First ride of the Season

In my life there are only two seasons, winter and summer.  And on Friday I got out for my first ride of the summer season.  As you can see by the pictures below, it was a beautiful day.  I might divide summer into spring, summer and fall, but I hope the whole package lasts as long as possible before I have to hibernate again!  

I just rode up and down our own street, down into the cul-de-sac and back to the other end at the stop sign, four times altogether.

In the cul-de-sac there's a big Silver Maple that I always stop and say hello to.

At this time of year its buds are swelling fast, giving the branches a stubbled look.  Soon those will be leaves.

Beyond the cul-de-sac is an open lawn.  There was a flurry of concern 2 or 3 years ago about development going in here.  It's on a street of single family homes, but of course they proposed cramming about six townhouses in here.  I don't know what the final decision was.

I turned around and headed back.  Passing our own home I checked out the trees in our fencerow.  It's a big change since they cut down the huge White Ash; we're left with just maples.

This end of the street is dominated by a row of big Norway Spruce which throw a large patch of shade across the street.  On the left we have our mailboxes and a tiny library.

After that I turned around and did the entire ride three more times.  Good practice with my new wheelchair, which goes a trifle faster, up to 10 km/hr.  All in all a ride of about 24 short blocks.

I thought I should practice the gears and speeds on my new wheelchair, since I discovered that you  can't read the control panel in bright sunlight.  I was downtown recently, delivered to the library and I had to cross the traffic light to go to the bank.  The chair was moving so slowly I tried to change gears as i crossed at the light, and turned the machine off by mistake while I was still in the middle of the road!  It was embarrassing and perhaps a little unsafe!

This chair has indoor and outdoor gears, with five speeds in each gear.  I need to learn those so that I can switch in my sleep without actually looking at the control panel!  Hence the practice before I ride all the way downtown by myself, which I will do on Thursday.

Spring Moves Ahead!

We're watching a very early progression of spring flowers coming into bloom.  Being largely stuck inside I get great pleasure in watching these small but significant changes that mark the coming of spring.  Mind you, I got out for my first ride on Friday, even if it was just up and down our own street.

The Daffodil was first, just a single bloom of many, but they started today.

The blooms on one of the newer Hellebores are flourishing, under the watchful eye of our snowstick.

Our original Hellebore has quite different blooms, with deep purple shading.

The wrinkly green leaves of the Primrose are brightening up in patches in front of my eyes.  They'll be in flower shortly.

And this is an unusual one, a single stalk of the Broad-leaved Grape Hyacinth.

Out front the Hyacinth are not yet in bloom, but they're showing lots of colour and will flower shrtly.

And off by a corner of the front porch the single tiny Iris has expanded into a cluster of four or five flowers.

This year Mrs. F.G. tried forcing a few twigs of Forsythia and they look beautiful, adding a flash of yellow to the house.

A Few Birds

 I was sitting at the window the other day and was pleased to see a flutter of wings outside.  We don't see many birds here, so even a few common ones are a thrill for me.  I've been bird-watching all my life!

The first three photos are common Chickadees, the birds we see most often here.  You can easily recognize their black and white pattern, but I can identify them by their behaviour now.  They fly in a short bouncing flight, and at the feeder they pick up a single seed and carry it away.  They pin it to a branch with a claw and hammer it with their beak to open it, then it's back to the feeder for another.

The American Robin doesn't need much introduction.  One of our earliest spring migrants, it feeds mostly on worms.

The Red-breasted Nuthatch is easy to identify by its acutely striped head, and by its upside-down behaviour.  As you can see there was definitely a pair visiting the feeder.

And finally we had a Dark-eyed Junco hopping around on the deck.  Juncos are ground-feeders, so they have pretty typical behaviour too.  In any case I was pleased to see the birds, but not happy with the photos.  I'm using my iphone for these, and I just don't feel they are very sharp or clear.

April Comes and Goes

Yes it's still April here.  Spring gets ever closer, but winter is reluctant to let go this year!  It's frustrating to say the least.  What really bothers me personally is actually not the late snow, but the grit on the roads.  Every fresh snowfall and they come down the street spreading more grit.  It gets caught in my tires and can scratch the floor when I come indoors!

