Over the weekend I got outside into the garden with the camera to take a few photos of the plants under the snow. Today we are expecting enough rain to wash away the white that has blanketed the garden out back, so I thought I would post a few wintery photographs before it’s gone completely. Even as I sit and type these words, the sound of rain drumming on the roof of our house is all I can hear.

The snow that fell on Saturday night was very fluffy and pretty. It sat, stacked on shrubs and seed heads around the garden.

I'm glad I left this rudbeckia intact over the winter.

My little helper was happy to be out back, digging. If he can’t have dirt and sand, he’ll take the snow.

Even the heads of the broccoli plant that I left in place looked cool. (More on broccoli, later…)

Now I’m off to brew another coffee and watch the snow melt. If only it were March or April…

Happy New Year!

I spent about twenty minutes wandering around in the garden this morning. We have had a remarkably mild winter so far with very little snowfall, and certainly not enough to blanket the yard and garden at all. We’ve had one very cold snap that lasted a couple of days, the kind of weather that prompts the City of Toronto to warn the homeless to take shelter indoors.

January Sage

My Pumpkin Experiment

What I’m trying to work out is how this strange weather will affect the garden this coming season. It might be a good year to try winter sowing.

What a bizarre year, weather-wise. I always hope for at least a dusting of snow in time for Christmas, and almost as soon as the clock strikes midnight at the end of Christmas Day feel ready for it all to melt and for the growing season to be upon us.

Even now as I write this blog post, I am looking beyond the lit boughs of our Fraser Fir Christmas tree to a rather bleak and dull yard that is being pounded by a driving rain, a rain that is trying very much to become freezing rain or snow.

We took Nate to see the Santa Claus parade for the first time this year, which was held on November 19th if memory serves correctly. As we walked to find a spot from which to best view Santa himself, I gasped as we came upon a cluster of cosmos still blooming in a church yard garden. I couldn’t believe it! I have never seen annuals growing so long into the fall before.

Nate also has continued to enjoy eating broccoli right off the stalk in our back garden, and there are also some violas, or johnny jump-ups in bloom in the back lawn as well.

If only spring will be as early to arrive as winter has been late!

Yesterday I went into the city to attend a plant swap (more on that later…) and when I got home, Graham had installed two new beautiful wrought iron hooks on the front porch. Hanging from those hooks were two of the most beautiful hanging baskets I have ever seen!

It’s May ninth. Three days ago it was 25 C here in Ontario and today there is a frost warning here in Durham Region! If you’re lucky like me, and you received annual plants as a Mother’s Day gift, give them a fighting chance at surviving the summer by bringing them inside today. Brr!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Last week we got another foot or so of snow…this winter has been very snowy!  Of course I took some photos of the back yard under all of that snow.

I looked through some photos of the garden and yard this morning and the contrast between these photos of winter and summer in the garden and yard is startling.

This photograph was taken on August 13, 2008.

And this one was taken on January 19, 2009.

The white stuff is pretty, but I miss the green!

It’s tough to write about gardening during a Canadian winter.  Most of the time I feel like my posts about snow and rabbits and Ontario back yard wildlife will be achingly dull.  Then I remember that some of you don’t live in this climate and may even find visions of snow drifts fascinating.  At least, that is what I am hoping for on this snowy Sunday morning as I post yet another photo montage of snow and bunnies.  And cats.

A couple of days ago one of our resident rabbits ventured out from its nest beneath our deck in search of a tasty morsel.  Since there were no tasty morsels to be found (I refuse to set out rabbit food for them in the winter…they need no more encouragement to stay), the rabbit found bird seed scattered beneath the feeder we keep outside the kitchen door.  Our two cats, Rudy and Farley, like to sit at that window and chatter to the birds they see flitting about the feeder and hopping along the ground, feeding.  I get as much entertainment out of watching the cats as the cats get out of watching the birds, I think.

The cats were absolutely enthralled with the rabbit visiting the side yard and excitedly dashed from side door to back window in hopes of getting a little closer.

Rudy kept smooshing his face up against the window…

…but the rabbit just sat there quivering.

Graham and I put up our Christmas tree yesterday.  This year we chose a Blue Spruce.  We both like the colour of this tree very much.  I noticed there were a few new varieties available in our local Rotary lot this year that I haven’t seen before.  In my family we’ve almost always had live Christmas trees for the holidays, but as an adult I recognize that there are pros and cons to bringing a live, cut tree into the house for our Christmas celebration.  I still think it’s better for the environment to buy a freshly cut local tree than to buy an artificial tree which will inevitably end up in landfill.  At least real trees are compostable.

You can see the garden out back through the window.  It’s snowing very prettily today.

This morning when I woke up, I saw this out the bedroom window:

It seems Winter has officially arrived in the garden.

I was exchanging e-mail with a friend this morning and we were talking about winter and how it seems to be lasting a long time this year. I was reminded of a few minutes a few days ago…the weather was mild, the sun was shining and I actually heard a few little birds chirping. I said to my friend,

The other day as I was walking from the car into work, the sun was shining, and it was about 6 degrees out, and I could actually FEEL the sun, and in those three minutes I caught a brief glimpse of spring. It kept me going for the next day or so.

Daylight savings time is coming up, early this year, and I really think it will have a positive influence on my mood. It’s not that I’m miserable or anything. In fact, I’m too busy these days with two jobs and my writing to have time for misery. A bit of warm sunshine and the smell of something green can lift my spirits instantly. I continue to go to sleep with thoughts of the garden drifting through my mind.

Almost every winter we experience a January thaw, but this year record temperatures melted all of the snow in just two days. I took some time yesterday to head out into the yard and check things out. I went out in just my fleece sweater and jeans, and was struck by how GREEN the air smelled. The grass was green under the snow, and some plants were still green. The oregano looks edible, and so does the thyme. Getting those few minutes of spring air, albeit in the winter, did much to rescue me from the winter blahs, which were slowly creeping in.

The vegetable garden. Garlic pokes through the soil in the lower left of the photo. Sad piles of tomatoes left to rot.

Anise-hyssop.

A few more photos of the winter (melted) garden are available here.