May Showers and May Flowers

Grape hyacinths and first daffodils blooming May 15, 2014

Wow! Where to start! May is always such a busy month, what with getting the flower beds cleaned up and ready for a new season of growing, as well as moving perennials, planting new ones, starting seedlings and buying and planting annuals.  I do LOVE this whole job, though! :)

The perennials are growing quickly, Monkshood, Delphiniums, Lupines, Maltese Cross, Bleeding Heart, Day lilies. My tiger lilies are about 6 inches tall now and most of the oriental lilies are up. I sprayed all of them with Bobbex to deter the deer, rabbits and rodents from munching on them.

Day liles, lupines and bleeding heart are bursting with life

My Peonies have shoots now, but are so slow in coming up, in comparison to our friend Janet whose peonies are already setting buds! ( Her peonies are so huge, but she says she wishes she had less of them. I told her I would gladly help her move some of them in the fall and take a digging or two as they are obviously so healthy!)


May15- Rosebushes
Unwrapped and cleaned mulch from around the rose bushes in my flower beds.
Note to self: this fall make sure you use PEAT MOSS around the rose bushes, not compost which packed down far too much. There was a lot of winter kill to my rose bushes this year. Had to trim back all branches serenely except for my Morden Ruby which seems to have fared the best.

The John Davis rose bush in my Angel bed looks completely dead. A good place to put my new Morden Belle rosebush or the Turbo subzero rose (which is growing vigorously in its new pot in my greenhouse.)

My Winnipeg Parks is feebly attempting to send out new shoots from the roots, not the first time this has been the case. I'm glad it survived, but I wonder if a different location would help it to grow better.  (This is a good time of year to dig them up and transplant…)

The Morden rose bushes in my Stackstone bed all have shoots starting on what little healthy branches they do have left and once I add fertilizer they should do well. I like to scratch Blood and Bone Meal  around the soil under the rose bushes. Then fertilize them occasionally with Miracle Grow. ( High nitrogen- the first number - for growth)


I planted my seedling Cosmos in my rock garden bed and some purple (store bought) Verbina.  Verbina are worry-free annuals that well, bloom all summer and our pesky resident Marmot doesn't care for them.
 Also planted some rocket mix snapdragons (one of my favourite flowers) in my triangular bed as well as trimming the very scraggly False Spirea there.

Pear blossoms

Wild Saskatoon shrubs are all blooming now.

Fruit Blossoms
YAY! Our ornamental pear tree is in full bloom now with beautiful fat white blossoms all over it.

The wild Saskatoon shrubs are also blooming now. and the apple blossoms are not far behind. Usually this all happens in the space of 2 weeks, but with early spring being so snowy and cold this year, it is all happening almost at once! Even the plum shrubs are opening their blooms and they barely even have any leaves yet! I noticed that my lilacs are setting their blossoms as well and I love when they all finally pop open and their scent regales us whenever we are nearby.

Rhubarb with vegetable garden behind

Flowerbeds
Did a lot of clean up on the shade side of my stackstone bed. It seems the False Dragonhead perennial is attempting a takeover of that bed! It surreptitiously sends roots out all over the bed, popping up new little Dragonheads. They are actually quite nice once they bloom in August,  tall stems with light blue little flower spikes.  Keeping them in check is essential.

I planted a nice 'Little Rocket' Ligularia which potentially will get spikes of bright yellow blossoms which look spectacular against the dark leaves. I also planted a pretty Spiderwort which already has some little light bloom blossoms.  The Lambs Ears in that bed are starting to grow now and it looks like my Heuchera is still alive there as well. I see evidence of tiny brown leaves sprouting.

Winter is a distant memory, for now….

Birds came Back- April 28, 2014

So happy that the Tree Swallows have returned! They arrived on April 28, a full 5 days sooner than last year! Did not expect that, since we are having such a late spring. We looked out that morning and there they were, about a dozen swallows swooping around feeding on those pesky mosquitoes of which we have a mega amount; (due to all the standing water on the tree side of the berm at the lake shore nearby.)

