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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.






Spring has Sprung

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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?

My roses don’t know when to quit!

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It’s getting colder here in Toronto. Last night it went down to -2 Celsius. That’s below freezing folks … but my roses, some of them anyway, are still trying to bloom!

This is a picture that I took of my Parade Roses last weekend. As you can see they had beautiful rose buds.

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Climbing Parade Rose buds

Parade is a climbing rose and it’s flowers are usually a lovely pink, but I think because of the cold weather we’ve been experiencing the buds turned red.

I think they look beautiful.

Several of my roses are still trying to bloom, although last nights cold weather might finally put a stop to that. Moulinex, Sharifa Asma, Graham Thomas, Baronne Prevost, Jacques Cartier, Yves Pigiet, iceberg and even the Compte de Chambord have a few blooms or buds.

Here’s a fading Compte de Chambord flower … even though it’s obviously dying it was still putting out it’s lovely rose perfume scent:

fading Compte De Chambord rose

Fading Compte de Chambord Rose

Several of my other flowers are still blooming as well. I even have some Petunias that are still alive! Oh and my Lavender has started blooming again too. Very strange!

If you live in an area that gets cool for winter are your flowers and plants dormant now or are some still struggling to bloom?

BTW Sorry this GTS post is late. It’s been a busy and sickly weekend. Speaking of Green Thumb Sunday – how many of you are really participating? I thought that members agreed to check in here on Sundays to let others know they have a new post up … but that hasn’t been happening much over the last week. I’m starting to wonder if we should keep this going?

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