, the horse, attracts blackflies and they hang out around him and easily catch the bugs out of the air. Great partnership.
A pair of cardinals is also spending a lot of time near the house so maybe a nest with them, too.

Pulmonaria Variations

I have lots of pulmonaria plants but they all originated from a couple of plants that came from my mother's garden that came from her mother's garden. They've been growing for about forty years at our property (yikes! that's a long time!) and the last few years I've been noticing more variation in the plants.  The photo above is the typical bloom cluster with a range of purple and pink tones with fairly spotty leaves.

 Here's a plant with almost all purple flowers.

A cluster of cerise blooms.

 Two plants - one with darker pink, one with pale pink.

I like the delicate pink of this plant.

 The leaves of this plant have very little spotting.

 This one is very spotty and the spots are pretty round.

These spots are so intense they look raised.

And finally a plant where the blotches have blended so much the leaves are almost white.

Pulmonaria is easy to grow especially if you have heavy soil.  They like to be in partial shade and will droop in hot afternoon sun. They can get powdery mildew but it won't kill them. They are great for bumblebees in the spring. They can be too vigourous and spread more than you want, but they are shallow rooted and unwanted plants are easily dug up. Some people find the slightly prickly leaves irritating to the skin but I've never had issues with them.
Pulmonaria is one of my favourite plants.I think the spotty leaves are so cheerful and the spring flowers are wonderfully colourful after the dullnes of winter.

The mystery plants from the last two posts are orange campion. I'm absolutely sure about that! I didn't think they would make it through the winter so I kind of forgot about them, but they came through with flying colours. They'll bloom in late June.

The Recalcitrant Snowdrop

I was poking around in the gardens today and noticed a spot of white. The missing snowdrops! or rather snowdrop. Another set of leaves nearby may be another one. But the best of it is that it is a fancy double one although I had ordered the plain ones.

Isn't that pretty?

I think my mystery plant from last post is a phlox that happens to have red leaves when it first comes up. I actually have two of them. I must have bought them on the sale rack at the end of the season and I still can't remember what colour they are - probably red .

The Garden Wakes Up

The chipmunks left me a few crocuses. I like the way the pattern of the tulip leaf behind it mimics the pattern of the crocus petals.

 Sky-blue scillas are popping up all over the place. So pretty.

 Unless you flip them up, you don't get to see the beautiful turquoise stamens and the pale yellow center.

 Several wild mullein have shown up.  I will let them grow as they are in empty spots and I like the tall stalks with bright yellow flowers that will bloom later.

 Sometimes the daffodils get stuck in the leaves and need a hand getting free.
 I emptied out a gallon pot that had soil in it from last summer, and out flew a sleepy bumblebee. I looked it up online and found it is a tri-coloured bumblebee. It has a bright orange band around its middle. It was probably a queen , the only survivor from last year's colony. She will start a new colony soon which will have about 200 bees when it's mature. The pulmonaria is starting to bloom so there will be lots of pollen .

 Cheerful little clump of chionodoxia.

The weather has been on the cool side so the snowdrops have lasted for a few weeks. I planted a new patch last fall but no sign of it this spring so I guess my little furry friends ate them.  I didn't think they would. This patch has quite a bit of ornamental onion around it so maybe that has been discouraging the chipmunks.

I notice this plant a couple of days ago and can't remember what it is! It almost looks like baby lilies but from the soil it seems to be one plant. Hum...

In spite of our cool spring, there has been a lot of flooding around the various rivers in Ontario and Quebec. A significant bridge going in to Montreal is closed, and another one in Ottawa is also closed.
We had a good amount of snow but not an extraordinary amount, but we never had a real meltdown in January like we usually get so there is lots of snow melting now. We've also had several rainy days which, of course, doesn't help. We are fine because our property is well away from rivers and our bush absorbs lots of water, but many people in flooded areas are displaced. A small century old hydro dam in rural Quebec about an hour from here is at risk of failing and the authorities have evacuated all the people downstream.