Tree Swallow surveying the yard

We have the nest camera all set up again so we can watch them building their nest, laying their eggs and once hatched, feeding their young! :)

So pleasing to hear the bird song out in the yard again.  I love sitting out on the balcony in the morning, drinking up the sunshine, along with my morning cup of coffee and listening to the joyful sound of the birds.

Swallow checking out the bird house near the pond

The robins have been here for a number of weeks already and it's interesting to sit on the deck and watch the nest building going on in the yard below. The bird 'real estate' around here is quite popular and is showing so much activity right now. :)

Swallows love to sit on top of trees or poles to get a good vantage point. This one is sitting on the stake next to our little apple tree.

The House Wrens and the Gold Finches took a couple of weeks longer to show up again. We started seeing and hearing them a few days ago (about the 24th of May.)

American Gold Finches- Bright yellow and black male with yellow and mottled brown female.

2 Gold Finches sitting in bare saskatoon branches

A pair of Tree Swallows has claimed the nest outside the back door as usual. I wish I could tell if it's the same pair each year or maybe their off spring, as that particular birdhouse is always the first one chosen.  It seems that a pair of swallows will zero in on it as soon as they arrive.

Favourite bird house

That's also the birdhouse where we set up the nest camera so that works in our favour. It's fun to be able to watch that whole nesting process on our own living room TV.  She has been gathering dried grass and feathers for over a week now and diligently creating a soft masterpiece. Male and female Tree Swallows look identical unlike most birds, so I can rarely tell which one it is which.

Photo of Swallows nest via nest cam May 24/14

Not sure why swallows love white feathers but they are quite prized by them. I pulled a few white duck feathers from my pillow last week and let them float onto the grass in the back. She spotted them right away!


The birds are especially at risk right now as they land on the ground looking for their nest material. We try and keeps the cats indoors in the early part of the day to prevent any predation.  If I see any of the cats stalking around the bird houses, I go out and bring them inside or chase them away.   Simba, our very friendly 2 year old orange male cat was quite surprised the first time he saw me running towards him with the broom after I spotted him jumping in the air at the swooping birds. :)

Robin looking for breakfast.

We have a number of robins on our property this year and I love to wake up to their cheery song in the morning. A female robin (obviously inexperienced) has built a nest on a lower branch in one of the spruce trees next to our driveway near the road. She laid 4 beautiful blue eggs in it, but it is right at eye level when we walk or drive by.  I fear that a predator will notice the nest, especially once the babies have hatched and I fear for their survival. I am tempted to get a ladder and move that nest up to a higher branch, but I'm afraid that mother robin might abandon the nest altogether then.

4 beautiful robin eggs in the nest at the end of the driveway.

House Sparrow has claimed 1 of the 2 the birdhouses on our telephone pole. 

May 28 am: Our nest cam showed the first Tree Swallow egg was laid in the nest. Saw them mating yesterday so we were expecting something soon.

We also have been receiving regular visits at out feeders from some red winged blackbirds. The female sometimes accompanies him. She is a very dull looking brown compared to the male but her profile is exactly the same. 

During the winter we had a number of interesting winged visitors at our feeders:

Pileated Woodpecker

 Northern Flicker on the suet block on left, House Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees and a Downey Woodpecker on tree branches.

Nuthatch climbing head first down the tree trunk

Flocks of Bohemian Waxwings were here for weeks on end in the winter as usual. Did not manage to get a photo of them, though. They always seemed to know that I was trying to photograph them and they would swiftly leave the treetops enmass and flock elsewhere.

May 2- Sprouting Seedlings and Yard Work

And the winner is…. Cosmos!!!     They are the first seedlings up 4 days after planting. :)

As of May 2, one pot of Lavatara has started to germinate (my collected seeds) and also the bachelor buttons (my seeds).

May 1-  Happy May Day!
It was a beautiful, sunny warm day, ideal to be outside.  I raked some of the sunflower seeds and husks (plus dead grass) out of the lawn under the bird feeder. So many weeds growing there! I need to spread some grass seeds there and start watering or wait for the rain/ snow that is forecast for tomorrow and the next day to provide moisture.  :(

I raked the lawn around my Angel bed and along the south side of the long perennial bed since it was shaded. (Too hot to work in the sun that day: +21C!

