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Deluge of rain – at least we needed it!

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It’s about time that I wrote a Green Thumb Sunday post! I knew it had been a while, but didn’t realize that it’s been about two months since my last GTS post!

Sorry guys! I’ve been so busy lately and sick! It’s been hard to do my regular posts let alone special GTS posts.

Now, as I’ve said in the last few posts this summer is pretty much a write off! It’s been cool and up until a few days ago we didn’t have much rain. Boy did that change! It’s been raining fairly steadily since Wednesday evening.

Saturday and earlier today we heavy heavy rains. Like enough to form puddles in the backyard within minutes! My yard drained ok and my basements dry, but others in Toronto have had flooded basements and several streets turned into ponds! Talk about a deluge!

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The one good thing about all this rain is that I’m sure my plants are loving it … well they will if it stops soon! I also think it’s going to be a little warmer this coming weeks so maybe between the rain, the lightening adding free nitrogen into the air and some much needed warmth we’ll have new blooms in the garden soon.

It’s been so overcast in June and July that the pictures I’ve taken of the garden just don’t look as nice as they normally do. It’s hard to take pictures in the afternoon when the light seems like mid-evening!

Right now the daylilies, phlox and lavender are the stars of the garden.

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What plants are the stars of your garden this week?






Blooms and greenery everywhere

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Every time I look out my kitchen window or go into my backyard I’m amazed at how much it’s filled in.

It seems like the plants are growing within hours … not just days! That’s one of the things I love most about Spring – how fast things change and green up.

This is a photo of one of my raised garden beds in the backyard.

The “oval” as I call it separates the patio area from the lawn and garden portion of the backyard.

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There are even more tulips throughout the garden beds than there were when I took that photo.

The Pasque flowers that I have in a very small area near the side of the house are blooming now too. Here’s a shot of a Pasque flower bud. The flower opened and started blooming on Thursday.

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Unfortunately these flowers don’t seem to last very long so I expect they will be finished by sometime early next week. Maybe longer if the cool weather sticks around.

For a peek at my Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) and my Daffodils take a peek at my other blogs.

I just love gardening in the Spring

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I think I love just about everything about Spring … well ok, maybe not the garbage that seems to blow on my lawn and gets tangled in my roses or the sometimes endless days of rain … but otherwise, Spring just might be my favorite season.

I love watching the grass turn from dry straw like patches to tender green; seeing the first stem and leaves come up out of the soil from a seed I planted only weeks before; and seeing the first few flowers of spring bloom in my garden.

Speaking of Spring flowers … my Danfordia irises – tiny little things, came up in the second week of April, but unfortunately they only lasted about a week. I wish these lovely delicate flowers would last a month instead of just days!

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They’re so pretty!

It’s cool outside today, but yesterday … oh it was one of the best and worst days of Spring! Temps were almost 90 F with the humidity, but then at about 5:30 pm it got really dark and winds suddenly came up out of nowhere. I was outside pruning some roses and our neighbor behind us started to lose part of his eves trough, and the one next to us lost part of his lattice fence …

All the while I was gathering up my gardening tools and trying to get inside the house while things were flying around ie fence, eves trough and small branches from our other neighbors huge maple! My husband was just coming back from a store when he got caught in the wind storm. A tree fell right in front of the car as he was driving! Power lines came down with it too! Surprisingly this didn’t really make the news … but as far as I’m concerned we were both out in a bad wind storm or mini-tornado! That’s what it seemed like anyway! After that the rain started and we had a small thunderstorm – what an end to a beautiful day!

At least my flowers didn’t seem to get damaged in the storm. The hyacinth had just opened up the other day and I took photos of them before the storm … oh that sweet smelling hyacinth perfume … wafting through the garden. I love it!

I also have some tulips that are just starting to bloom today, daffodils that will bloom in a couple of days and several other plants leafing out or developing buds. The garden is going to be lovely this year!

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How is your garden this spring? Are your plants coming up earlier than normal – as they are here in Toronto?

BTW sorry for the lack of Green Thumb Sunday posts in the last two weeks. I’ve been sick lately (bad reaction to a new med), and also discouraged by the lack of participation from members. If you are making GTS posts please remember to check in on this site so we will all know that you’ve made a new Green Thumb post.

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