Kate smudges in earth, paint and life

 
Symphyandra hoffmannii has been one of my favourite plants ever since I first planted it in my garden in Ottawa. It is a prolific self-seeder, but I am okay with that. In spring, I simply pull out the rosettes that are growing too close to one another. This is an easy task, since the plants have shallow roots. 

Before I moved back to Saskatchewan, I gathered some seeds and sowed them in my garden here. They are some of the first plants to appear in spring and always bring back memories of my Ottawa garden in spring. I can picture the two Magnolia trees that put on such a stunning show and I delight in remembering the Kerria japonica and their cheerful blooms.  Visions of my beautiful Rhodendron 'Orchid Lights' drift through my mind.  These spring beauties are particularly poignant memories because I cannot grow any them here.

Although Symphyandra is considered a biennial, I have yet to have a summer without their delicate and beautiful blooms.  One of the distinct advantages of these plants is that their nodding white bell-shaped flowers bloom in late summer and last for ages.  Another feature in their favour is that they will grow in virtually any soil in a sunny location or in a partially-shaded one.  They also remain remarkably free of any diseases or pests.

Last summer, I was pleased to see one errant plant thriving among the bricks of my back patio. It survived repeated crushings by my big brown dog who has always loved napping against a nearby rock.

As you can tell from this photograph, the blooms of the Symphyandra bear a close resemblance to those in the Campanula family. No doubt this is where they received their common name of ring (or ringed) bellflower. From what I've unearthed, they are native to Bosnia.

I have yet to understand why Symphyandra hoffmannii is not a better-known plant.

 At this time every year, I'm restless to begin seed starting. I've done it for way more years than I can count on my fingers. My enthusiasm knows no bounds as I dream about the seeds transforming into healthy, beautiful blooms. Each spring finds me contentedly preparing my six or seven seed-starting trays. Miraculously, or so it always seems to me, little shoots soon appear under the grow lights. Thus begins my gardening season.

While the urge  to start seeds is at its strongest now that the snow's melting, I'm resisting it. All winter long, I've been tossing around ideas about what I want to do in the garden this year. Rather than having trays of seedlings that I madly dash around planting when the last frost date passes, my plan is to spend more time working on my soil and dividing perennials.  I am also going to start some summer bulbs in the hopes that they blooming earlier than they do if planted near May's end.  

I'll let you know if I can keep up my resolve and stick with my winter-concocted plan.

The first day of spring always makes me happy. Today it seems even more so. After a few days of below-freezing weather, I woke to a beautiful sight. Not only was the sun shining, but the trees were covered in hoarfrost. In late morning, I sat out in the garden and watched the hoarfrost drift down from the trees. It was a beautiful sight. The sunshine felt wonderful.

Today is also a special day, since it is the birthday of  my friend in Barcelona, Estrella Esteve.  We met on Flickr ~ Estrella takes incredible photos. To view them, just click here. Estrella also writes a wonderful blog, which thankfully she translates into English so I can read it. 
These tulips are for you, Estrella ~ happy weekend to everyone!

Ants in my basement usually lead to irritation and a lot of grumbling on my part. It was surprising then, that while taking some pictures, I watched an ant casually saunter the length of a tulip bloom and was filled with excitement. The weather had dramatically improved from the day before and I had a sense that spring was finally arriving on the prairies.

I enjoyed the feeling for a short time before dispatching the ant to an early death. No doubt the ant will be sorely missed by other members of its colony, but I'm trying not to think of that.  Instead I'm on an ant search-and-destroy mission, while silently hoping that I don't find any other ones.

Experience tells me though, that one ant usually means lots of other ants. We shall see ~ 

There's something wonderful about having tulips on the dining room table. I love looking at them ~ before I cart them away to be photographed.

For the past few days, the temperature has been slightly above freezing and the scent of spring was in the air. Sadly, a winter storm has moved in. Back to the cold we go again.  

 
What a year it has been for Amaryllis. I haven't done anything differently this year, but maybe I just picked out better bulbs than I have in the past. Each of them had multiple stalks and lots of blooms.

At the moment, the Amaryllis 'Sydney' (pictured above) is in full bloom. I'm trying to get some good photographs of it. This will be the final stalk of the Amaryllis for the season.

While I am sad to see the Amaryllis season drawing to a close, it also means that spring will be arriving soon. (Okay, I'm being optimistic here ~ we haven't had a day above -Oc for weeks. The signs are there though ~ the sun is higher and the days are growing longer. I am holding off starting my seedlings for another few weeks.

Back to the amaryllis ~ my  favourite  amaryllis this winter was the 'Lemon Star' (above). With three stalks loaded with blooms, it was a glorious vision. I loved photographing it ~ since the colours looked great with so many different backgrounds. I loved this green background and titled this photo, Lemon Lime Popsicle Time. 

I haven't blogged for awhile and am trying to figure out which picture size works best with a blog post. Should they be smaller? Your opinions welcome! And now I'll get back to visiting my favourite blogs ~ it's been way too long.

… when I am sitting outside in my favourite chair, bundled up in a down blanket. The weather has warmed up … still way below 0 celsius, but a wonderful break nonetheless.

We've had some beautiful weather here. I was relieved to have finally planted the many bulbs impatiently waiting to be covered by soil. I had been worried that I wouldn't be able to get them in because of the cold weather that wouldn't go away.

While planting the bulbs on Thursday and Saturday, I came across this Anemone coronaria 'Ste Brigid'. How it had survived several nights of -15c weather is beyond me. It has buoyed my spirits for the past several days. Three days later and it is still happily blooming. What an incredible sight considering that most everything else is withered and brown. 

Taking advantage of the warm weather, I potted up three new Amaryllis bulbs. I love having Amaryllis growing during winter. I also repotted three that had been dormant since summer.

The pond plants are now put away for winter and the pond ready to freeze yet again.  My dog, Lytton, will be happy when the snow comes and the pond is a thick sheet of ice. There's nothing he loves better than to roll around on the snow covering the pond.

And now that winter is almost here, I'm back to my knitting. New scarf pictures forthcoming!!

Every autumn, I look forward to seeing the gorgeous seedheads of the Clematis tangutica vine. They are a wonderful sight through the winter and into the early spring. Whenever I look at them, I am reminded of a poem by William Butler Yeats entitled, 'The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water'.

Ever since I first came across this poem, these words have stayed with me.

Have a good weekend to everyone who stops by!

What I love so much about growing flowers is the way that they constantly surprise us. I've never had much luck growing annual Sweet Peas, although that hasn't stopped me from trying. A few days ago, I wandered out in the back garden to see if anything was still alive after the 17 cm (7 some inches) of snow had melted. 

Imagine my surprise finding splashes of red peeking out from the Clematis vines. I couldn't believe it and ran inside to grab my camera. It was as I needed some concrete proof that my eyes weren't deceiving me. And they weren't — here's a photograph of one of the blooms. 

I was also amazed to find a Delphinium lying on the ground amid the remnants of the snow. Why both of these flowers wereeven in bloom continues to mystify me- it's not exactly their usual blooming time.

It's magical, I say.