Lewisia

This little Lewisia Nevadensis grows in the lewisia rockery. It is about 2 years old and is doing very well.

Tulips and waterfall in my garden

This photo of the waterfall in my garden shows the top part of the waterfall. The water drops about one foot, runs down a flat stone for about a foot and then drops off into the pond for another fall of a foot. The pond looks good with the debris skimmed off. The marsh marigolds are finished blooming. The water hawthorn is in bloom now. The lilies are beginning to put up leaves. The tulips are putting on their show right now. They seem to be quite tall this year. The one shown here is 'blue heron'.

In walking about the garden today, I saw at least two of the lizards, no frogs, some birds.

I have taken in rhubarb and have 2 cups chopped and frozen for our next pie. The plant should be more vigorous next year, I hope. I must remember to feed it.

Gentiana Bavarica

I have this tiny gentiana in a pot that I keep in another pot containing water. This little gem needs boggy conditions. It is a purchase from the Rock and Alpine show and sale last year. It has rewarded my care with all these pretty little blooms. It is tiny. The rocks you see in this photo are pea gravel. The leaf is a tiny oak leaf I am going to try to get moss to grow over the pea gravel. I will take it out of the water for a rest period later in the Winter.

European Wall Lizards

This little lizard was sunning on one of the small rockery walls in my front garden today. I had topped up the water in the half barrel tub next to this rockery when I noticed it. I went and got my camera and managed to get a few zoomed photos. When I tried to get closer, it disappeared in a flash. These little critters are really fast. I call them Waldo.. as I never seem to be able to find them. The gold fish in the half tub is Elvis, as I am always surprised to find that it lives! Especially after a winter with the water frozen over for a few weeks at a time.

A informative web site: http://www.bcreptiles.ca/lizards/eurowall.htm I should report my wall lizards and try and find out about reporting bullfrogs, too.

Anemonella

This flower makes a nice mound with these ethereal flowers held above the fresh green leaves. It is along the woodland path. It looks good beside the white of the garage. This photo is from about a month ago, so the blooms are all finished now. The bleeding heart will be the next show as it is getting buds now. I must give those plants some good soil and fertilizer. They put on a lovely show this spring.

I mowed the lawn today, taking down the crocus leaves. Its probably a bit early to do that but I wanted the grass strip to look good while we are away. It will be long again in no time, though. The garden looks pretty good now. Still needs a bit of weeding here and there and lawn edging.

Star Magnolia

This is a single flower of my star magnolia from about a month ago. Its a nice little tree that blooms faithfully for me every year with little care. It is next to the green hedge and to the strip of green grass, fronted by iris and then the stone path that encircles a small rockery. This corner of my garden needs work. The iris should be divided and the soil improved. The stone circle rockery is slowly coming along.

In the vegetable garden, I have planted 3 rows of peas, a row of sunflowers, some dill, a row of beets, a row of radishes and a row of buttercrunch lettuce. This seed is really rather old. I am not expecting great things this year. I really should invest in new seeds every year. Old habits die hard... must not waste things. There is room for a few more things on the strawberry patch side of the garden... maybe tomatoes when we get back. And I have left the spinach growning. I should get a row of swiss chard going again. That stuff is sooooo good in the spring. The strawberries are blooming.

I filled the pond and skimmed off some of the debris from the plum tree. I need to weed the violets back to under the deck and clean up the gravel dry river. Otherwise this area looks pretty good, and the moss is spreading, nicely. I shall try to keep it watered this summer.

I made a strawberry and rhubard pie two days ago.. frozen strawberries, but they actually have some flavor. I should pick and freeze the rest of the rhubarb... maybe tomorrow.

One of our water pipes sprang a leak last nite about midnight. Pat turned off the hot water at the water heater after consulting with a 24 hour plumber. We cleaned up the mess and went to sleep. Today the plumber came, fixed the leak, and had the Sani Tech guy come in to spray for mold and put on his drying machines. Pat phoned the insurance people and spoke to an Adjuster. So, we will probably have new floor covering, and new drywall in the laundry room and the closet under the stairs. It seems we also have termites. The Sani-tech guy is going be arranging the workers and all of it will go to the insurance company to see how much of the end cost they will cover. The plumber's costs were not covered by insurance. I don't understand that, but everyone else seems to. So, I will be happy to have new floor covering. I have detested the lino that is down there, from the day we moved in... 20 years ago. oh my!

Camillia

This is from about a month ago. I caught this blossom before the rains turned them all brown. This camillia lives on the shaded side of the house between Parmar's and our houses. I am thinking of using this as the photo for my home page on the new site. I have done up the 'banner' to insert in the template. But still thinking about it. Cyrus told me how he gets the banner to blend into the background using a soft bush. That's cool. I did a pretty blotchy job though.

It rained today and yesterday, so I have not been out in the garden, or anywhere, actually.

Lunch by the seashore

Tuesday, a week ago, we picked up deli food for lunch and went to Sidney. We picked up our stuff from Maria and then parked by the ocean and had our lunch. I went out to shoot for a few minutes. I used the ND filter and it did help a bit for the ocean/sky shots. It was a cold and windy day. The bank along the beach is very steep but the grass and dandelions hold it all together. Someone planted a couple of red tulip bulbs. It was just perfect to catch them blowing in the wind. I tried to make a movie, but the wind noise was too much. I could not hear the sound of the waves.

Today I dug over half of the vegetable garden. I have some good soil in the veggie patch at last, but the cedar roots and other trees roots are not very deep. I am still thinking of converting this patch to a cutting garden.