renewal too

Flushed with success with my grape vine, I decided to tackle the PG hydrangea next.  It has grown out of control, with arching branches that bear their flowers close to the ground and make it very hard to mow around it.  So I have taken drastic action, cut out the oldest shoots, and ended up with a pile of trimmings bigger than the resulting shrub.  I'm hoping that the flowers stay off the ground this year.

renewal

My grapevine - before and after.  I showed a vineyard owner a pic of my wild vine, and he was shocked at the size of it.  Some of the branches reach 20 feet or more.  He said 90% of a grape vine should be pruned  out every year.  It seemed drastic, but once I got going, it felt kinda powerful!  When I feel brave enough, I may do even more damage, but I'm thinking it's ready for spring.

snow's back

Last week, the temperature went up to 23 C, and it was lovely to feel the warmth of the sun. The first pic shows the melted field.  The second snowy shot was taken 2 days earlier.   I figured that there would be no more cross-country skiing this year.

But it ended after 3 days, and winter came back.  Today we have 90 km winds, and blowing snow that makes visibility tough.  The province has virtually closed down - schools, the college, the university, and many businesses are closed.  It may seem inconvenient, but it's like being given the gift of time.  A day off work lets me catch up on other tasks, and take a breather in the midst of a busy week.

the planting season starts

It's only the end of February, but my gardening juices are flowing.  Yesterday I was shopping for grass seed for a Master Gardener assignment when I came upon these beauties.  5 callas for only $10!  Count me in.
When I got them home, they sure didn't look anything like the picture.  Knobby, brown, sad-looking lumps is what you get.

And it's hard to know which end is up.  If you look closely, one side is fairly smooth, while the other has more going on - lumps on top of lumps, which are the growing tips.  It's that end up.

Calla are big plants, and need space to grow.  I plant each one separately in a 6-inch pot.  Add damp potting soil to the pot, pack it down so that the level is 4 inches below the top, press the bulb into the soil, and fill the pot with soil.  Water so that soil is damp.

Callas are tropical plants, and need warmth. My callas go on top of the furnace, where they get bottom heat until they produce their first shoot.  Then I bring them out into a sunny window, where they grow and wait until there is no danger of frost (June 1-5 on PEI) and then they go outside.  The flowers are beautiful, and satisfying because they last a long time. The leaves are nice too - shiny dark green with white speckles.

After the pots spent three weeks on the furnace, I brought them out into the light when the shoots broke the surface.  This picture is 5 weeks after planting.  The interesting thing is that although they were planted at the same time and have been grown under the same conditions, the shoots are growing at very different rates.  I will keep tabs on the rate of growth for each colour of flower.

After spending a month in a sunny window, the rewards are flowing!  Here is the first calla to flower.

It's a beautiful thing!  The other plants are showing signs of flowers to come.  It is really fun to watch the progresss of this plant, and I look forward to the other colours that will pop up.

it's a marshmallow world in the winter....

We are having perfect snowy days with bright blue skies and fluffy gobs of snow that look like dabs of whipped cream. 

This flowering crab is flowering with cotton balls.

This garden chair has been upholstered with cold white fluff.  It's probably more comfortable now than it will be in summer!

singing the blues

The bluejays were riding out the storm yesterday and brightened up all that winter white.

the colours of winter

Winter might seem to be a lot of grey and white, but that background just helps the tiny dashes of colour to pop. These red rosehips and stems have been hiding in plain sight - the birds haven't found them yet.

The grey and white landscape can be good camouflague for those wanting to hide.