Shadow Selfie

I don't often get out in the morning, but I do on Sundays when we're leaving for church.  Last week it was beautiful and warm, so I took a moment to get some pictures.

Here's my shadow selfie.  Like that handsome old hat?

I turned around and the leaves on our little Tulip tree were lit brightly by the sun.

In front of the garage were a large swath of plants grown by our resident horticulturalist, Mrs. F.G.  Many of these have since been given away.

And in the opposite direction, the rich red blooms of our Fernleaf Peony, all facing the sun.

But later in the day one blossom had turned toward me.

Elsewhere in the Garden

We've got some pretty interesting plants growing, so let me share a little of our current late May garden.  It's changing fast of course, because the last few things are getting planted.

The Leopard's Bane is blooming, providing a nice bright yellow patch.

And this is a really rare plant that grows in the limestone barrens of Manitoulin Island.  It's so rare that it doesn't have a common name, so we call it Manitoulin Daisy.

I hope you get the idea of the Forget-me-nots spreading through the garden.

I managed to get a picture of the female Song Sparrow that is nesting close by.  How's that for camouflage?

Update

So I did break my leg the other day, but it doesn't feel like a big deal.  You need to understand that paraplegics like myself lose strength in their bones quite quickly, developing osteoporosis.  We are  frequently subject to fractures because the muscles are no longer contracting.  It doesn't hurt because of course I have no feeling in my leg anyway.  I was totally unaware of it happening.

In any case my caregiver convinced us to get it looked at, so yesterday I rode myself over to our town's small hospital.  They took ex-rays, consulted with the doctor and then took more.  It turns out I fractured both my tibula and fibula, spiral fractures due to twisting my leg.

The way it happened was quite innocent.  Our newly renovated drugstore is no long wheelchair friendly.  It's very crowded and hard to turn around in  I was maneuvering to get close to the card reader which is up high, when the counter caught my toe, pulling it sideway a little too far.  My caregiver described my foot as 'loosy-goosey'.

They put my lower leg in a cast and sent me home, telling me to keep on riding around!  The good doctor applied the cast to position my lower leg in the natural position it would have while I'm in my chair.  So we were able to go to church today.  You can stop worrying about me!

Brief Interlude

 There will be a brief interlude on my blog because I broke my leg!  More news in a day or two.

Back in our Garden

Mrs. F.G. is working very hard at keeping the garden looking good, and making good use of our invaluable gardener.  She's also dealing with the remnants of about 200  plants she grew from seed, especially tomatoes and peppers.  She's got rid of the ones she was planning to give away, so now it's a matter of planting what's left.  She's out there doing that now.

A beautiful pink Bleeding Heart sits right outside my window.

The Primrose continue to look good.

My Christmas Fern is sending its fiddleheads up straight as they unfold into fronds.

Our gardener was determined to keep working in the rain!

But I sure felt sorry for him working so hard down on his knees in his raincoat!

On the other hand, he got a lot done!  Take a look at that neat edge, and the ground in and around thsoe raised beds.

There will still be some 'deliberate weeds' left to contribute their beauty.  These are the large thick fuzzy leaves of Common Mullein, which can grow to 8 feet high here.

Magnolia - the Showiest Tree Flowers

At the opposite end of the scale are the very showy Magnolia blooms, providing one of spring's most spectacular displays.  Too bad there aren't more of them, but there are three or four large ones on our regular routes.  Most are a pale pink, but one I've found is more a rich pale purple.  The petals don't last long, but they can't be missed when they're in bloom!

These deep pink, almost purple flowers are certainly my favourite. 

                                                            Credit to Maureen Powell

This yellow Magnolia is the most unusual I've heard of.  One of my caregivers sent me this picture.

When we visited our daughter in Abbotsford, B.C., there were Magnolia planted as the trees on the street of her subdivision!

Redbud and Serviceberry

Redbud and Serviceberry are unusual here in Meaford, the former at least at the northern limit of its range.*  The blooms are tiny compared to Magnolia, but still very pretty.  We have a Redbud that's in bloom, and a neighbour has a Serviceberry.  

The bright pink blooms of Redbud always amaze me, bursting out of the bare branches.

You might not even recognize Serviceberry; this is the only one I know of in town.  They are often the white trees you see along the edge of woods or in fencerows at this time of year.  It seems a very lacy tree to me.

* Redbud only occur naturally further south, primarily in the U.S., but they will survive when planted in a garden for some distance further north.  I think more people should plant them!

Maple Tree Flowers

Some tree flowers are quite showy, but others are tiny and inconspicuous, easily mistaken for emerging leaves.  I'll get to some showy tree flowers in the next two posts, but first I'm gonna make you look at the tiny ones.  These are all on hybrid maple trees, trees chosen for planting in urban areas, and I pass them every day on my rides.

At the end of the street, this maple, like others around here, looks bright green.  But look closely and you'll find those are not leaves, they're tiny flowers.

Here's a closer look.  Everything is sbright green, but you still can't distinguish any of the tiny flowers.

Now you can begin to see the tiny green flowers.

And in this and the following pictures you get a good look at the maple flowers.  Remember these are all on branches waving someplace above my head!

Now that you've seen the tiny flowers, I hope you'll stop and take a close look yourself.  We'll move on to some of the showy flowers here tomorrow.

Our three birthdays were celebrated in style, with two cakes no less!  I'm all charged up and ready for the next decade!  It's a beautiful sunny day here, and finally it's warm!