The Crocus are looking bright.

I'm sure these Daffodils will be blooming soon.

But then that dreaded white stuff returned covering the back yard!

Out front the Daffodil leaves were standing in snow ...

And a little patch of Crocus beneath my window as well.

Ah, but then it cleared up, the temperature rose a little, and our gardener (nephew of the neighbours), was able to get started on the spring clean-up.  That IS a sign of spring!

It's April!

It'a April and you know what happens in April!  After those nice flowers emerging in the last post, here we go again.  Yes, an overnight snow storm has turned the world white again, and all those spring flowers are on hold.  They'll be back soon! 

Can you believe it?!  I am SO ready for spring!

Just for comparison with the last post, Crocus and Hellebores under a white blanket.

Even the snowstick has a little white on its back.

And then of course the sun came out and the snow melted.

And the Crocus and Hellebore have merged again from their blanket of white.

Just a few more Crocus to get your hopes up!

Spring is Springing!

 Spring is finally springing here at home, so we're saying good-bye to English gardens for the moment, and we're going to follow spring as it unfolds here.  We do have Crocus, Hellebore, and one tiny Iris showing blooms, and lots of Daffodils coming along.

When the snow first disappears (though it has re-appeared twice since!!), it doesn't leave a very bright coloured landscape behind.  It all looks rather dull to me, but it will turn green soon.

We've had the Hellebore blooming for a couple of weeks now, so many blooms on it I can't sort them out.  Sometimes it's buried under snow.

This pale mauve flower was the first among the Crocus to show any colour.

The yellow and white followed soon thereafter, though the white remain tightly furled.  A warm day will really bring out the colour.

Out the front window we have quite a lot of Daffodils planted; their leaves have been emerging for almost a month.  I'm counting the days until I see some yellow!

Also out front is this bigger cluster of bright yellow Crocus.

And in the corner by the garage, springing up between the coils of the cord for the Christmas lights, is a solitary royal blue dwarf Iris, my favourite spring flower.  I fear the rest have been smothered by the rampantly spreading Lavender!

A Few Other Interesting Garden Features

We've visited a lot of other gardens, and there are some highlights I just can't resist sharing.  They range from elephants in the garden to a Chinese garden, from a starkly modern reflecting pool, to Water Buffalo!  I hope you enjoy these!

Here are your elephants, facing each other in the gardens at Sezincote.  The house, built 200 years ago for a family who had served in India with the British East India Company, has been described as the best example of neo-Mughal architecture in western Europe!  The dome is a classic, here done in copper, and the small garden between the elephants and the house, is a classic Persian four-square garden with intersecting paths, upright juniper and a water feature.

The curving orangery is spectacular!  The fan-shaped arched windows are a specific feature of Mughal architecture.  And best of all it's now the tea room, so we sat inside and enjoyed coffee and cake!

There are lots of flowers too, like these bright red lilies.  They decorate a stream garden, which tumbles down a ravine to the north of the house.

Biddulph Grange is one of the most unusual gardens in England.- Found in Stoke-on-Trent, it features a collection of different style garden rooms, including a Victorian vision of a Chinese garden.  

Presumably the gilded Water Buffalo reflects time spent in India.

There are other significant features, but the one I remember is the 'stumpery', walls of old stumps inter-laced together, along a pathway between other garden 'rooms'.

Then there is Kiftsgate.  Located right across the road from Hidcote, a garden we visited right at the beginning of this tour of British gardens, it has a number of interesting flower beds, but among them is the gigantic Kiftsgate Rose, now a recognized variety you can purchase for your own rose garden!

Sadly it had just about finished blooming when we visited, but you can see it is a huge vigorous rambling rose with large clusters of small white blossoms.  The original plant we saw at Kiftsgate was enormous, about 90 feet long and 20 feet tall.

And at the back of the garden, in the former space occupied by a tennis court, is a beautiful peaceful reflecting pool.  The copper leaves at the far end are a fountain.  This sticks in my mind as the best truly modern garden feature we've ever seen.