Whirling Butterfly Guara

Here is the closest thing I could find to fireweed - I'm still hoping to plant some later this summer - I'll just have to keep looking for it.

Yarrow

Here it is nearly ready to flower. I planted 2 of these last year and they were one of the first to put leaves up in the summer and its insane how big it is this year. They start flowering pastel colours and then fade to white.

Thrift

I don't know the story behind why this plant is called thrift. Perhaps it is the tiny plant with such an outsized bunch of flowers on a spindly stalk.

Seeing my Shadow

Walking the dog today I encountered a view of my shadow - where it appeared especially dark relative to nearby shadows. Two things popped into my head - one that my shadow looked perfectly happy by itself and 2 that I think this is going to be a good year - the later was confirmed by my horescope...

Pressure causes stress but can produce amazing results. Saturn's influence has led you to a brilliant result, though you may not yet be aware of it. Encouraging financial opportunities are in the offing. You are far more fortunate than you can yet see. This will turn out to be a magical and wonderful year.

How creepy is that! Well, I'm praying that I can pull of the amazing results without cutting out too many hours of sleep and Shoot! I really should have bought that lottery ticket. I had sincerely considered it, but I was feeling too tired to try and track down someone to take my order at the ticket desk... still, the draw isn't until Wednesday... so perhaps tomorrow.

Today has been a day of quiet pleasentness - an awesome last day at my all time to date favourite job, a few quick calls to folk I haven't talked to enough in the last few years, nevermind weeks, a nice visit with friends, a pleasent walk with the dog and now a wait for my parents to return so we can have cake....

In the garden, the catmint has burst into bloom along with the white whirling butterfly gaura, the poppy, the thrift, the yellow columbine, and the freshly planted lupine (so far there are 4 purple, 2 white, 1 pink and one mystery coloured one, that I suspect is white.) I've also added a few coleous, a fern leaf bleeding heart, a yellow viola, and a showy evening primrose to the list. Soon to flower - the yarrow, one of the asian lilies, one of the echinacea and a few other things slipping my mind. So I have a few things to pop into baskets and a fair bit of mulching, but they are going to occur slowly over time.

Cheers,

Jennith

He Be Dragon's

Watch your fingers around these guys.... rroarrrrrrrrrr!

Wild Columbine with the Orange Lillies

It wasn't quite this dark when I took the picture, but I made a vast effort to finish my planting tonight... so in went 2 hostas, 2 peonys, 8 Lupine and 2 pansies. Leaving 1 hosta, 1 iris, 2 brown eyed susan's, and some assorted annuals left to go. I'll have to take new pictures of the Lupine tomorrown, now that they are planted, because the ones I took tonight were blurry.

Stare deep into my irises

Nope.. still haven't gotten that glass of water yet.

Bearded Irises with out eyeballs

I apologize since I'm incredibly dehydrated and probably should do something about it before I blog any more sillyness.

A spray of Columbine

I'm sure everyone is sick of pictures of columbine, but I just love photographing it.

Watching for the signpost.

Gemini (May 21 — June 21)
A straightforward path will soon emerge to get you from here to the destination that matters the most. It may not be your ideal of routes, but it's the best one. And before long, there will be a very enticing branch in the road.

Here is my horescope according to the Toronto Star. I'm not superstitious, but these have been creepily uncanny for the last few months.

Right now my road is going straight up hill for the next 5 weeks as I pile on more tasks than are humanly possible. But I'm going to manage it all somehow. One of my favourite quotes is "When you reach the end of all you know, hope demands that you believe one of two things: that there will be ground to stand upon or you will grow wing's to fly" I believe I read it in one of Madeline L'Engle's books.

I'm not sure how I'm going to make it, but I'm determined to do it as gracefully as possible and be ready to turn the corner. Some days it would be nice if my life came with a map, but most days fate provides enough tools to get there and its kind of fun being surprised.

Anyways, I have some rugged hiking to do today. The photo (which might have been taken by Gabe, and most certainly was taken with his Camera) is highly appropriate on many levels. Surficially - we ended up in Tobermory by accident because my navigator refused to read a map or allow me to read a map. Subsequently we got lost (as much as one can on a road trip with no really fixed destination) and ended up snowed in in Tobermory. But lots of little things worked themselves out. We found a great place to stay and had a lovely dinner, we got to the park while the maintenance guy was in and he let us check out the display even though it was closed, and we got some really lovely pictures even if I didn't get to ski. On a deeper level, I found some signposts for the rest of my life.

So, Road - rocky and uphill as you are - get ready to be climbed because I am simply going to succeed by force of shear will if I have no other tools at my disposal. However - I won't complain if happen to grow wings or at least if you let me catch my breath at the top.

