Spring-- a month behind usual

I hear that spring here is a month behind usual. That's why the temperature will only get to 20 degrees C instead of 25! But it is lovely. Puffy cumulous clouds in the sky and lovely spring flowers. The tulips are just about done, the rhododendrons are almost all out and the azaleas are just about to open. It is lovely.

I even might have some fruit later in the summer. My apricot bloomed for the first time about a month ago- though I have not noticed that bud got pollinated. Hopefully I will be surprised! My grapes also have little bud which might indicate grapes later. The raspberries are growing and I am expecting something from them.

I also planted a garden on the lawn. I put black weed cloth down to kill the grass and put in broccoli plants and then peas. The broccoli have little heads which I hope they will get bigger.
the peas have come up through the holes and yesterday I planted squash. Now let us see.

Spring Progresses

Here in British Columbia we think that we have a corner on early spring. Usually seems to me that we're miles ahead of spring in the east, but not this year. In Sicamous we've had a very cold spring and few warm days. This has been fine for the daphne but not much else. They've had a long season. The magnolia has most of its flowers out and looks great. The forsythia are still out and yellow but the early daffodils are about gone though most of the tulips have barely begun. And now for some heat this weekend-- so those flowers that we usually enjoy for so long will probably soon be done.

I'm wondering if the roots of those "iffy" plants that I bought last summer- the "snow eucalyptus" and "evergreen clematis" have survived. The tops haven't so I'm hoping to see some new growth. Time will tell.

Record Cold and Snow

Here in beautiful British Columbia where I planted dahlia tubers last March and it did look rather favourable in early April, though we still had piles of snow, we had 6" of snow over Saturday and then on April 20 morning a temperature down to -5 degrees C.

However today when I made a tour, so far it seems like only the almost spent flowers from early iris and crocuses really felt the cold. It may show up on the forsythia as there are some petals on the ground but that just might be from the snow. We'll have to see about the apricots as the buds were swelling but not by a lot.

Hopefully the star magnolia will not be affected as the buds are not much enlarged and I will have flowers like this lovely bloom from last year.

Spring Seems to be Coming

The earliest flowers are now out. As soon as the snow inched off, the buttercup yellow winter aconite burst through, only a few centimeters high. I have some 20 blooming in my flower beds.
They are too small to gather into a bouquet though. There are also some "snowdrops" lifting their heads. They don't show up against the snow but against the exposed brown soil.

While I have cheated some, I have dainty lemon yellow forsythia blooming in the house. Yes, I forced them. I cut some branches off my large bush and they have performed. I cut some more branches today, perhaps we'll have them for Easter Sunday.

I also see signs of buds forming on my old orchid cactus. It is more than 30 years old and looks quite weatherbeaten with sun scalded leaves and nicks out of other leaves; yet the blooms are glorious: about 6 inches across, brilliant white with pale yellow outer petals. They are perfumed as well.

Renewal is in the air. Not surprisingly as it is Easter. I don't think that it is a coincidence. The early leaders of the Christian church were well aware of symbolism.

winterlude vacation

Here I am in Ottawa! It is frigid! It was cold in B.C. when I left and even more cold in Calgary where I was for 2 days and now to the land of the polar express. Actually it is not as cold as it could be and has been over the years; but it is cold enough.
I'm here to help a friend pursue one of her life goals. She wants to skate on the Rideau Canal. It looks like Thursday will be the best day this week so we plan to go then. Not me skating, but the ice sculptures are quite nice--I've seen them before.
Anyway that is for Thursday. Tomorrow is Parliament. We pick up the tickets tomorrow morning and then go to Question period.

The last time I went to Question Period was the day Pierre E. Trudeau died. I had been disappointed because none of the 'senior' Liberals was around. No one had said anything about his death or even impending death in the House. After the period was over I walked across the bridge over the Ottawa River, on the way to the Museum of Civilization to meet my son and family. I did notice that the flag was flying half mast and wondered who had died. While we were around that weekend, we did not line up to pay our respects. The lines were very long! I did think it was more fitting to be there on the hill and have a picnic lunch. I thought he'd approve. On Sunday we went to the usual nearly silent meeting of the Quakers, which was not that day as many spoke of Trudeau's impact on themselves.