The Cecropia Moth Emerged

 I was very excited to find that the Cecropia moth that made a cocoon in a rose bush last fall has emerged. The rose bush was in line to get snow from the roof and was in a very exposed spot so before the cold weather came  I cut the rose stem with the cocoon  and leaned it up against a tree where it would be more protected. I think the moth must have just emerged shortly before I saw it this evening as it was resting on the cocoon and still looked a little curled.

As you can or maybe can't see, it isn't in a very obvious spot. It is about a third of the way down in the photo.

It was starting to get dark so the picture is a bit fuzzy from the low light but you can see its beautiful markings and fluffy red antenna.  It is, according to Wikipedia, the largest moth in North America although I guess it depends on which way you are measuring because I think a luna moth would be longer.
I had been checking the cocoon every day as I had read the moth emerges at this time of year but I really didn't think that I would see the event.

Is That 2m Apart?

 The flowers obviously did not get the memo which is nice because flowers 2m apart would be a little disconcerting.  I think these are Darwin tulips.  I find the tall late varieties and the short early ones are the best for coming back over a few years.  The medium sized ones don't do well for me in that regard.

 The forget-me-nots make lovely clumps in random spots around the yard. I like the way some of the plants are blue, some pink, and some white. Seeds from a white one won't necessarily make a new white plant. Don't know what accounts for the colour variations.

 This dandelion just looked so lush and bright I thought it should get a spot in the limelight. It has 12 flowers ( 2 past their prime).

I have several bleeding hearts around the gardens but this one is just busting at the seams with flowers. A friend gave me a bleeding heart plant over 15 years ago and I have divided it multiple times. This is one of the divides.

These violets are special because they came from my grandmother who also loved to garden.  She particularly liked roses and used to keep cut ones in her fridge to give to visiting friends and family. She was a no-nonsense lady and when she got too old to garden herself, she spent many happy hours bossing around some poor high school student who ventured to make a couple of bucks weeding and watering.

Air Plants - Tillandsia

My daughter gave me a lovely collection of air plants - Tillandsia- for Mother's Day. They are not planted in soil and can be placed anywhere as long as they get filtered bright light and good air circulation. Some people mist them, but others advise to soak them once a week for 15 mins.  I'm going with the soaking method using distilled water. Once in a while a mild solution of fertilizer can be added to the soaking water to feed them, but for the most part they are happy just to hang out.  The taller one is starting to bloom and after it flowers it will die.  However, it will probably make some "pups" which can be removed and grown on.

Spring Sprinkles

 April and May in Ontario are always unpredictable months in terms of temperature. It can be summery warm or like this morning, rather chilly!

 The snow is already melting .  It looks quite pretty on the plants like a dusting of icing sugar.

 This will be the first year in a long time that I have delayed planting the garden this long. It will continue to be chilly over the weekend and warm up next week. I have some very overgrown tomato plants in the house.

The cold temperatures are putting the kibosh to the black flies for now. They had just started when the temperature dropped.  I'll be interested to see if they are just delayed or if their season will be shortened as it is some years.

No Worries in the Garden

 

 The chilly spring weather hasn't affected the bloom time of the wild flowers or the spring bulbs.
The dogtooth violets are blooming and the trilliums will open up next week as per usual.

 The windflowers are low to the ground and gradually spread around.

 The drumstick primrose is quite tough although I lost one to a chipmunk.

 Blue scillas are popping up everywhere.

Daffodils are great as the squirrels and chipmunks don't eat them.  They will multiply but you usually have to divide them to get good blooming over the years.

 This bright yellow primrose always blooms before the other primroses.  It's really vigorous and a bit unusual in that it has multiple centers .

 I planted a small pan of microgreens.  A youtube video suggested including some radish in with the lettuces.  I also tossed in some basil seeds.  The young radish leaves are quite tasty.

The pink Chinese celery got planted outside yesterday. I find it quite decorative.