Aigh.

JP

Columbine collage

Well - here is the last post for today. These are the other columbine that I bought after it finished flowering last year. It turned out to be of the regular variety and a pale blue colour. I had some trouble with powdery mildew and the leaves of both my columbine, but they don't seem at all bothered about it this year.

Creeping Geranium

Here is a close cousin to the flower below. This one is a bit more ground hugging and bear white flowers, but has plenty of charms as well.

Johnson's Blue Geranium's

Now you might be thinking that these don't look at all like geranium's - but they are, and they ain't. Their genus is indeed Geranium - unlike the zonal geraniums that you are likely familiar with (don't worry there is still some room for them in the garden later), however, I do not believe that these are related to zonal or ivy leafed geraniums, which are from South African - where they grown all year long into shrubs. These are most closely related to bricknell's cranesbill (and are often called crane's bill geraniums.) Why are they great? They do just fine in the shade, flower for a long period, grow back bigger and better every year and are just plain pretty.

Nuff said.

This is the same one from yesterday, now happily planted

So, happily planted in its bed, the columbine is still looking great.

Yellow Lily

Here is the third colour to bloom (and there are 2 of them) - that leaves one mystery and one orange one that hasn't quite opened up yet.

Lily of the Valley or at least of my front yard

After nearly giving up hop on this critter - its gone into lily-of-the-valley mode and is now doing just fine, even if it is threatening the bleeding heart. I'll just have to keep an eye on them and maybe transplant if it gets too crowded. This was my patrol emblem when I was patrol leader for Girl Guides.

Starry Night Pansy

This "stellar" specimin of pansy has helped me to add a bit of yellow in all the places I've needed it. I don't think it blooms as long as some other pansies, but hey... you can't win them all, hopefully some of the others will step it up later. I'm pretty much on thesis duty from now until the end of June - so - I probably won't have any pictures that weren't taken in my own yard and even those maybe kind of few and far between. So, my apologies in advance. I accidently cut myself a month short of time when I took this job, so I'm going hyper speed. Things are well on their way at any rate. I have a few things to plant, but I'll saved them for a few timed breaks here and there. Last night I managed to get one of the two annual beds done, all the plants for the shade garden in the front planted (hopefully not too late for some), all the tomatos in and a few more border plants in the sunny perrenial bed. So, my next move is to get the rest of the hostas in and the other annual bed. I think I'm going to delegate a bit of the digging to my strapping young brother. So far I've hit it lucky with the asian lilies - two new ones have started to flower and they were different colours than the ones that have already opened - so I have one pink, one dark orange, one light orange and one yellow. Not bad... it'll be interesting to see what the last two are. Some of the plants in the woodland garden are starting to get a bit bigger and the hostas have definately put on a growth spurt this week. The yarrow flowers are starting to form and one of the echinacea from last year has its first flowering shoot formed. The other exciting gardening news is that the last hosta - the one I bought for full price and that I thought had died - has shown its head. There are two small hosta like shoots pushing up in its place. I'm crossing my fingers, it was a really nice one, but it suffered from excess attention from the evil squirrels of doom and destruction. I'm still trying to figure out how to discourage them. I like squirrels, but they always dig up the plants that I love the most. Last year they utterly destroyed a hanging basket of fan flower. This year I've found one digging about in the woodland garden (grrr). Of course, it picked a favourite struggling plant to dig right up - my one trillium. It wasn't expensive, but I was excited about having one. I tucked it back in the ground and it seems no worse than it was before, but I'm ticked. I'm going try hanging nylon stockings full of dog hair in key locations and I might try adding a bit of bone meal.

Okay.. back to thesissing.

JP

Johnson's Blue Geranium

This is one I planted last year and its come back in quite big. This is the first flower I've seen on it - but I'm glad to have some in this shade of purple.

Lithodora enLIGHTened

Well, some days you just get lucky with lighting. I was lying on the ground taking a picture of the nearer flowers on this plant when I noticed that the one on the other side was well - as seen above. :D

Roses Are Red, Poppies are Hairy

This is the first poppy I've ever grown - I think it is an arctic poppy or and icelandic poppy - Perhaps it is just a northern poppy, trying to stay warm.

Lily Up Close

I've been considering going up to a DSLR in the next few months. However, one of the things I'm finding is that its really hard to find one that has a lens that can do both zoom and macro as well as mine can. My alternative is to get a zoom lens and eventually get a macro lens. But I think that just means that I might have a fancy camera and still use my kodak. Still - it took me 7 years to pick out my last camera - so I guess it isn't too early to start thinking about it.

