Our feathered friends in the snow

After a slow start to the winter, we are getting dump after dump of the white stuff. It keeps me and my snow shovel busy, and it also gives me the chance to check out the neighbourhood birds.

And I get to stalk them with my camera. These pics are taken through the glass of my deck doors, so they are not as clear as they should be.

The chickadees are fearless, and will pose willingly for me, but the bluejays, even though they are bigger, are much more skittish. Any move from me inside the house, and they are gone. The grapevine that twined around the deck

makes great bird perches and helps to secure the bird feeders so they don't blow around as much.

Sparrows and goldfinches (in their drab winter plumage) and a downy woodpecker also visit the feeders, but they are even harder to capture on camera.

Glorious Glads

I always considered gladiolas as funeral flowers - the sprays of white glads were a fixture in every funeral arrangement. But when I started growing them myself, I was fascinated. Glads have a very interesting way of reproducing. The small flat bit under the pink one is the corm I planted in the spring. The corm flattens and puts its energy into growing a new bulb on top, which sprouts and produces a lovely spray of flowers. The one in the picture is quite unusual, because it has produced a new bulb on each side, each of which will also sprout new flowers next year. Most corms produce tiny bulbils (second picture) around the roots. If these fall off and take root, they will grow to full size in a few years. Even though they are considered zone 7, glads survive in the ground over winter in my zone 6b garden. I take them out in the fall anyways, because I like to put them in a new place every year. And besides, I love seeing what they have been up to!