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You are here: Home / Archives for Society and Culture / Toronto

Spring has Sprung

by Tricia

Ok I know that Spring doesn’t officially arrive until Friday, but it sure seems like Spring outside! Even some of my plants think so!

Over the weekend and earlier today I took a walk around my tiny front yard and the backyard garden and much to my surprise I found several plants either greening up or developing leaf buds.

Several roses in both the front and backyard have some leaf buds on them and the lower branches on some are starting to green up too.

My Hydrangea in the backyard still seems lifeless (I didn’t dig down through all the leaves surrounding it so it might be showing signs of life at ground level), but the Blue one that I planted in my front garden bed last year already has several leaf buds on it. One of my hellebore’s (perhaps the only one I have left) has green leaves that appear to be full of life now too.

I don’t have any Crocus’ yet, but I believe I saw some of their grass like leaves coming up in the lawn so it won’t be long before they make an appearance, likewise my snowdrops. Other plants like my German Iris appear to have some green leaves as well … and two Dianthus that I had in a hanging basket that I forgot to take down last fall are coming back to life as well – talk about harsh conditions hanging in a basket in -20 Celsius weather and still being alive!

I’m pretty sure I’ll have a few flowers (crocus and snowdrop) my next week!

It’s been a nice March so far, but my gut tells me that even though there are clear signs of spring all around that we’ll probably get at least one more snow storm before the end of the month. Let’s hope it’s a small one. Either way it will melt fast! Anyway, that’s why I didn’t give in to start doing a bit of yard work earlier today when the urge hit me … might as well leave some of the dead leaves on the ground as extra protection against the cool night air and possible snow before the end of the month.

Are the plants in your garden or yard starting to show signs of life now too?






Filed Under: Garden Buzz, Spring Tasks, The neighborhood, Toronto, Weather related Tagged With: crocus, garden, gardening, hellebore, hydrangea, Iris, leaf_buds, roses, signs_of_spring, snow, snowdrops, spring, warming_up

Tropical bloom

by Tricia

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I grow several tropical vines, mostly passion flower, that I have to bring indoors each fall as they can’t withstand our harsh winter temperatures here in Toronto.

One of the vines that I bring indoors I still haven’t identified. I think it might be some kind of trumpet flower, but still … I’m just not sure.

Do you recognize this flower? I grows on a vine with medium green oval / oblong leaves.What is it?

Tropical flower  - vine

When I brought this vine indoors in October I brought it upstairs to sit in a south facing window. Much to my surprise sometime near the end of November it produced two blooms. My vines almost never bloom indoors when I bring them in for the winter because the light is too low – even in a south facing window.

I’m happy to report that the three passion flower, the unknown vine, and my big jasmine are all doing well, yet I’m sure they are impatiently waiting for better weather so that they can get back outside!

Do you bring plants indoors during the winter? How do they fare indoors. Do they bloom, do they struggle to survive because of dry conditions in the house and low light levels?

Update – One of my Amaryllis is about to bloom. It developed a flower stalk about a week after I’d brought it up from the basement at the end of December and it will soon have some huge blooms! The other two haven’t developed flower spikes yet but I expect that they will soon. Oh and my two Orchids have flower stalks – one is flowering and the other is developing buds … plus I bought one more orchid and it’s blooming as well. So between the soon to flower Amaryllis, blooming orchids and my still blooming hibiscus I have lots of indoor flowers to tide me over until spring.

Filed Under: Blooming today, Green Thumb Sunday, Photography, Toronto Tagged With: bloom, flower, garden, Green_Thumb_Sunday, GTS, indoors, indoor_plants, passion_flower, south_window, tropical_vine, unknown, Vine, winter

An icy flower for an icy day

by Tricia

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The weather outside is miserable right now.

It’s cold and instead of snow there are ice pellets coming down! I think everything will have a coat of ice on it when I get up in the morning. Brrrr.

As I thought about what kind of post I’d do for Green Thumb Sunday the weather outside (the weather that I got to experience first hand while taking our dog out for her last outing of the night) I remembered how pretty my flowers look just after a rain. Then I remembered this lovely picture of an Iceberg rose … now doesn’t the name of the rose kind of fit the weather we’re having too? LOL

Iceberg Rose

So I present to you and Iceberg rose on an ice pellet day. Hey, it works for me …

I’ll add this cool purple Alium as well. It’s supposed to be a spring bloomer, but mine tend to bloom in late June or early July. The iceberg roses will bloom long before the Alium next year.

Alium

Are any of you lucky enough to be enjoying flowers due to living in a warmer climate than I? If so, I envy you. I already miss my garden.

Actually .. I do have a few flowers blooming indoors. My Thanksgiving cactus has almost finished it’s blooms and my Christmas Cactus has a few early blooms. Plus … I have a small hibiscus in my kitchen and it’s producing lovely coral flowers for us. So I guess I’m not as deprived as I thought I was.

Filed Under: Garden Buzz, Green Thumb Sunday, House Plants, Photography, rose, Toronto, Weather related Tagged With: after_rain, alium, cactus_blooms, Christmas_cactus, cold, cold_climate, cool_purple, flower, flowers, freezing, garden, Green_Thumb_Sunday, GTS, hibiscus, ice, iceberg_rose, ice_pellets, icy_day, icy_flower, indoor_blooms, raindrops, Thanksgiving_Cactus, weather, wet, winter

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