Red Lily

I don't think the picture does it justice - but the red is a really rich shade.

Lillicious

Sigh - I can't wait for the day lillies to get started - but these will hopefully tide me over for a bit.

Asian Lily, Columbine, Pansy Border

Here is the newest bed in the garden decked out with Asian Lilies, Columbine and Pansies. I'm going to fill in the front, possibly with some more pansies or maybe with some annuals (mimulas? Bogonia? Snap Dragons? Million Bells). I still don't know what colour 3 of the six are. One that isn't open yet will be a light orange and I think there is a second dark red one. I perhaps should figure out a way to deal with the spring heavy blooming in this bed, but even the foliage will be nice when the flowers are done. The Asian Lilies that I planted last year are coming in surprising strong considering that I had to battle the lily beetles last summer. I've already had to pick of 5 of them today.

Clematis Flowered Columbine

This one surprised me by having clematis-like flowers. Its still pretty, but I have to admit that I was really hoping for the columbine ones.

Columbine Choas

Today was a beautiful perfect day - it was warm, sunny, breezy and somehow I lucked out and was put on shadehouse duty organizing and facing flats. (which meant I spent the afternoon outside with plants and people rather than inside with cash registers and debit machines. Not that I mind being a cashier, but it would have been a shame to be inside today.

This one is mine - not planted yet. Its a hybrid columbine. Columbine have exquisite flowers, but they have a short blooming period. I probably have too many of them, 9 all told. But six are the wild variety that I grew from seed last summer. I'm excited to see them bloom in the next week or so. This is giant hybrid. I have two others I bought after they flowered last year and I was surprised to discover that one of them was a clematis flowered columbing. The other, is a pale purple columbine with flowers much like the one above.

I also managed to plant 3 hostas, 2 mallows and get all my watering done. I've got a plan for the remaining 3 hostas, but I'm going to have to think about what to do with the Peonys. Saturday I hope to plant the bulk of my annuals in the front. I'm doing snap dragon's and Bogonias. Next year - the garden won't get dealt with until mid June - but hopefully all it'll need is a few annuals, some topping up of soil and a few new additions.

One of the things I noticed today, working at the greenhouse, is that its very rare (in spite of numerous carts containing small children and infants in carriers) to hear babies cry or people being upset in general. Its a very soothing workplace. I think when I retire, I might just work a bit at a greenhouse. Maybe specializing in woodland perrenials or something. :D Sometimes parents let their kids buy plants with their own money - african violets and gerber daisies are popular, although today I had a child who was looking for something yellow - whom I advised to try the Brown-Eyed Susan's. Oh yeah... and another lady with a young boy was looking for something tall, purple and sun-loving. I asked her if she was familiar with snapdragon's (one of my favourites) - when she said she wasn't I quickly took her over to a bench of them in shades from red-velvet to bubblegum pink - including several shades of purple. She was duly inpressed (because really snapdragons can sell themselves on their looks alone. But I when I showed her son the dragon's mouths (you can pry open the mouths of snap dragon's to show a very dragon-like mouth) - they were done deal. :D and the "WOW!" from the little boy made my day. Another couple, when I noted that they'd enjoy their plants all summer told me how they were actually buying them for their neighbour who could no longer garden the way she used to and that this was a gift for her - sometimes people in the world are truely wonderful and then she agreed that they were over visiting often and would indeed enjoy them all summer. :D Oddly, this has been one of the most fulfilling jobs I've ever had. Gardening is just good for everyone's soul or perhaps the folk who frequent real greenhouses - not ones attached to their grocery store - are the kind of people who find pleasure in nuturing and caring for others as well as plants and we are just lucky to have cooler than average customers.

Anywho - That's a tonne of writing for me. I'm going to throw up a few more pictures and then I'm going to be a busy bee and get a tonne of stuff done.

Due North - Baker Lake Bound

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I guess this is my official announcement - give or take some paperwork - I'm headed to Baker Lake to teach highschool! Right now, I'm feeling somewhere between exuberant and overwhelmed by the insane list of things to do before I leave. I've included a link to Treena's Travels - a blog which not only does a great job of describing life in Baker Lake, but has first-rate photos too. Up until I found this blog, I was having a tough time finding pictures of town.

I know almost everyone that I talk with regularly knows this "news" and I've obviously been hinting for the last little while that something was up. I was hoping to find some perfect picture in my stash to go with the anouncement, but I've mostly used up the best of my photos from Repusle Bay - so I settled on a satellite photo.

I'm sure I'll have more to write about this in the near future - but for now, I should probably get some sleep so that I can function at work and manage to get the dog walked.

Good night,

Jennith