We cleaned out most of the dead leaves, twigs and maple tree seeds from the drained pond. Then I refilled it, clipped off the dead stalks of last years pond plants and put the plants back into the pond as it was filling up.
Darn chilly weather is forecast for the next 5 days, with sub-zero temperatures for over night, so it's still too soon to put the goldfish out….   Thankfully I do have someone who wants some of my goldfish so I don't have to over-populate or small pond.
We have over-wintered 22 gold fish in 2 tanks in the house, 8 large, 10 medium sized and 4 tiny (last years babies).  I'm going to give 8 goldfish away leaving us 14. The 4 tiniest ones can stay in the tank inside for now and serve as back-ups if anything happens to the other 10 fish in the pond over the summer... (like night herons visiting the pond for lunch as happened last year! )

I clipped the huge day lily by the pond and noticed that the wild rose stems there have some black growth on them. Last year and the year before they had rust… Maybe I should just cut them right to the ground.

Other things showing signs of life:
Besides tulips, the daffodils are up in my stackstone bed. The Hollyhocks are starting, as are the bellflowers along the side of the house (like weeds!) and of course daisies.

Top of the rock garden shows some small sedums growing and the Blue Sage perennials there are starting to come. My Autumn Joy sedums are showing signs of life in the lower rock garden.

The Monkshood and Jacob's Ladder perennials are sprouting in my Angel bed. Lots of spring clean up still needed in that bed; (fallen Karl Forester Grass stems).

Little by little, it's all starting to look green now and I'm so excited about another season of gardening!

My Greenhouse is Full!

My Greenhouse is full!
I finally found the time (what with holidaying, Easter weekend visitors, Guild meetings and other obligations) to start planting my tomato and squash seeds in the greenhouse on April 25 (2014).

I washed about 100 small pots the day before and then I got busy and I planted 50 pots of seeds!

Tomatoes:
4 pots of Lemon Boys seeds (Produces sweet yellow tomatoes)
3pots of Early Girls seeds (my favourite as they always grow fast)
5 pots of Black Krim (strange looking dark purpley heirlooms)
4 pots of Purple Russians (also heirloom tomatoes, odd colour and shape)
2 pots of Tumblers (Love their tiny fruit!)
3 pots of New Zealand tomatoes (Only 1 plant survived last year, with no fruit to speak of, but I'm willing to try again…)

Unfortunately I must have forgotten to collect Early Girl Seeds in the fall of 2013. My super-diligent husband picked ALL the tomatoes off ALL the plants one day in anticipation of frost.  I had no way of knowing exactly which tomatoes were Early Girls, but I did have some seeds left from 2012 to plant…)

Squashes:
 4 Pots Spaghetti Squash seeds (one of our favourites!)
4 pots of Butternut Squash seeds
3 pots of Acorn Squash
1 pot yellow zucchini
1 pot green zucchini

Each pot has 2 or 3 seeds in it so we'll see how many actually sprout and live to become a viable fruit-bearing plant.  Last year I gave away tomato and squash plants to numerous friends and neighbours since I had so many. (Trying to keep it to a reasonable number this year :)

Also:
1pot catnip seeds
1 pot dill seeds

Flowers:
1 pot calendulas (my own seeds)
2 pots marigolds (Red Durangos- own seeds)
2 pots Bachelor Buttons/ Blue Cornflowers- 1 own seeds, 1 package seeds)
2 Cosmos- both package seeds
2 lavatara- both own seeds
2 Sweet pea pots- 1 Cupani package, 1 Cuthbertson  package, 1 mix of both )
2 Morning Glories seeds (package)
2 nasturtiums- (mixed colours- package)
1 pot oriental poppies seeds (own seeds)
3 pots castor beans


Store bought plants so far:
1 medium sized tumber tomato plant ( with flowers already!)
1 red oriental poppy (not sure yet where it'll go…)
2 Monard/ Bee balms
1 rose bush called "Turbo" (super hardy, zone 3/  Probably will dig up some irises next to the house and plant it there…)

The spring weather has been quite chilly at night so we have to turn the greenhouse heater on and some days leave it on until late morning! No wonder things are reluctant to germinate… :(