Odd Green Trillium

I'm not sure if it is a mutation, a virus or just some strange strain. This is super-kiem trillium.

Trilliums at Kelso

Red, White and Unusual Trilliums seen while hiking with Gabe the other day. I've never seen one like the bottom trillium, although I've seen similar ones with green streaks. I'll post a nifty one from Mount Nemo next.

Chilly Garden Under Wraps

In anticipation of temperature dipping below 0 C last night I ran about in the eventing covering everything I could. Perrenial bed (top/bottom) and day lily bed (centre). I'm hoping from here on in they will be okay. I'm off to Terra Greenhouse to buy some more perrenials - some for my Woodland Garden, some for under the maples where growing conditions just suck and some to add to the center bed.

Fronds Unfurling

There is simply something completely amazing about the way ferns transition from frond to plant. They have an incredible grace - almost balletic (:D if that is a word) that warms the soul.

The Coltfoot Calvalry Heralds the Coming of Spring

See what a supply of photos can do for the frequency of my posts. I'm trying not to use them up too quickly - life is rapidly getting busier. There are so many things I want to do, and barely enough time for the stuff I need to do.

Coltsfoot is a cool plant and usually the very first I've seen in spring, crocuses and dafodils aside seeing as they grown in our neighbours yard. This shot is also from Inverhuron's MacIntrye Park. :D Yeah for Spring

Loveable Lambs

I was having one of those weekends wishing I was Laura Ingalls (i.e. Main Character from Little House on the Prairie.) I bought a bonnet at the St. Jacob's market (and some apple fritters - still warm from the deep fryer). The bonnet is comfy and fun to wear - but it does look a bit silly - espeically since I was wearing a Molson Canadian shirt extolling the virtues of patience and hockey - something Leaf fans need a great deal of both). I'm not sure where I'll wear it - but I wish I could wear it for the heck of it.

Then we visited the Philospher folks and they introduced us to their lambs. And I loved them. They were delightful and entertaining and sweeter than pie from the market and they have tails. Wow! I never had any clue that lambs had tails. I think if I ever end up with livestock - for sure I'll have sheep. They are super-cool :D.. okay and I'm a bit of a dork. Which is also why we stopped the car in the town of (I kid you not) Dorking, Ontario to take a picture of the roadsign. :D

Anywho... Sheepishly I should return to the task at hand.

This years first trillium picture for Lothyn

Well, its not quite open - but here it is - the first trillium of the year. Vifa nia ramma squafa, yamma nia kiem.

So after seeing all these grat wildflowers - I'm back to trying to plan my woodland garden. I'm going to pass on the spring ephemerals, but I'm hoping to plant mostly native species including some favourites like twin flower, bunch berry, solomon's seal and wood fern. All I have to do is figure out how much leaf matter to mix in with the dirt (oh yeah, and move the dirt into that corner). I'll be sharing pictures as I get around to working on it between my thesis and everything else.

Bloodroot - Mount Nemo

These are often the first spring flowers to bloom. The leaves are really cool - and this picture just worked out well. They were the first we saw on our hike, a good omen for sure!

Round Lobed Hepatica

These flowers were so intensely charming that they made my day. I'll have to learn more about them.

Turkey Vulture Time - Mount Nemo

Golly these guys are hard to get pictures of while they are flying - fortunately this one sat still for me long enough to get a non-blurry shot at maximum zoom.

Trout Lily - View Pointing Skyward

Beckoning scent draws
Thriving life to drink nector
In shady haven

Dance of Delicate Trout Lily

Although I hear rumours that some of you are shovelling out of 30 cm of snow - spring has arrived at Mount Nemo (barring westward travelling snowstorms - eek!!) So I thought I'd quickly put up a few of my pictures today and hopefully if I can get a lot done today, I might be able to go hiking again later this week, by which time I expect to see the trilliums in bloom. At least some of them.

Inverhuron Interlude

Hello neglected readers - I finally have some new pictures to post and I anticipate with the warming weather and soon to exist garden that there are tonnes more in the next few weeks, even if the text is limited by frantic and intense thesising.

This is the view from McIntyre park in the town of Inverhuron - after a quick visit to Philospher's Wool between a trip to St. Jacob's Market and McGregor Provincial Park with Gabe and his mom. :D

So.. lots to look forward to :D.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

To celebrate my grandad's birthday we all went out for a special supper. It was a lovely evening and everyone left feeling well fed - in fact well all shared a single piece of cake and called it done. I didn't get any really great pictures of my Grandad because he was a bit out of flash range - but here is my supper including a big old chunk of red meat and it was as good as it looks - sigh - I say this as I'm considering becoming more vegetarian - i.e. becoming an opportunistic carnivore where I don't buy or prepare meat, but will eat it when its put in front of me and enjoy it. Well, it won't happen for a while - but I've really cut back on red meat, so I figure that is a good start.

It might be spring if....

Well, its starting to actually feel like winter might be over and gardening season is on its way. I think the first call of order is some tidy-up, then some bed building and planning for the woodland garden in the far corner. I'm definately looking forward to the season.

Jennith

Winter Road and Adventures in Detours

On a field mission to drop of equipment at Cataract and see if all the spring weather and rain had resulted in an interesting flow at Monora, I set out on my usual route north up Mississauga Rd. - which I had hoped would be open through Belfountain as its had been months since I'd been up there. Of course, there was still a detour for whatever grave emergency road work they have going - so I consulted my map and the lines seemed to join between Old Base Line and McLaren via Creditview and Grange - and the map didn't lie, but it omitted some facts like the large section of the Grange Sideroad that isn't plowed through the winter and is still looking wintery, even though the snow everywhere else is melted. This resulted in a somewhat wild drive down a hill that I wasn't sure I could get back up if I ever found a spot wide enough to turn around on if the road got any worse or was actually closed at some point. In fact, the hill was the worst part of it and there was a little parking lot midway down - where I stopped, took this picture and then scouted the next bit of road on foot to see if I should try to go back up hill or continue. So, after a pleasant hike, I confirmed that the worst was over and the road was open all the way to McLaren - went back for the car and continued cautiously down the stretch shown above. Since, most of this detour involved wet, dirt roads - my car was a lovely shade of clay brown by the time I pulled into the Cataract parking lot. Next time... no short cuts.

Truthfully, I've definately driven on sketchier - just usually not in my car. The worst of the roads I've driven, we had a wonderful F150 with 4WD (and a chain saw for cutting trees that had fallen across the road). The road to Martin's Head was also a brutal water covered affair, but I wasn't driving and again - we had a truck. Then of course there was the road to Nasadawahank (spelling not garenteed) in Baxter State - its pretty washed out in places - but we just went slow - particularly because there were moose everywhere!!

So, in the end, the road really wasn't that bad, but my heart was certainly pounding on the way down the hill as I was mentally trying to decide how likely it was that I had cell coverage here and whether a tow truck could make it down to haul me out... Ah adventures...

I guess it was good that the drive was exciting, since the stream was only slightly higher than normal.

Oi!

Jennith