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It’s been a strange cool Spring

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Are you having a cold and rainy spring in your area? Or are you having strange and turbulent weather? We seem to be having all of the above here in Toronto.

Two weekends ago it was cold and we actually had snow with thunder and lightening storms .. yes and odd mix, but it happened – more than once. It’s true. Then it warmed up … then it cooled down again and then it rained and rained and rained.

Currently we’re hovering between periods of torrential rain storms and then warm sunny periods. It actually reached 22 Celsius (72 F) today which is quite warm for us in April – especially this year given that we had snow less than two weeks ago (which was really really unusual).

First Crocus of spring

I guess the good news about the cool rainy damp Spring is that well … April showers bring May flowers … and well they bring April flowers too. I’ve had Crocus’ blooming since about March 20th and thanks to the cool weather a good portion of them are still blooming. Usually they’re GONE by now. I’m also enjoying my Snow Drops this year … often they come and go so fast than if I blink I miss them, but since we’ve had an extended cool period they’ve stuck around instead of blooming at lightening speed and disappearing.

My Glories of the Snow are in bloom in the backyard garden beds and the a few in the front are beginning to bloom this week. A few Dwarf Irises are also blooming. Other flowers that are growing and preparing to bloom are several Hyacinths, daffodils, tulips and I’m sure a few others that I can’t remember off the tops of my head. Basically everything is greening up and growing leaves including most of my roses. At least the heavy dose of snow that we had over the winter covered all the plants well and protected them so I believe most of my plants survived the winter cold. We don’t always get very good snow cover here in Toronto so I tend to worry about my plants in the deep cold of winter but not this past winter.

Blooming crocuses

Overall my garden is healthy and happy … I’m just waiting for the weather to warm up and for all my flowers to start growing and to begin blooming … but what gardener isn’t?

Tell me about your garden.






Strange weather

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Wow, the weather switches around here from one day to the next!

On Sunday it was extremely hot and humid. This of course was thanks to the warm weather blowing in, in advance of the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Late in the evening it became quite windy and the rain came – not as much rain as they were predicting luckily.   The wind cooled everything down and so far this week (Mon, Tues) it’s been cooler than it normally should be at this time of year.

It’s so strange to go from tropical temperatures to very cool temperatures all within the span of 24 hours. I wonder what our plants think of all the changes in the weather?

Have you had strange weather in your area in the last few days?

Interesting flowers

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I grow a number of different flowers and plants in my garden, but you’ve probably guessed by now (if you’re a regular reader) that there’s more roses than any other type of plant. Having said that I do enjoy my more unusual flowers like my Black Hollyhocks:

Black Hollyhock

This picture doesn’t do this large open flower justice.

The color of the petals appear black from a distance, but when you get up close you can see that the petal color is really a very deep maroon. If you look at the petal in the top right you can see some of the deep maroon color that I’m talking about.

I love these flowers velvety appearance too.

Another flower that I like is the Balloon flower. In particular I enjoy looking at the flower buds before they bloom.

Balloon flower bud

The buds look like balloons that are about to float away.

I must go now and close the doors and windows. A skunk must be walking around the neighborhood. The pungent smell is coming into my house. Stinky! I’m surprised my dog hasn’t reacted to the smell yet!

I thought I’d take a moment to highlight a few of our Green Thumb Sunday participants recent posts.  There are some fantastic photos on these pages as well as stories to go with them!

Check it out:

Green Thumb Sunday – Orange roses. Moonstone Beach, Cambria, California.Gardeners, as well as plant and nature lovers, can join Green Thumb Sunday every Sunday. Visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Green Thumb Sunday – Join Green Thumb Sunday My Mom loved her Cactus plants and shared with everyone, even potting them to be sold at the local thrift store. The plant receives very little care and attention from Pop and I, other than occasional watering, …

Green Thumb Sunday – Frost! – Supposed to be between -1 and +1 C. I have to go uncover what I did manage to cover, in a few minutes. I picked some beats, an onion, a bell pepper, potatoes, tomatoes, purple and green beans, squash, and zucchini.

Green Thumb Sunday ~ Echinopsis – Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in for Green Thumb Sunday by visiting As the Garden Grows for more information. Join. Some rights reserved. See Creative Commons License on post for details.

Green Thumb Sunday! – I always leave volunteer sunflowers. Here’s why…

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!

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